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Monday, May 20, 2019

Disasters Rise as Insurance Companies Scales Back Coverage


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.

 

 

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.


Yours for a more secure future,

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…
 

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In stock again!

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A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production

2 comments:

Larry said...

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.

Stephanie said...

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.