Poor
Man Survival
Self Reliance tools for
independent minded people…
ISSN
2161-5543
A Digest of Urban
Survival Resources
Disasters Rise as Insurance
Companies Scales Back Coverage
Since the early 2000s our nation has
experienced a rise in disasters, both man-made [fires] and natural which have
been costly in terms of lives and destruction…hurricanes, tornados, and
flooding. Every region is vulnerable to
some kind of disaster [our own home recently experienced basement flooding].
Your
homeowners policy [remarkably, many people go without homeowners insurance,
life insurance, auto insurance, etc….their idea of insurance is to set up a
“gofundme” page] can help you recover your losses provided you have the right
kind of riders and policies in place.
With
increasing claims insurance costs and premiums are rising and many types of
coverage are becoming more difficult to obtain [including coverage for
EMP-related damage].
Floods
are the number one natural disaster in America.
Most home owners policies leave you vulnerable to many threats including
wind, hail and flooding unless you pay for special riders often for instance
through FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program [ask your broker about this].
You
should ask your agent about complete rebuild coverage in the event of a natural
disaster as often in the case of a total loss, a policy based on the fair value
of your home may not cover the cost of a total rebuild. Regardless of insurable losses, you should be
able to write off excess losses off on your taxable income but this too isn’t
always straightforward and a professional CPA should be consulted and of
course, good records should be kept.
The
main impediments to claiming deductions are $100 rule and the 10% rule.
The
IRS explains it:
“For
property held by you for your personal use, you must subtract $100 from each
casualty or theft even that occurred during the year after you have subtracted
any salvage valueand any insurance or other reimbursement.
Then
add up all those amounts and subtract 10% of your adjusted gross income from
that total…”
The
figure you end up with is the amount of your allowable write-off!
There
is one loophole…if you live in a federally declared disaster zone area. Then you can deduct your losses in the tax
year they occurred, like ordinary casualty deductions.
It
is always best to consult with a good tax person to take full advantage of your
deductions and as always-consult with
your insurance person BEFORE a disaster strikes!
>98% of US Counties Are Affected by
Flooding
>$43,000-The average flood claim payout
from the National Flood Insurance Program
Why Do I Need Flood
Insurance?
Just because you haven't experienced a flood in the past doesn't mean you won't in the future. And it's not just rainfall. Storms, hurricanes, melting snow and severe coastal weather are all causes of flooding.
Am I At Risk for a Flood?
Flood risk is not only based on history but on several factors including tidal surge data, topography and flood control measures. Flood hazard maps have been created to show the degrees of risk for your community, and help to determine the cost of flood insurance.
Just because you haven't experienced a flood in the past doesn't mean you won't in the future. And it's not just rainfall. Storms, hurricanes, melting snow and severe coastal weather are all causes of flooding.
Am I At Risk for a Flood?
Flood risk is not only based on history but on several factors including tidal surge data, topography and flood control measures. Flood hazard maps have been created to show the degrees of risk for your community, and help to determine the cost of flood insurance.
Here are my
ideas for new bill [s] to improve government…
>Since term limits never
seems to gain any traction perhaps we should entertain the idea of zero pay for
elected officials after their third term in office…give them their office,
expenses, health insurance while in office and a living allowance only=much
like our Founding Fathers and see how many decide to remain in office.
>Perhaps
we need to resurrect a new version of ‘war’ bonds, perhaps calling them
“government bailout bonds” to help pay off our national debt and/or to help pay
for our massive deficits and proposed new spending projects since fewer foreign
nations are buying our debt!
>An idea I've suggested before: Eliminate ALL
city/state & Federal taxes on the 1st $25K of income for all people. 41% of
citizens pay no Federal tax, however, many city/state taxes are killers for many. Tax
laws that encourage more US manufacturing/jobs & elimination of red tape
would help too. We'd like to see the USA regain its role as the manufacturing center of the world again AND not held hostage to China or any other nation. [It is amazes me how many citizens and politicians are SHORT TERM thinkers compared to the master planners of China.
“When a population
becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual
round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of
baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public
business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; a culture-death
is a clear possibility.” — Professor Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to
Death: Discourse in the Age of Show Business
What characterizes American government today is not so much
dysfunctional politics as it is ruthlessly contrived governance carried out
behind the entertaining, distracting and disingenuous curtain of political
theater. And what political theater it is, diabolically Shakespearean at times,
full of sound and fury, yet in the end, signifying nothing.
Bruce ‘the Poor Man!’
Free enterprise, limited
government, individual freedom!
Contributors and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.
You Can’t Buy Life
Insurance After You’re Dead-Prepare NOW for Emergencies…
Finally, grab
an emergency power cell or solar/battery radio weather radio!
Having the Patriot
Power Cell on-hand for emergencies keeps your essential electronics up and
running in case you need to call for help.
“The
Cell is a workhorse of power — it’ll charge your phone soup to nuts 3 to 8
times… I think of the Patriot Power Cell as “everyday prepared.” Awesome for
travel or avoiding inconveniences while saving your bacon in an outage. It’s a
MUST HAVE for your survival lineup."
10,000
mAh Battery/Water Resistant/2 LED Flashlight/1.5 Watt Solar Panel/6-Hour Charge
Time
Just in…a buyer from PA: “My niece was on a church Mission
in Africa. She got bit by poisonous
Viper and thankfully she had just charged her phone with the 4Patriots Power
Cell and she was able to call for an air rescue to an emergency facility which saved
her life!”
In stock again!
A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production
2 comments:
I don't often think of flooding where I live but rainfall has exceeded our norm by feet and has flooded many areas of the state [and many took no advance preparations by removing their stuff from basements for whatever reason, then whined]...so now this article has me wondering if I should be calling my insurance agent about flood insurance at least to get some numbers. Timely article.
Everything weather is cyclical and I know some blame global warming but if you read history, the planet always has extremes-ALWAYS with or without the help of man but no doubt, mankind has nudged things along.
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