Types of Insurance

General Liability Insurance

-- Business owners purchase general liability insurance to cover legal hassles due to accident, injuries and claims of negligence. -- These policies protect against payments as the result of bodily injury, property damage, medical expenses, libel, slander, the cost of defending lawsuits, and settlement bonds or judgments required during an appeal procedure.

Types of Insurance

-- Personal Insurance -- Commercial Insurance

Commercial Insurance

-- Workers Compensation Insurance -- General Liability Insurance -- Product Liability Insurance -- Professional Liability Insurance -- Commercial Property Insurance -- Home-Based Business Insurance

Personal Insurance

Property Insurance encompasses three types of policies: 1. fire insurance bought by landlords, 2. homeowner's insurance purchased by the home's owner, and 3. renter's insurance. -- Homeowner's policies cover the dwelling, out buildings, contents and loss of use. -- Landlords buy policies that protect their buildings. Commonly called fire policies, these insurance instruments protect the structure from a variety of hazards. -- A renter can purchase low cost insurance that will protect their contents in a rented dwelling in case of fire, theft, or other loss that may result due to an accident in the insured's rented home

Personal Insurance

-- Auto Insurance -- Health Insurance -- Life Insurance -- Disability Insurance -- Liability Insurance

Liability Insurance

-- Bodily Injury + Property Damage Coverage --- BI: Hurt another person, medical bills ----- Per person/per accident limits --- PD: someone else's property ----- Structural damage, repair/replace, asset protection -- Liability insurance policies cover both legal costs and any legal payouts for which the insured would be responsible if found legally liable. Intentional damage and contractual liabilities are typically not covered in these types of policies.

Professional Liability Insurance

-- Business owners providing services should consider having professional liability insurance (A/K/A errors and omissions insurance). This type of liability coverage protects your business against malpractice, errors, and negligence in provision of services to your customers. -- Depending on your profession, you may be required by your state government to carry such a policy. ---- For example, physicians are required to purchase malpractice insurance as a condition of practicing in certain states. ---- Attorneys and architects are other professions that buy this - why?

Product Liability Insurance

-- Companies that manufacture, wholesale, distribute, and retail a product may be liable for its safety. -- Product liability insurance protects against financial loss as a result of a defect product that causes injury or bodily harm. -- The amount of insurance you should purchase depends on the products you sell or manufacture. ---- A clothing store would have far less risk than a small appliance store, for example.

Home-Based Business Insurance

-- Homeowners' insurance policies do not generally cover home-based business losses. -- Depending on risks to your business, you may add riders to your homeowners' policy to cover normal business risks such as property damage. -- However, homeowners' policies only go so far in covering home-based businesses and you may need to purchase additional policies to cover other risks, such as general and professional liability.

Disability Insurance

-- Offers income protection to individuals who become disabled for a long period of time, and as a result can no longer work during that time period. -- Employees who've paid the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax for a certain amount of time, are eligible to receive the Social Security disability income insurance. ---- Employees who have become disabled can receive this income insurance for at least 1 year. ---- Income insurance payments begin on the 6th month of disability. ---- Fraction of salary

Health Insurance

-- Pays for medical and surgical expenses that are incurred by the insured. -- Health insurance can either reimburse the insured for expenses incurred from illness or injury or pay the care provider directly. -- Health insurance is often included in employer benefit packages as a means of enticing quality employees. -- 'Obamacare'

Commercial Property Insurance

-- Property insurance covers everything related to the loss & damage of company property due to a wide-variety of events such as fire, smoke, wind and hailstorms, civil disobedience and vandalism. The definition of "property" is broad, and includes lost income, business interruption, buildings, computers, company papers and money. -- Property insurance policies come in two basic forms: ---- (1) all-risk policies covering a wide-range of incidents and perils except those noted in the policy; ---- (2) peril-specific policies that cover losses from only those perils listed in the policy. -- Examples of peril-specific policies include fire, flood, crime and business interruption insurance. -- All-risk policies generally cover risks faced by the average small business, while peril-specific policies are usually purchased when there is high risk of peril in a certain area.

Life Insurance

-- protection against the loss of income that would result if the insured passed away. The named beneficiary receives the proceeds and is thereby safeguarded from the financial impact of the death of the insured. -- The goal of life insurance is to provide a measure of financial security for your family after you die. ---- So, before purchasing a life insurance policy, you should consider your financial situation and the standard of living you want to maintain survivors.

Auto Insurance

-- purchased by vehicle owners to mitigate costs associated with getting into an auto accident. -- Instead of paying out of pocket for auto accidents, people pay annual premiums to an auto insurance company; the company then pays all or most of the costs associated with an auto accident or other vehicle damage. ---- Is this required by law? Why or Why not? ---- Premiums vary depending on: age, gender, years of driving experience, accident and moving violation history, and other factors

Workers Compensation Insurance(two parts)

Workers Compensation: -- covers BI by accident that occurs on the job and by disease caused or aggravated by the conditions of employment. For example: A worker falls in the work place due to a spill on the floor of the workspace. Some common benefits available to employees under this coverage are: ---- Medical treatment. ---- Permanent and temporary disability. ---- Death benefits. Employers Liability: -- protects employers if they are found civilly liable for employee injuries that arise out of and in the course of employment. Employers' liability coverage helps protect your business against common-law claims such as: ---- Care and loss of services. ---- Certain types of third party claims. ---- Consequential bodily injury to a family member of the employee Just one injury can cause an employee to be out of work for months, leading to serious financial hardship. Since fault does not matter when it comes to workplace injuries, you may be responsible for an employee injured on the job. Workers compensation insurance can protect your business from a lawsuit and your employees from loss of income.