We started week 1 with a tough, but HUGELY important topic – retirement. Hopefully you’ve all gone through the steps to increase your retirement contributions by one percent. Don’t be surprised if we revisit this topic before the end of the series.
Week 2: Price check your home & auto insurance
Our task for week 2 brings us to back to everyday life . This one could put extra money in your pocket! If you have had the same auto and/or home insurance company for several years, it’s time to do a premium check up. Around 2009, our rates had been increasing quite a bit, so we switched carriers for big savings. Sure enough, after the first two years, the rates started going up, up, and away with the new carrier.
Finally fed up, I pulled up my auto policy online and completed an online quote with our prior company. For slightly BETTER coverage, our rates would drop 27% which comes out to $56/month or $672/year! Wow! I think I’ll see the same savings with my homeowners insurance. I couldn’t get a quote online, so my task for the week is to call and find out how much more I can save by switching my home over as well. In most cases, you’ll want to keep your homeowners and auto insurance with the same company to take advantage of multi-line discounts.
This week, instead of viewing your insurance as a fixed expense, ask trusted family & friends for insurance company recommendations and get a few quotes. I’m a little (a lot!) paranoid, so we are going with a company that served us well in the past versus the one with absolute lowest rate. I recommend having your existing policy in front of you to make sure you are getting an apples to apples comparison.
Come back and let me know if you were able to save as much as we were! I’ll tweet an updated savings amount for our family when I make the final switch. Follow me on twitter so you don’t miss out!
[…] Here’s a link to week 2! […]