Hardly a day goes by without news of a serious house fire, not to mention, floods, tornadoes, or other calamities. Chances are, the unfortunate homeowners will suffer a second misfortune when they battle their insurance companies over the value of their lost personal property. Let’s look at a worst-case scenario: your house or apartment burns down, blows away, or floats away. Would you be able to accurately recall all your possessions, and how persuasively could you argue your case to a skeptical insurance company?
By preparing your household inventory, you might just have a shot. A list of your possessions does not have to be fancy or time intensive. It might only consist of a bunch of camera shots or a video of your sundry possessions, but this can go a long way toward assuring a fair and full insurance settlement should the worst happen. Abundant worksheets and websites are available to help you prepare and maintain your inventory. While the contents of these websites are often housed in cloud storage, you will want to print a copy, and store it in a safe location as well. By the way, don’t store that household inventory in your house, for the obvious reason.
Smart Money Tips
- Consider rolling over your workplace retirement plan investments from a former employer into an IRA. A surprisingly large percentage of individuals who change jobs leave their retirement plan money – 401(k), 403(b), 457 plans – with their former employer. This may not be wise. Such plans offer a limited range of investment choices. These investment choices may not be reviewed frequently or monitored by the investment team. This could result in undistinguished to subpar performance. There may be circumstances where keeping your money in a former employer’s plan or rolling it to your current employer’s plan makes sense. But if you’re comfortable managing your investments on your own and are looking to expand your investment options, rolling the money into an IRA may be preferable. Your former plan administrator can assist you with this. Consolidating your investment accounts is almost always desirable to boot.
- Telephone scams are on the rise. Telephone scams are pervading every area of the country. While they can take many forms, they share one thing in common – to frighten the potential victim enough to get them to convey debit, credit card, or other personal information. Scary scenarios take many forms. We have all heard about the family member who is in trouble overseas or the IRS calls, or any other authority who is demanding immediate payment or else. A new scam is taking a big toll. Someone calls demanding that you pay for something with a gift card. Remember that gift cards are for gifts to people you know, not to pay for something. Once the scammers obtain cards, they are cashed in and there is little or no recourse with the card company. Anyone may fall for these scams, but seniors are particularly susceptible. Warn everyone in your family as well as close friends to never impart any personal information to an unknown individual over the phone, even if you think you are speaking with a trustworthy individual or company you know.
Food for Thought
Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.
-Timothy Leary
Money Can Be Funny
I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something.
-Jackie Mason
Word of the Week
argute (ahr-GYOOT) – Shrewd in small matters. Sharp, keen, quick, or subtle.
Origin: From the Latin argutus meaning sharp, which in turn comes from the verb arguere, to make clear. Same root as “argue.”
Emily is one of our best analysts as she’s smart and argute.