Friday, November 28, 2008

Types of Business Insurance

Business insurance is a broad description that can be broken down into a list of nine types of insurance policies and here I will briefly explain the coverage and expand on these as individual topics. For now, these are general descriptions so that we are talking about the same thing when I use these terms in later articles.

Property Insurance

Property insurance insures against loss or damage to the location of the business and its contents. It can also insure the property of others in your control when the loss occurs. Property insurance can be for a specific risk. For example, a fire insurance policy insures only against a fire loss to the location. A tornado is not a fire and, therefore, that loss would not be covered. The insured location can be owned, leased or rented.


Casualty Insurance
Some insurers will lump property and casualty insurance together and refer to the coverage as property and casualty insurance. In fact, packaged policies of property and casualty are often the best purchase a business owner can make. However, to have an understanding of the difference between the coverage, I will discuss this as a separate type of insurance. Casualty insurance insures against loss or damage to the business.

Liability Insurance
Liability insurance insures against liability legally imposed upon your business because of the negligence of the business or its employees. Put another way, it protects your business when the business is sued for negligence.

Commercial Auto
Your personal automobile policy does NOT cover vehicles used by your business. If your business uses vehicles or anything that is required to be titled by your state, then you need a commercial auto policy. Commercial auto coverage insures against property damage to vehicles and damage caused to others by those vehicles.

Workers Compensation
You will need to insure your employees against on-the-job injuries. Every state is different. But, most states have put into place some form of workers' compensation system. Workers' compensation is a system where the employee is not allowed, by statute, to sue their employer for on-the-job injuries; but, in return, the employer must participate in a system that provides nearly automatic payment to the employee in case of injury for medical bills and damages. There are many options for workers' compensation coverage. Some states allow an employer to opt-out of the system if the employer is self insured, some run the system through private insurers while others use state agencies.

Business Interruption
Business interruption insurance insures against loss or damage to the cash flow and profit of a business caused by the business being unable to operate because of interruption. The easiest example is to think about a critical piece of machinery being struck by lightning. The repairs to the machine may be covered by other coverage such as property or casualty insurance. But, if you can not make widgets for three months, than there is no replacement of that income without this coverage.

Health Insurance
To be competitive, most businesses need to offer their workers health insurance. This insurance offers a health coverage benefit to your employees (and you).

Life and Disability Insurance
Life and disability insurance protects the business against the death or disability of key employees. For example, one partner carries a life insurance policy naming the partnership as a beneficiary. If that partner dies, and the business has planned properly, the proceeds of the policy can be used by the business to buy out the share of the decedent's partnership interest from the estate.

Other Insurance or Scripted Policies
It could very well be that your business is so unique to have need for coverage that is a mixture of some of the coverage listed above or something written specifically for your particular risk. One can think of some actresses, actors, or sports stars that have had legs insured at some point in there careers. This would be an example of a scripted policy.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Type Of Insurance

All too often we hear about various types of insurance policies without really understanding what they are and more importantly, what they protect. The truth is, there are two main types of insurance, namely life insurance and general insurance which covers different aspects in your life.
Things I Should Know

Basic principles of insurance

Where can I get insurance products?

Tips on buying Life insurance

Dealing with insurance and takaful intermediaries

Important provisions in
a Life insurance policy

Am I covered?
What Else Can I Do?

Read our FAQs on life insurance

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Life insurance is an insurance coverage that pays out a certain amount of money to the insured or their specified beneficiaries upon a certain event such as death of the individual who is insured. This protection is also offered in a Family takaful plan, a Shariah-based approach to protecting you and your family.

The coverage period for life insurance is usually more than a year. So this requires periodic premium payments, either monthly, quarterly or annually.

The risks that are covered by life insurance are:
Premature death
Income during retirement
Illness
The main products of life insurance include:
Whole life
Endowment
Term
Investment-linked
Life annuity plan
Medical and health

General insurance is basically an insurance policy that protects you against losses and damages other than those covered by life insurance. For more comprehensive coverage, it is vital for you to know about the risks covered to ensure that you and your family are protected from unforeseen losses.

The coverage period for most general insurance policies and plans is usually one year, whereby premiums are normally paid on a one-time basis.

The risks that are covered by general insurance are:
Property loss, for example, stolen car or burnt house

Liability arising from damage caused by yourself to a third party
Accidental death or injury
The main products of general insurance includes:
Motor insurance
Fire/ Houseowners/ Householders insurance
Personal accident insurance
Medical and health insurance
Travel insurance