29 Mar, 2024
2 mins read

This 5-Step Annual Insurance Audit Can Save You Thousands Of Dollars

Car insurance costs are rising, forcing drivers to search for ways to save money in already tight budgets. According to a Bankrate report, the average annual premium of full coverage auto insurance rose 26% from last year to $2,543 in 2024.

Insurance is simply a way to manage your financial risks. When you purchase a policy, you are essentially purchasing protection against potential financial losses.

The insurance company pays you or someone you choose if something bad happens. And if you have no insurance when an accident happens, you may be responsible for all related costs. This annual insurance “audit” habit, broken down into five easy steps, can save you thousands of dollars each spring.

1. ‘A’ Is For Assembling Your Documentation

Assemble your insurance policies and documents every year. Schedule around four hours to gather all your insurance papers, from the booklets to the receipts, in a safe spot.

Normally, I’m all about digital, but reviewing policies in paper form makes it easier for me to read, highlight and underline. I keep them in a safe along with other important documents. So, when you have a stressful situation that requires filing a claim, you don’t have to rummage around or remember your username and password to find out what your insurance covers.

2. ‘U’ Is For Understanding Your Coverage

To understand your insurance coverage and costs, you don’t need to become an expert. However, it’s important to actually read the fine print and review all of the coverage limits. And you must review the actual costs and the parameters you are paying for — specifically the premiums, the deductibles and the overall policy costs.

As a financial coach, one of the biggest

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1 min read

Supporting civil legal aid is a good investment

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When Gov. Wes Moore announced his 2024 housing package, the connection to the legal community at large might not have been readily apparent. Yet, within one of the pieces of legislation currently pending before the Maryland General Assembly is a provision that has the capacity to provide sustainable support to the Maryland Legal Services Corporation and the grantees it supports.

The Renters Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024 can help not only address the disparities within our landlord/tenant law framework, but also support and sustain the MLSC and in turn the civil legal aid organizations upon whom so much relies, by raising the filing surcharges in landlord/tenant matters to just below the national average and distributing those funds equally between a statewide Rental Assistance Voucher Program and the legislatively created MLSC Fund.

MLSC’s mission is to ensure low-income Marylanders have access to stable, efficient and effective civil legal assistance through the distribution of funds to nonprofit legal services organizations. It currently funds 46 organizations to work toward that mission across the entire state. The Maryland General Assembly created MLSC in 1982 to administer the state’s Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program, and since that time MLSC grantees have assisted approximately 4 million Marylanders with a wide variety of civil legal needs.

In 1998, the General Assembly enacted surcharges in civil cases as a source of funding for MLSC, and those surcharges now amount to one of MLSC’s largest funding streams.

The funds from these increased surcharges will support legal services for over 82,000 Marylanders, directly benefiting over 160,000 individuals. MLSC grantees helped clients obtain more than $16.2 million in economic awards and avoid over $18.8 million in costs through their cases, for issues such as child support, consumer judgments and discharged debts.

Civil cases constitute

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2 mins read

Cornerstone Insurance Solicits Brokers’ Partnership To Deepen Penetration

Cornerstone Insurance Plc has solicited partnership of registered insurance brokers in its plan to deepen insurance penetration in the country.

To this end, the management of the insurance firm embarked on a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) secretariat in Yaba, Lagos on Monday, seeking collaboration of the council to bring more Nigerians into the insurance bracket.

Speaking during the visit, the managing director/CEO, Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Stephen Alangbo noted that his firm is changing the insurance landscape in Nigeria through innovation and professionalism that has stood it out from its inception until now, saying, his underwriting company has motivated professionals who are interested in promoting the Cornerstone brand.

Even though some brokers are already selling his company’s products, he called for more support, especially, from those who are currently not in business with the underwriter, disclosing that Cornerstone prioritizes claims payment and has been swift in responding to customers enquiries, a trait that stands it out.

Promising to always participate and support the activities of NCRIB, especially, under the current dispensation, he said, insurance brokers are an important segment in the insurance value-chain that cannot be ignored.

To him, Cornerstone Insurance reported N19 billion gross premium written (GPW) while Cornerstone Group posted N23 billion GPW in 2022 financial year end, even as the company withdrew N25 billion and the group posted N30 billion gross premium in 2023, a testament of growth in its business.

“We are trying to bridge the gap between Cornerstone and the brokers. Although some are already in business with us, however, we want more patronage, a symbiotic relationship. We don’t joke with claims as long as they are genuine, therefore, we can assure you that we have always and will continue to settle all genuine claims obligations. “We equally promise

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2 mins read

Backlash over Hochul’s attempt to divert $120m from legal aid fund

Gov. Kathy Hochul is under scrutiny for her budget proposal to divert funds from the Indigent Legal Services, sparking widespread concern among legal advocates and professionals.
Photo: Hans Pennink/AP

The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) has voiced strong opposition to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recent executive budget proposal, which aims to redirect $120 million from the Indigent Legal Services Fund to the state’s general fund.

This move, coupled with the denial of a $46.3 million budget increase requested by Indigent Legal Services, has sparked concern among legal professionals and advocacy groups regarding the potential impact on legal aid for the state’s most vulnerable populations.

Richard Lewis, NYSBA president, criticized the proposal for jeopardizing essential legal services for indigent New Yorkers, particularly in areas such as Family Court and public defense. The proposal requires an annual appropriation for the distribution of these earmarked funds, a process that has repeatedly seen the executive branch withhold necessary funding, according to Lewis.

“Gov. Hochul is proposing to sweep $120 million earmarked for Indigent Legal Services into the state’s general fund,” Lewis said. “She has also rejected a request from Indigent Legal Services for a $46.3 million increase over last year’s budget — all of which would have come from the Indigent Legal Services Fund and none of which was needed to be appropriated from the general budget.

“Even though these funds are earmarked, there must be an annual appropriation in the state budget for Indigent Legal Services to distribute the funds,” Lewis continued. “Despite annual requests to use these funds according to their designated purposes, the executive branch has declined to appropriate much-needed funding, creating the paradox of monies remaining in the fund but not being able to be distributed under the State Finance Law.”

The controversy follows a similar situation earlier this year

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1 min read

Home insurance in Nebraska doubles national average

The surge in local housing prices has been compounded by a dramatic increase in homeowners insurance, an online data research center has determined.

Insuring a house in Nebraska is twice as expensive as the national average, according to Insurify.

“Nebraska is a pretty example of the region,” said Chase Gardner, Insurify’s head of data research. “The typical US homeowner is going to pay something like $1,800 for an insurance policy and residents in Nebraska are paying over $3,500 on average.”

The situation has many local insurance officials searching for answers.

“I’ve been in this industry for 33 years and I have never seen it as challenged as it is right now,” said Mark Walz, chairman, president and CEO of Lincoln-based Farmers Mutual of Nebraska.

The company has lost money in back-to-back years after paying out more than $1 billion in total loss claims in 2022 and 2023.

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Walz cited an industry report by ratings agency AM Best, which released its most recent market segment report this week.

AM Best listed weather, reinsurance behaviors and the rising costs for repairs — caused by inflation — as the reasons for the spike in homeowner insurance rates nationwide — and more specifically, in Nebraska.

“In addition to these headwinds, lingering challenges such as litigation financing and social inflation have yet to be resolved,” the report stated. “Insurers also faced persistent inflationary pressures and were in dire need of rate relief to offset elevated loss costs, supply chain disruptions, and rising commodity and labor costs.”

According to the American Agents Alliance, a trade organization for independent insurance agents and brokers, the cost of labor and construction materials has increased nearly 50% since 2020.

The rising cost to replace roofs and other damage caused by hail storms only adds to the

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2 mins read

Illegal migrants convicted of ‘violent’ felonies would get legal aid under California bill

The California State Assembly is considering legislation allowing undocumented migrants convicted of “violent” or “serious” felonies to receive immigration-related legal services.

The “Representation, Equity, and Protections (REP) for All Immigrants Act” would eliminate restrictions on existing laws prohibiting grant funds’ use for assisting those convicted of such felonies. The grants are provided to non-profits which assist migrants with certain immigration-related legal services.

“For as long as I have been in state office, I have worked towards ensuring people are given a second chance and have championed efforts to prevent people from being treated as second-class individuals,” Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-South Los Angeles, the legislation’s sponsor, said last month. “The REP for All Immigrants Act ensures racial justice and truly equitable access to crucial immigration services for all – not some.”

Migrants having an interpersonal connection in California or looking to live there are able to receive legal services to defend against their removal from the US under the bill. Any information identifying the migrant throughout the legal process would be exempt from disclosure on public records.

The legislation currently sits in the Assembly’s Committee on the Judiciary. It has received criticism from some Republicans, including Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, R-Temecula, who blasted the bill as “completely unacceptable” Sunday.

READ MORE | Biden receives backlash from Democrats over use of ‘illegal’ term during SOTU

Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer is not the only California lawmaker to speak out in support of recent migrants. Last month, Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., cautioned against reshaping current immigration policies based solely on a migrant’s suspected murder of a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student. Laken Riley died from blunt force trauma while jogging at the University of Georgia last month, and police arrested Jose Antonia Ibarra, who entered the US illegally, in connection with her death.

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2 mins read

Former US attorney general dishes on time as designated survivor under Bush

Alberto Gonzales, who served as attorney general in President George W. Bush’s administration, was on a plane as the “designated survivor” for the 2007 State of the Union address, a unique experience he discussed Thursday with NewsNation.

Gonzales said he was approached by Bush’s chief of staff about a week before the speech about being the designated survivor for the government in case of a catastrophic attack on the Capitol.

He said he was given two options “in terms of what I could do that evening” and he chose the option to be in a plane during the address because “it would be kind of cool to fly around … as the president gave the State of the Union.”

When he arrived at Maryland’s Andrews Air Force Base, Gonzales said there were individuals from “every major department and agency” that had “big binders of protocols and procedures to advise me in the event that I became president.”

Gonzales said he was briefed on a number of things and he “settled in” on the plane to watch Bush give his address “where I suddenly realized” that if something were to happen at the Capitol, he would be president.

“It’s a sobering thought, quite frankly,” he said.

He said that there was no “special training” for being a designated survivor, saying he assumed it was “in the binders.”

He added that he thinks the president chooses a designated survivor who has a good understanding of what is going on in the world and the country.

Gonzales said he was “honored to do it.”

The tradition of naming a designated survivor began in the 1950s as a Cold War-era policy designed to keep the government from being completely dismantled if something were to happen, since the vice president, Cabinet members and both

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2 mins read

Michele Carver | Insurance Brokers Association of BC (IBABC)

Michele Carver, President, Insurance Brokers Association of BC (IBABC)

“I originally wanted to be a veterinarian,” says Michele Carver, president of the Insurance Brokers Association of British Columbia (IBABC), and manager of agency compliance for The British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA). “I worked in veterinary clinics while at university, but I ran out of money.”

BCAA was right down the street from Carver’s home at the time. Her father pushed her in that direction, so she joined the company. She has been there ever since, including while raising two children, now grown.

Focusing on family while trying to stay connected to opportunities at work was no easy task. It can be difficult for women, as they juggle priorities and as they age, to ensure they remain relevant.

“Over the last 12 years, I’ve thought, ‘If I don’t get on things, I’m going to lose traction,’” Carver shares. “I started purposefully doing a lot of networking and taking a lot of certifications to make up for my lack of a degree.”

Of course, Carver did not lose traction at all, extending his work beyond the walls of the BCAA about eight years ago by becoming involved with IBABC. Last year, she was first broker employee to step into the year-long role of president; and she will soon become the board’s chairwoman when a new nominee takes over as president of the association in May.

She is also involved with the Insurance Council of British Columbia as a non-voting member, doing a lot of committee work and sharing in discussions around things like changes to licensing.

“At IBABC, my mandate is to support our members to make sure they are as successful as possible,” says Carver. That includes, among other things, taking part in advocacy work and providing education. “I enjoy getting

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1 min read

Legal aid booths to be opened in courts across the peninsula

KUALA LUMPUR: Legal aid booths will be opened next month for the public at court premises across Peninsular Malaysia.

Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah Yee Lynn said the booth, to operate on the first Wednesday of every month, also ensures that impecunious persons receive legal advice and representation.

She said there are now 14 legal aid centers in Peninsular Malaysia, catering to every state, and they have assisted more than 124,000 people over the past decade.

“Interestingly, if we assume that professional fees were at a nominal rate of RM1,000 per file, our volunteer members would have provided legal services valued at RM120 million in the last decade. The KL legal aid center alone assisted over 2,700 foreigners in 2023 .

“At this point, I would like to mention another initiative by our National Legal Aid & YBGK Committee—each and every member of the Bar Council, including its office bearers, has pledged their commitment to handling one legal aid case in a year, volunteering to be on duty at a legal aid center, or participate in legal awareness or outreach programs organized by State Legal Aid Centres,” she said.

She said this on Monday (March 11) at the launch of ‘Guaman Majlis Peguam Assistance Day’ at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex here, which Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat officiated.

Cheah further said that it is priceless when people are offered assistance expecting nothing in return, adding that she believes such assistance has the potential for great impact, affecting legal aid recipients, their family members, and possibly even future generations.

Touching on the background of the legal aid centre, Cheah said the Bar Council started its first center in 1980, first in a small village coffee shop and later in a wooden shack in the then-fishing village of Bayan

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Bar setting up monthly legal aid booths in courts to assist the public

Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah said everyone should have equal access to justice, regardless of status.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council has designated the first Wednesday of each month to provide legal aid to the public at courthouses across the peninsula, Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah said.

“This is to provide the public access to justice,” she said when launching the council’s Legal Aid Day today.

The event, undertaken in collaboration with the judiciary, the Bar Council National Legal Aid Committee and the National Legal Aid Foundation, was officiated by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat at the Kuala Lumpur court complex.

Elaborating on how legal aid services will be implemented, committee chairman Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor said lawyers will be assigned to man booths set up in courts beginning next month.

“Our members will attend to queries from the public, provide advice and, if necessary be, mitigate criminal cases in which an accused pleads guilty,” he told FMT.

Fareed, a former Bar president, said the first of such booths had been set up in the Kuala Lumpur court complex.

“From next month, more booths will be set up in other courts on the peninsula,” he said.

In her speech, Cheah said the importance of legal aid is found in Article 8 of the Federal Constitution, which states that all persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law.

“This applies regardless of a person’s income or resources. Everyone ought to have equal access to justice,” she said.

Cheah will relinquish her post as Bar president on Saturday after having served a two-year term.

She said the council started its first Legal Aid Center in 1980, first in a small village coffee shop and later in a wooden shack in the then fishing village

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