Insurance: why is it so important? It is a huge expense, and if you’re lucky, there will be no claims against it. Insurance agents are the third most distrusted profession, behind lawyers and used car salesmen. There is also such a thing as being insurance poor, meaning, you have so much insurance, too much of your income is going to that expense. It’s a fine line between being too covered and not covered enough.

There are two types of insurance that a person must never be without; car and some form of homeowners, even if it is just rental insurance. Too many things can happen on the road to be without auto insurance. Also, no one wants to spend time in jail simply because they let this lapse. Home insurance covers theft, fire, floods, just about any catastrophe that can happen with your home.

One of the biggest political debates going on right now is health insurance. Fortunately, when retirement age is reached, this debate and decision becomes even easier. Medicare pays for most doctor and hospital needs for an individual or couple. Many benefits have been added as well. Still, a lot of research needs to be done to choose the best plan for you.

Something relatively new to the insurance market is long-term care insurance. This will assist with paying for assisted living, memory care, or even in home care, such as visiting nurses. The younger a person is when purchased, the cheaper the rates will be.

When my mother died in 2014, she had let her life insurance lapse and my brother and I didn’t know it. She had really no assets, so it fell to us to pay for her funeral. Even though we went simple, it was still over six thousand dollars to bury her. If we hadn’t been able to pay, our only other choice would have been cremation. Mother would have haunted us forever if we had taken that option.

The moral here is that insurance is a necessary evil. The best option is to find an agent that you trust to discuss all options and look into different policies, bundles, deductibles, and premiums.