Six Tips to Maximize Your Family’s Disaster Preparedness

The surest way to turn a natural disaster, like a flood or an earthquake into a personal financial crisis is to not be fully prepared. Use these six tips to help your family prepare for a disaster.

1. Make sure you have the right insurance policy to cover all your needs and that the insurance policy is up to date—our representatives are happy to help you find a policy that’s right for you. In California, for instance, flood and earthquake insurance policies protect against these two natural disasters and most homeowners policies do not cover damage incurred by either.
2. Take careful inventory of your valuables so that, in the event of a disaster, your insurance company can process all your needs quickly and efficiently. When compiling your inventory, note the model and serial numbers of each item, and remember to keep copies of all sales receipts, cancelled checks, and credit card receipts for your records.
3. Check with an AIS representative to determine whether your policy should be based upon actual cash value of your insured items or their replacement cost. Replacement cost coverage is more expensive, but often times it is in the insured’s best interest. If your policy does not reflect replacement cost, you may want to consider adding the additional coverage.
4. Keep all important documents including wills, insurance policies, and, of course, your inventory of valuables in a safe location away from your home, like a safe deposit box.
5. Have periodic appraisals of your home to take any improvements into account, and as you acquire more valuables, e.g., jewelry, art, etc., make sure your insurance policy reflects them. You may need to purchase additional insurance though, as many general policies do not provide the specific coverage needed.

By simply taking the time to plan for the worst and following these six tips for disaster preparedness, you can avoid the financial ruin that sometimes accompanies natural disasters like floods and earthquakes, and with that, comes piece of mind.

This content is offered for educational purposes only and does not represent contractual agreements. The definitions, terms and coverages in a given policy may be different than those suggested here and such policy will be governed by the language contained therein. No warranty or appropriateness for a specific purpose is expressed or implied.