An Umbrella for a Rainy Day

Four weeks into the season and the Cleveland Browns picked up their first win on Sunday.  I have to admit, for about an hour after the victory I was thinking Super Bowl. I think mental endurance is part of being a Brown's fan. We endure miserable heart-breaking losses for weeks, seasons and decades in a row  and the first taste of victory fully recharges us to endure it all over again.  Next game, next year is ours!  Not every day will be a good one. My job is to prepare you for the worst.  By doing so, we'll insure that your future remains optimistic.

Steven Anyone was having one of those days that he’d like to forget.  He woke up late and because of traffic he ended up being late to work as well. His cell phone rang and it was his wife on the other end informing him that their water heater had just gone out.  He hung up, set his cell phone in the cup holder of his car and looked up in time to see that he was driving through a red light. He had little time to brace for impact before his car slammed into the side of a minivan carrying a family of four.

Fast forward, six months: the property damage, bodily injury, pain and suffering and loss of income to the injured party that Steven caused was severe.  Much to the disappointment of the victims, the court awarded the injured family only $750,000 in compensation.  Steven’s auto policy provided bodily injury  liability limits of $500,000.  If this were all the protection he had, Steven would be on the hook for $250,000.  All of Steven’s savings, possessions and retirement income are at risk; all of his life’s hard work. If Steven doesn’t have this much money available, the court could garnish his future wages until his debt to the victims is paid. 

Luckily, when Steven and his wife purchased their auto and homeowner’s policy, they also purchased a supplemental liability umbrella that provides an additional $1,000,000 of liability coverage on top of their home and auto insurance.  The $250,000 excess that Steven’s auto policy could not pick up was absorbed by his liability umbrella, and because of that, Steven and his wife do not have to put their life on hold, and the family that Steven injured will be compensated for their injuries and loss.

Concert Pianist Awarded $618,000 From Crash

This is a headline from an article that I have laying on my desk.  The at-fault party was a State Farm insured.  The article did not say if the insured had enough liability insurance to pay for the judgment. Some may ask, “What is the chance of that happening to me or my family?” The fact that the chance exists is enough for me. I don’t have a second lifetime to re-accumulate my savings and retirement.  How much does an umbrella policy cost? What if it was possible to obtain $1,000,000 in additional liability coverage for   little to no out of pocket outlay? Would you take that opportunity? Depending on how your home and auto policies are structured, it may be possible to obtain an additional $1,000,000 of liability coverage for little or no cost.  Contact me directly to learn more, and see if that is possible for you.