Most people are always on the lookout for ways to save money. You might think that items that are mandatory, such as auto insurance, do not offer you many options to do so. However, you could be overlooking a quick and easy way of saving money each year on your insurance premiums simply by not accurately reporting your annual mileage.
Low Mileage = Discount
Insurance companies look at the risk you bring to the table when they determine the rate you pay. The lower your risk, the lower your premiums. If you drive fewer miles than their benchmark figure, you will likely get a discount. While the actual mileage varies with each insurance provider, most use a figure between 7,500 and 15,000 miles annually.
Annual Mileage Reporting
There are a few life circumstances that make it more likely that you are driving under the cap of annual miles set by your insurance company. Adding a second car that is only used for errands is one such example. Retirees who no longer commute to work each day could be eligible for a discount. If you work at home, your annual mileage figures could be reduced enough to allow your annual mileage to fall under the cap. Seniors that do not drive often are another segment of the population that could qualify.
Taking Advantage of the Discount
Depending on your insurance company, you could receive a survey in the mail about your driving habits. Filling this out and returning it to your insurance company gives them the tools they need to they can determine if you are eligible for the discount. Alternatively, you could also contact your insurance company and ask them if you qualify for the low-mileage discount.
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Most states demand that businesses, regardless of size, take every reasonable action to keep their premises safe for employees and visitors. The definition of visitors is fairly loose. Basically, it is anyone not employed by the business and covered by its workmen’s compensation insurance policy.
This means that clients, customers, delivery persons, repair persons, outside maintenance contractors and anyone who comes to the business premises needs protection from foreseeable dangers.
There are different types of people who come into a business and each has a different level of required care for its class of visitors.
Invitee
This is a person whose invitation is explicit (by appointment, for example) or implicit (a customer looks at the goods and services for sale in a shop). A business owner’s duty to an invitee is to exercise ordinary care and make the property generally safe without any dangerous conditions.
Licensee
A licensee in not an invitee or trespasser. An example of a licensee is a party who enters the premises for their own convenience or gratification. Think of a person ducking into your entryway to avoid the rain. The duty of care is far less than for an invitee, and the business is only liable to a licensee for willful and malicious harm.
Trespasser
This group of people enter the premises lacking an implicit or explicit invitation. They come on the business property for their own enjoyment or benefit. The only duty of a business owner is a negative one – the business cannot build any mantraps the willfully and maliciously causes a trespasser harm. Many states have an exception to this limited responsibility; if the business anticipates, suspects or knows of the presence of a trespasser it must exercise ordinary care and avoid inflicting injury on a trespasser through any kind of active negligence.
Common Workplace Visitor’s Injuries
Slip and Fall Accidents
These are the largest cause of visitor injuries. Injuries happen when a visitor trips, slips or falls and suffer injuries. These accidents often stem from things such as uneven floorboards, electrical extension cords crossing aisles or doorways, spills or liquids on the floor, and poorly installed carpet or carpeting that has tears or rips.
Negligent Security
It is normal that businesses have a duty to their invitees to make sure they are safe from foreseeable. A business is liable for the criminal acts of a non-employee when the business fails to keep the premises safe from criminal activity. Usually claims of negligent security stem from places such as:
- Hotels
- Motels
- Parking garages
- Apartment complexes
Businesses in high-crime areas (a parking garage in such an area needs adequate lighting, video cameras and warning signs that video surveillance is ongoing, and other security measure as needed.
Attractive Nuisance
This is a legal doctrine that applied mostly to children, even if they are trespassers. Hotels with outdoor pools need adequate fencing, a pool cover, locks and lighting, as the pool is attractive for kids to try to use after trespassing.
Defective Property Conditions
Businesses are often liable for dangerous or defective conditions. These include faulty elevators, faulty escalators, crumbling stairways and more.
Speak with your business insurance advisor about these risks and how to protect yourself, your business and employees from legal liability for them.
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Companies usually use some type of employee performance evaluation to assess successes and gaps in performance and convey these assessments to employees. Although this might be helpful, it’s not enough. If you want your employees to be more engaged and productive, you need to understand their intrinsic motivations.
To do this, consider adding these questions to the employee performance review conversation. (Notice that we use the word “feel” a lot because it’s the employee’s emotions that should concern you.):
- How do you feel about your job?
- How do you feel about the direction of the company?
- Do you feel that you have improved your skills over the last year?
- To what extent do you feel that you have grown as a person while working for us during the past year?
- What do you feel is the most valuable thing you do at work?
- Where do feel you can add more value to the company?
- Out of curiosity, have you looked at other job opportunities or are you completely satisfied here? If not, what would it take to satisfy you?
- Do you feel you’re being paid fairly? If not, what do you feel you should get paid and what do you base that on?
- Do you feel we have exhibited a management style that’s caring and supportive? If not, how can we do a better job of this?
- Is there anything that we haven’t spoken about that feels unfair to you and might get in the way of our working relationship or your success at this company?
- Is there anything else you would like to share that we haven’t talked about?
These are brave questions to ask because most managers really don’t want to dive into the emotional landscape – which is a big mistake. As Daniel Goldman reminds us in Emotional Intelligence, it’s your E.Q., not your I.Q., that’s most important to becoming a great leader or manager.
Consider having this conversation outside of your office where it might feel safer for the employee. For example, “Now that we’ve discussed your performance I like to have a little deeper conversation about your work here and I don’t want to do it in the office. Where would you like to go talk about this? “
You don’t have to buy this idea wholesale. Test it out. Play social scientist and begin with just one employee. Let him or her know that you’re opening up to a more meaningful conversation; and that because you’ve never tried this before it will be a learning experience for both of you!
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Some type of health exam is a requirement before you can take out many life insurance policies. The result of this exam can have a significant impact on your rates, and even on whether you qualify for a particular policy at all. Following these simple tips can help ensure that your health exam goes smoothly.
# 1: Eat a Healthy Diet
As soon as you know you are going to be taking the exam, start doing your best to eat a healthy diet. Many people feel that if their diet has been less than perfect in the past, there is no point in improving it before a health exam — but nothing could be further from the truth! In particular, try to minimize or eliminate your intake of fried, salty or sugary foods, as well as sodas and alcoholic beverages. Instead, eat a balanced, nutritious diet containing plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, complex carbs and lean proteins.
# 2: Stop Smoking
Never smoking at all, or at least stopping permanently, is of course the best course of action for your long-term health. However, if you do smoke, you can improve your exam results simply by not smoking for at least 24 hours prior to the exam; this will help improve your blood work, blood pressure and heart rate.
# 3: Cut Back on Physical Exertion
Normally, of course, physical exercise is very good for your health. However, for two to three days before the exam, avoid hard physical work and exercise. Such exertion can elevate the protein in your urine and be erroneously flagged as a kidney issue.
# 4: Rest
Go to bed early the night before your exam. Fatigue can negatively impact certain components in your blood, giving the appearance of a chronic health problem you do not actually have.
# 5: Avoid Caffeinated Beverages and Stimulants
Finally, avoid caffeine as much as possible during the days leading up to the exam. Caffeine can elevate your heart rate and blood pressure, negatively impacting the results of your exam.
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Roughly two million burglaries occur each year. Protect your home and family when you implement five landscaping tricks that don’t compromise your home’s exterior appearance or value.
1. Place Hostile Plants by Entryways
Burglars typically target easily accessible windows and doors. By placing hostile plants loaded with thorns, briars and brambles near these entryways, you discourage potential burglars. Several hostile plants to consider include roses, holly, raspberries, bird’s nest spruces, needle bushes and Spanish bayonet.
2. Trim Shrubbery Near the House
Overgrown shrubs, bushes and flowering plants look untidy, and they give burglars plenty of places to hide. They also prevent neighbors and anyone on the street from seeing suspicious behavior near your home. Protect your home when you keep shrubbery trimmed to lower than three feet tall all along the exterior of your home. Remember to trim plants away from the sides of your home too.
3. Use Noisy Ground Cover
Burglars try to be as quiet as possible, but noisy ground cover around your windows and doors alerts you to their every move. Pea gravel or other crunching stones do the trick, and you can find these burglar deterrents in colors that match your existing landscaping.
4. Install Short Privacy Fencing
Tall fences and tree barriers increase privacy, but they also obscure burglars. Install short fencing with an open design instead. If you already planted trees or shrubs, trim them so that the canopy starts at eight feet or higher off the ground.
5. Turn on the Lights
Most outdoor landscaping includes lighting of some sort. Opt for strategically placed motion-activated lighting as you reduce your chances of being burglarized. Place these lights near all your doors and windows and along pathways. They frighten burglars away and warn you when someone walks near your home.
Your home’s landscaping adds beauty and value to your property. It also deters burglars. Talk to your insurance agent today and discuss additional landscaping tricks that deter burglars and protect your home.
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According to the Social Security Administration, one in four 20-year-old employees will become disabled by their sixty-seventh birthday. What would you do if an injury or illness prevented you from working? Unless you have accumulated adequate savings, you may have trouble paying your daily living costs. Protect your right to earn a living and receive peace of mind with disability insurance.
What is Short-Term Disability Insurance?
While this type of policy won’t cover the full amount of your regular wages, it will pay 60 to 70 percent, which is better than nothing. Your policy will outline the wait period, which could be as long as two weeks or as short as one day. Under short-term disability, you’ll receive replacement wages for up to six months.
What is Long-Term Disability Insurance?
Designed for extended or permanent times of illness or disability, long-term disability insurance begins after short-term disability ends. You might be able to extend your policy benefits annually, depending on the policy.
You Can’t Rely on Social Security
You may put off purchasing disability insurance because you think you will automatically qualify for social security benefits when an injury or illness prevents you from working . That’s not true. Your claim could be one of the 50 percent that are denied. If you are approved, benefits won’t start for at least six months and may be a faction of the income you need.
Your Pension may not be Enough
A pension from the government or a private company may provide disability benefits. They typically are reduced, though, based on the permanence of your disability and other benefits you may receive.
You can’t predict when a devastating illness or injury will happen. However, it could jeopardize your ability to work. Talk to your insurance agent to determine which disability insurance fits with your overall financial plan as you obtain financial peace of mind.
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