Your auto insurance policy has a limit. So does your home insurance policy. Limits may sound confining because they limit the insurance company’s liability in claims that affect your car or home, but they also benefit you because they limit your premium. After all, if you had unlimited liability from the insurance company, the premiums they would have to charge in order to stay in business would be outrageous. But some individuals want a little extra insurance – more than their regular insurance policies offer. Those individuals can choose to add an umbrella policy to their insurance arsenal.
What is an umbrella insurance policy?

An umbrella policy is not like a different kind of insurance plan, but simply a liability policy that stretches out over the limits of your existing home insurance or auto insurance policy. And like an umbrella protects its carrier from the coming rainfall, an umbrella insurance policy protects policyholders from the claims of individuals that exceed the limits of their underlying home insurance or auto insurance policies. You don’t need a separate umbrella insurance policy for both home and auto coverage – one umbrella policy extends protection for claims under each policy.
How does it work?

Having a pool can be a lot of fun, but it can also bring a lot of liability to a home owner’s doorstep. If one of your friends or neighbors is visiting your home and is injured while swimming in or walking around your pool, it could result in a very large claim against your home insurance policy (depending on the nature and extent of the damages suffered). For the sake of this example, let’s say that you have a home insurance policy with limits of 0,000. Your children’s friends come over one afternoon to enjoy the pool and one of them slips and falls in, resulting in a neck injury and partial temporary disability that creates a need for several years’ worth of physical therapy and surgery in order for that person to walk again. This could result in a liability claim of million or more – but your home insurance will only pay up to 0,000. The rest of the claim is your responsibility to pay – unless you have an umbrella policy. If you did, the umbrella policy would pay the remaining 0,000 due and you would not have to sell your home or dip into your personal assets to pay the claim. The example would work the same way if your automobile was the cause of the injury rather than the pool.

Because umbrella policies are not required by law, it is up to you whether or not you have one. When you consider the damage to your finances and your future that a single liability claim could have, you might find that the additional protection of an umbrella policy covering your home and auto is just enough to help you sleep easier at night.

We know what you’re thinking. Ashton Kutcher looks nothing like Charlie Sheen, but also how home insurance should be cheaper. That’s why Budget Insurance home insurance cuts the cost and not the cover, helping your premiums to lose a bit of that holiday weight and fit back into your budget.

Budget Insurance home insurance is buildings insurance, which covers the actual structure of the home and outbuildings. (For the movable possessions within the home, check out their home contents insurance.) This covers the structure from loss or damage caused by fire, lightning, explosion, storms, floods and earthquakes, even though we don’t get them in South Africa.

What is included in the policy is not just the structure of the home, but fixtures such as geysers, driveways, swimming pools and some other unmovable possessions on the property.

Should your geyser burst or overflow, it is covered under your policy. More than just protection from natural disasters though, Budget Insurance Brokers protect your home from impact with movable items such as cars, falling trees and animals, as well as malicious or intentional damage. They also provide:
Rent

Should the property you own be occupied by a tenant who has to vacate the premises as a result of fire, explosion, storms, floods, earthquakes, malicious damage, and moving vehicles, trees and animals, then Budget Insurance Brokers home insurance will pay out the rent that you lose from the tenant. (Note: this is not landlord insurance for tenants who default on payments.)

You are also covered should you require, rent.

That is, if your home is uninhabitable as a result of the above mentioned damage, your insurance policy covers rent to relocate elsewhere while reconstruction begins.
Liability

If your home is a very bad home and injures others, the legal and medical fees are covered under this policy too. This covers third parties (which includes anyone living in the home or anyone who visits you) as well as domestic employees who may be injured on the job.

Budget Insurance home insurance also includes the cost to remove rubble, fire brigade charges, television aerials, power supplies and professional fees, for example, plumbers and electricians.

For more information on their home insurance policy, visit their policy book.

Originally posted at:  insurance.co.za

If you own a home then you may know that the lawn can create a massive problem in the way that your home looks. You might have a stunning home, and you may have lovingly planted lots of flowers and shrubs to keep the exterior looking pretty all year round, but you can’t account for yellow patches in the lawn. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, the lawn looks ropey and tired, and it brings down the whole feel you were trying to achieve.

But have you considered artificial grass? A lot of homeowners are selecting this as an option to guarantee that their ho0me stays pretty all year round, and a lot of the fake grass on the market now looks like the real thing. It can be bought in any length that you like, and then you don’t have to worry about getting the lawn mower out, changing the blades and trying not to run over the lead and electrocute yourself!

It’s really easy to lay: all you have to do is remove the old grass and make sure that the ground is even underneath.

To make sure that it stays looking good, put down a ground sheet to stop weeds from penetrating the false grass. Once laid, make sure that you brush the grass with sand, as this will fall through the little holes used for water drainage, and ensure that if there is heavy rainfall then puddles wont form as the sand will soak it up.

Benefits of fake grass are that it always looks neat and tidy, and you won’t have to spend any of your spare time mowing and tending to unkempt grass. Some people even vacuum their fake grass to ensure that it looks as best as it can.

If you have children then they will love it as when it snows, even if the snow melts, it stays white on the grass.

They will be able to play outside in all weather conditions without getting shouted at for being muddy, and its soft enough for small children to play on without getting hurt.

If you don’t have a Home Insurance policy then go online for one to protect your belongings.

Some of us buy gold jewelry because it looks good, our mom said so, it compliments the color of our skin, its a great possible investment, yaddy, yaddy yah. The reasons are as numerous as the overly honest dealers who would sell you the goods.

I guess I shouldn’t skip too quickly over the “great investment theme” because its somewhat important to know that 10 Carat gold all the way up to 18 Carat gold is generally not considered to be great investment material. It is simply not investment grade, hard assets even if your home insurance covers it in case of theft.

If investment is your reason and you don’t want to buy gold bars or certificates, and of course you want to flaunt your investment on your skin during special occasions then go for jewelery that is at least 22-24 Carat Gold. The trick, especially in North America and England, is where does one buy 24K Gold?

Most jewelers who don’t sell 24 Carat gold are likely to tell you that there is no such thing in jewelry since its too soft for most applications.

They do have a point there.

I first started buying gold in the souks of Al Kobar, Saudi Arabia. It was, at one time very cheap there. Then I moved on to the gold souks of Dubai and the other middle east *more* commercial centers. Real 24K stuff can be had there – not the 10K worthless stuff sold in England or the 14K *not-to-die-for* stuff sold as gold jewelry in Canada and the United States.

Truth was, I thought it was 24, but it was usually only 97-98% pure, but hey, still better than the 14k fluff sold in North America.

Then I found them. These are massive jewelery shops on both the Hong Kong and Kowloon side. Supposedly, the HK government certifies what they are selling, but these tourists traps have all kinds of interesting motivational ‘deals’ especially in Kowloon.

Anyway, they have certificates claiming they are 99.999% pure, but when I took their stuff to Toronto, I was told oh no, its only 22K not 24.

When I further took their stuff to a reputable goldsmith to melt down, he again informed me that it was only 22.5 to 23 Carats Gold purity. I keep thinking about how embarrassing it would be to pull out one’s own little gold volume/weight measurement tool in one of those massive elite stores and proudly if not loudly proclaim that their 99.999% gold isn’t truly what it claims to be – I am also imagining that one would be set on by police for creating a disturbance.

And I know someone else will post and tell me that they are from HK and the govt certifies these big shops blah blah but I have purchased big items 4 times and each time while trying to sell elsewhere in North America and the UK have been told similar bad news ( Even when I presented the govt stamped HK certificate )

Lesson learned, when buying gold from a store don’t ever fully 100% trust your seller or your buyer because the value of the metal is so high, understand that if they can sucker you for even 2-3% of the value, they will, they can and they won’t stop – irrespective of govt certifications blah blah blah.

Some might respond and say, but you still got 22 Carat right? Truly the answer is “Yes I did”, even if I thought I was paying for 24. And further, now that I know that it is really 22.5 Carat necklaces and bracelets that I am buying and not 24 like they say, I would dicker the price down with the true understanding of what I am getting.

If your goal is truly for investment and you have no overriding need to put the bling on then buy a certified gold bar from a western based dealer who is liable in western courts and has both insurance and liability coverage.

If what you are looking to purchase is 14 Carat or below, ignore everything above, 14 Carat is not investment quality anyway.

Wear it, enjoy it, don’t lose it and have fun.