Peace of mind is important, whether you use your car for work, leisure, or for taking the kids to school.

You want to know that if something happens to the car you can get things sorted quickly and stay mobile.

So you look for a comprehensive policy which has a 24-hour claim line and provides a replacement car while yours is repaired. But what other benefits can women expect when buying car insurance?

Replacement car seats

If you have a family, it may be worth checking the comprehensive cover will replace child car seats and booster seats if they are stolen from the car or damaged in an accident or fire.

Replacement locks

Cover which includes the cost of lock replacement is another useful benefit, and it could save you money if you are unlucky enough to lose your keys.

Personal possessions cover

When comparing car insurance policies, remember to look at the level of personal possessions cover on offer. If you carry valuable belongings, like your mobile phone, around in your handbag, then choose a policy that provides a good level of personal possessions cover. This way, providing you've locked the vehicle, you're covered if your handbag is stolen from your car on the day you forget to take the bag with you.

Help with recovering uninsured losses

Before you a buy a policy, see whether the insurance company provides assistance in recovering your uninsured losses from a third party. If it does, you have the reassurance of knowing that in the event of an accident caused by a third party, you'll receive professional help in attempting to recover uninsured losses, like your policy excess or a loss of earnings. Some policies also provide assistance to help you pursue a personal injury claim after an accident.

Protect your no-claims discount

Insurance statistics show that women drive safely and make fewer and less costly claims than men. When you get an AA quote you can protect the no-claims bonus that you've earned by driving safely.

Car security

If you can avoid it, don't park your car on the street at night. Better still, use the garage if your home has one and lock it at night – the extra security could bring a discount on your premium.

Also, insurance companies can advise on which security devices can help reduce your car insurance premium. Tracking devices and immobilisers are likely to attract a discount.

What you need to know about life insurance, including types of insurance policies and deciding on how much coverage you need.

1. All policies fall into one of two camps.

There are term policies, or pure insurance coverage, and the many variants of whole life, which combine an investment product with pure term insurance and build cash value.

2. Insurance is sold, not bought.

Agents sell the vast majority of life policies written in the U.S. because the life insurance industry has a vested interest in pushing high-commission (and high-profit) whole-life policies.

3. Whole life is expensive.

Policies with an investment component cost many times more than term policies. As a result, many people who buy whole life often can't afford an adequate face value, leaving themselves underinsured.

4. Whole-life policies are built on assumptions.

The returns quoted by the agent are simply guesses - not reality. And some companies keep these guesses of future returns on the high side to attract more buyers.

5. Keep your investing and insurance strictly separate.

There are better places to invest - and without the high commissions of whole-life policies.

6. Buy enough term coverage to fill your needs.

Life insurance is no place to skimp, especially with generally low rates.

7. Match the term of the policy to your needs.

You want the policy to last as long as it takes for your dependents to leave the nest - or for your retirement income to kick in.

8. Buy when you're healthy.

Older people and those not in the best of health pay steeply higher rates for life insurance - so buy as early as you can, but don't buy until you have dependents.

9. Tell the truth.

There's no sense in shading the facts on your application to get a lower rate. Be assured that if a large claim is made, the insurance company will investigate before paying.

10. Use the Web to shop.

Buying life insurance has never been easier, thanks to the Internet. You can get tons of quotes - and avoid the pushy salespeople.

Insurance

Insurance can be a boring topic. It’s not one of those things you think about every day. Or even every year. After all, a person obsessed with insurance would probably be a pretty paranoid person.

My friend Lynn works for a major U.S. insurance company. I recently asked her for tips to help people save money on auto insurance. I expected maybe a few quick ideas, but she went above-and-beyond with the following detailed list. If you own a car, you should read these tips. For readability’s sake, I haven’t blockquoted this, but it’s all Lynn.

Note that every insurance company is different — not all of these ideas work everywhere. The first thing you can do to save money on auto insurance is to self-insure as much as you can afford. Do this in the following ways:

• High deductibles. Everyone preaches this, yes, but it’s usually the easiest way to cut costs. Usually. (If your car is over ten years old, the savings may be minimal.)
• Remove towing. Good maintenance and planning can save you money. Don’t run out of gas. Don’t lock your keys in your car. Make sure you have a spare and know how to change it. Sometimes your car will break down, but if your car is well-maintained, it won’t happen often. You pay $10 – $30 a year over the life of your policy and one tow costs $100. Note that in the event of an accident, towing is almost always covered under collision.
• Remove car rental. Small economy cars cost about $20 – $25 per day to rent. Car rental is $20 – $40 per year. Play the odds. If you rent a car on vacation, your insurance will cover you while driving that car. Don’t pay for the extra coverage. The only things it offers are:
  1. Zero deductibles. You go all year long with your deductibles, why change now? Also, if you pay for the car with a credit card, they may pay for any out of pocket in the even of an accident.
  2. Downtime coverage. Downtime means that while the rental car you wrecked is in the shop being repaired, it can’t be rented out to other customers and they can ding you for the daily fee. This may be an issue if they can show that all other cars were rented out and they lost money because of you — Hawaii is notorious for charging this. But, again, it’s a risk you might decide to self insure rather than pay $21 a day for the insurance.

Aside from self-insuring, there are other steps you can take to save on car insurance.

• Shop ahead. Before you buy your next car, check on insurance. Many people assume that SUVs are expensive and Neons are cheap. This is not necessarily true. Some companies will increase your liability based on the cost of damages your type of vehicle may inflict — big trucks cause big damage. However, they also rate the autos based on how likely they are to be damaged in an accident, how often they are stolen, and how badly driver/passengers are injured. That Neon (or Jetta or Honda) is going to be a lot more expensive than you think. Many companies will have websites that will give you lists of safe and lower priced cars. (Saturn is a low insurance car because it has dent-resistant doors.)
• Think twice about after-market gizmos. If your vehicle is totaled or stolen, the insurance company will determine a fair market or actual cash value. They will look at your vehicle as a “whole package.” Even if you paid for $3,000 in after market items (wheels, spoilers, stereos, exhaust, etc.) they may only add $1,000 in value to your vehicle. It’s not dollar for dollar.
• Have all of your insurance in one place. Often, the more types of policies you have, the more you save in discounts.
• Find out if your insurance company offers any low-mileage breaks that you qualify for.
• Can you take a safety-driving course? Some companies offer a discount for this.
• Do NOT pay monthly. Your carrier will charge anywhere from $3 to $5 per month for this type of billing. Pay every six months if possible. If you must pay monthly, do an auto pay — the charges are less because they only send a bill if the amount changes.
• This might not be a money saving tip, but insurance companies are state regulated. They must file their rates with the state and be able to justify any increases these are public record as are any types of complaints or fines. For example, if you’re in Oregon, you can check out your company and/or agent.

• Most companies now use aspects of your credit to determine your rate. It is illegal for them to do this mid-term — as long as your policy is continuous without any lapses, they can’t use external info to change your rate. They can only use claim and ticket info. However, all newly added vehicles can be affected by credit. If you have good credit, this may be to your advantage. You are allowed to request that they re-check your score once per year. However, whatever the score is, you’re stuck with it. If it comes back bad and it raises your rate: too bad. But, if you have a policy that was written when your credit wasn’t so great, request that they check it again after things look better.

Precautions you should take

Here are several precautions that should help you avoid being "taken" by a  scam:
1. Never sign papers you do not fully understand.
2. Get all "promises" in writing.
3. Beware of any loan assumption where you are not formally released fromliability for your mortgage debt and contracts of sale.
4. Check with an Attorney or your Mortgage Company before entering any deal with your home.
5. If you are selling the house yourself to avoid foreclosure, make sure you check to see if there are any complaints against the prospective buyer.

You can contact your state's AttorneyGeneral, the State Real Estate Commission, or the local District Attorney'sConsumer Fraud Unit for this type of information.

Do a Pre-foreclosure sale if you haveexhausted every other option.
This will allow you to sell your property and pay off your mortgage loan to avoid foreclosure and damage to your credit rating.

You may qualify if:
1) The "as is" appraised value is at least 70% of the amount  you owe and the sales price is 95% of the appraised value,
2) The loan is at least 2 months delinquent prior to the preforeclosure sale
3) you are able to sell your house within 3 to 5 months An additional benefit to this option is the assistance you will receive with the Seller-paid closing costs.

Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure 

As a last resort, you may be able to voluntarily "give back" your property to  the lender.
You will still lose the house, but it will help your chances of getting another  mortgage loan in the future.

You can qualify if:
1) you are in default and don't qualify for any of the other  options;
2) your attempts at selling the house before foreclosure were  unsuccessful;
3) you don't have another FHA mortgage in default.

Main points To Remember 

1. Make every effort to not lose your home and damage your credit history. 

2. Call or write your mortgage lender immediately. 

3. Stay in your home to make sure you qualify for assistance. 

4. Arrange an appointment with a housing counselor to explore your  options. Call HUD-approved housing counseling agency. 

5. Cooperate with the counselor or lender trying to help you. 

6. Explore every alternative to losing your home. 

7. Beware of fraud. 

8. Do not sign anything you do not understand. 

Remember that signing over the deed to someone else does not necessarily relieve you of your loan obligation. 

9. Act now. Delaying can't help. If you do nothing, YOU WILL LOSE  YOUR HOME and your good credit rating.

Every business, large or small, should have insurance in case something goes wrong, but just how much coverage does your business need? Insurance is a must for any business, no matter the size, but the amount and type of insurance will vary depending on your company. A home business with no employees will need a different kind of coverage than a larger one with 100 employees, so make sure you know which is right for your business type. Your insurance company should be able to help you decide just what kind of coverage and how much, you will need, but it’s a good idea to have an understanding before you start shopping around. Educate yourself, then start looking for insurance providers.

Types of Business Insurance 

You will need to choose more than one type of insurance, according to your business needs. In some cases, your insurance company may package several kinds of coverage under one business package and this may be cheaper, so make sure you ask before buying each one separately.

Workers’ Compensation: 

This covers you for any injuries incurred by employees while working for you. It doesn’t matter if you are not the responsible party, the employee is still eligible for compensation in many cases. This type of insurance will cover things like lost wages for time away from work, loss of limbs, diseases that occurred as a result of the job and death, among other things. If you have an employee, you should consider this insurance.

Property: 

Property insurance is very important as it protects both the place of business and the equipment you need for your business. In some cases, it will also protect client property if it is in your possession at the time of theft or damage. You can often add specific types of insurance, such as flood or fire.

Casualty: 

This type of insurance helps to protect you in case of injury or damage to business property. It is often combined with property insurance and the two are quite similar.

Liability: 

In case of negligence by your company or by one of its employees, where someone else is harmed, liability insurance covers the mistake. In short, if the company is sued for negligence, this insurance coverage will protect it. There are several types of liability insurance; most of them are packaged under one name.

Commercial Auto: 

Since your regular car insurance doesn’t cover company vehicles, it’s very important that you insure your business vehicle correctly.

Health: 

Not all companies offer health insurance and while it is not mandatory in most places, you may wish to include it as a bonus for employees. A good health plan can keep employees around longer and helps when you want to hire someone who is debating more than one choice in jobs.

Life and Disability:

If one of the main people in the business were to die or become injured, this could have serious repercussions for the company. To help prevent this potential issue, life and disability insurance is useful.

Unemployment: 

This type of insurance isn’t always required, so check with your state’s laws before looking into this. It is meant to help out employees who have been laid off.

How Much Coverage is Required? 

The amount of coverage you opt for will depend on a few different factors. First, the size of your business is important. If you have just a handful of employees, you may not want to offer health insurance, for example. Anyone running their business on their own will not need any of the employee related insurance types.

When it comes to liability insurance, consider how much contact you have with clients. A store or theme park would need some heavy liability insurance against potential client injury, but a home based writing business wouldn’t require anything, as there is no direct contact with the customers. Finally, the cost is a very big deciding factor.

Like other types of insurance, business insurance allows you to adjust what you pay on a monthly or annual basis, according to how much you want to pay out in deductibles before the insurance kicks in.
This will depend on your budget mostly, but is also affected by your business needs. In some cases, you may not require flood insurance, for example, so you could eliminate this from the property insurance and reduce your premiums. Take a close look at which types of coverage you really need.

The best thing to do, once you have familiarized yourself with the various types of business insurance available, is talk to your insurance agent. She will be able to guide you toward the right business package for your company and help you decide which types of insurance you need. Price several different packages through different insurance companies to find the best deal. You can save quite a bit of money by shopping around.

Debt can be a useful tool if it's taken on wisely. If, however, your debt repayment begins to take too large a bite our of your income or you suffer a significant income loss, your debts and associated interest on that debt can quickly start you on a downward financial spiral from which recovery may be difficult, if not impossible.
Here are some suggestions for reducing your debt and reversing your financial fortunes. Taking these 10 steps can, if implemented with determination, can put you back in control of your money again.

Develop a comprehensive picture of all your debts, loans, credit cards and the details about each. 

How many are secured.? How many unsecured? What are the highest and lowest balances. Which are more flexible? You need a complete picture of your debt before you talk to your creditors about interest rates and payment schedules.

Put away the credit cards. Stop carrying them. 

Place them in a safe-deposit box or some place where they are hard to get at. You don't want to cut them up or cancel the account as this can have a negative impact on your credit. Keep them for emergencies, but be careful to define what is an actual emergency. If you do use a credit card, determine to pay off any emergency expenditure within 30 to 60 days. Make no more impulse purchases

Call your bank or any lenders with which you have loans. Discuss whether they might lower your interest rate. 

You might be surprised at their willingness to work with you. If you are in financial trouble, it may well be in their best interest to ease your payments rather than risk your defaulting on your loans. The bank may also have special programs to prevent mortgage default for which you may be eligible.

Calculate your debt-to-income ratio. 

Decide which debts, like mortgages and student loans, are with you for the long haul and which ones can be reduced dramatically with a determined effort. Decide how much you need to reduce non-essential debt like car notes, credit cards and store credit in order to return you to a positive cash flow position.

Begin keeping financial records. 

A simple check register type accounting program is easy to use and allows you to periodically pull up a statement of your financial position to help you evaluate your progress toward being free of indebtedness. At first the reports may look discouraging, but as you make progress, you will look forward to charting your success at reducing your debt.

Plan the steps you will take to get out of debt based on the information you have collected. 

Calculate payment schedules, time-lines and dates for clearing various elements of your debt picture. Plan a “Freedom Day” celebration for the date when you will pay down the last non-essential debt and you once again have a positive cash flow.

Check your W-4 form at work. 

If you've been consistently getting a large refund check from the IRS every year, you're taking too much out in withholding. Reducing your withholding can give you more cash with which to knock down your indebtedness. The savings in interest alone can more than make up for the lack of the big annual tax check. Right now knocking off those credit card payments is more important.

Stop paying minimum payments on credit cards. 

The larger your payments the faster your debt drops. Minimum payments often merely pay the interest without reducing the principle.

Stop going out to eat. 

Quit smoking. You can't afford it. Reduce your cable and cell phone packages to a more manageable level. Turn off the lights. Turn down the thermostat in winter and dress warmer. Turn up the thermostat in summer and put up a couple of ceiling fans. The more you reduce your cost of living, the faster you can pay down your debt.

Borrow from yourself. 

If you've got a 402K or retirement account, insurance policy or wealthy relative who will give you a loan at little or no interest, pay off your credit cards now. Secured loans against money you already have or from relatives is much easier to pay off than credit cards. Only file bankruptcy as a last resort. Working your way out of debt through discipline and planning looks good to lenders if you find you need to buy a car or replace the roof after you've restored your finances to a manageable condition.

The discipline required to dig yourself out of a debt hole can be exhausting. Once you’ve figured out your plan, think up some inexpensive rewards for yourself for meeting your time-lines and goals. If you've got something to look forward to, austerity isn't nearly as deadly dull.

The new health insurance reform bill might mean big changes for your business -- or not. Learn how it affects you here. If you are a small business owner you have probably wondered what the Affordable Care Act means for your business. Before you make any changes to your group health insurance learn what the new law means for you.

Size 

If you run a small business there is a good chance that the new law doesn’t affect you at all. If you have a staff of less than 50 employees you do not have to make any changes. You are exempt from the law.

The Basics 

For firms with over 50 employees, here are some basic rules you should know:

• If you offer health insurance to your employees, don’t worry. The new law won’t affect you much. 
• If you don’t offer health insurance you must pay a fee of $2,000 for every worker in your employ if even one of your employees receives a government subsidy to buy health care. 

• The first 30 employees are deducted from the above fee. 
• If you have employees making less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level who spend between 8 and 9.8 percent of their income on health insurance they have the right to purchase insurance on an exchange. You must provide these employees with a free choice voucher equal to what you would have paid for insurance otherwise. 
• If your firm employs more than 200 people and offers health insurance all employees must be enrolled in the plan, unless these employees have alternate forms of coverage. 
• Enrolled employees’ children may remain on their parents’ plans until their 26th birthdays. 
• All changes take affect on January 1, 2014. 
• Plans with aggregate coverage values of over $8,500 for an individual or $23,000 for a family plan are subject to an excise tax of 40 percent on all benefits in excess of these amounts. 
• Waiting periods likewise incur a fee. After 2014, you must pay a fee of $400 for every employee in the midst of a 30 to 60 day waiting period and $600 for every employee waiting between 60 and 90 days.

Evaluating Your Plan 

It’s not a foregone conclusion that you must offer insurance to your employees. First of all, as stated above, the law does not affect small business. Further, even if you have more than 50 employees, it might be more cost effective to not provide health insurance. There are two cases where this might be true:

• If all of your employees earn more than 400 percent of the federal poverty level, you will incur no penalty for not providing coverage. 
• If group insurance health care plans will cost you more than the $2,000 fine, you might be better off not paying for health insurance and taking the hit.

These will not be the final determiners as to whether or not you provide coverage. They do, however, act as a guide to whether it is economically advantageous for you to provide group health insurance for your employees. 

To Provide or Not to Provide

Whether or not you provide health care coverage for your employees is a complicated issue. 

The final decision is not a result of a pure cost analysis. Remember that having a competitive benefits package is part of attracting the top talent. Still, familiarizing yourself with the changes in the law will allow you to avoid paying fines that aren’t part of a cost-benefit analysis.