29) Insurances

Oh my God! There is so much information about insurances that my blog would become boring explaining all kind of insurances that a small enterprise might need.

I guess the Rule number 1 you must keep in your mind is:

-How much budget do you have?

and Rule number 2:

-All the insurance companies just want to sell as many insurance plans as possible. Always.

Yes, it is an insurance, a protection and in many cases it is needed, but it is also an expense, or so called investment, so I must be aware of how to locate the money. If I would give free will to my insurance agent I would end up totally broke.

Here is what I think, there are 3 types of insurances:

1) The ones I need by Law
2) The ones I should really buy (not compulsory by law)
3) The ones that are recommended to purchase but not a must

Very well, why do I think of these 3 types.

1) The ones I need by Law

Check your country's regulations, consult with a lawyer, it depends a lot on your business branch and business concept. Specially if you have employees from the beginning, you might need to buy certain insurances.

In my case, it's not compulsory to buy insurances, but "recommended". If I would have employees then it would be a different story.

2) The ones I should really buy:

If you review the list of all kind of insurances, well the answer is simple. I need them all.

-Unemployment insurance
-Life insurance
-Working accident insurance
-Office/Assets insurance
-Catastrophe insurance
-Legal issues insurance
-Etc.
-Etc.
-Etc.

But I'm pretty sure you are going to end up without money pretty soon.

But what about the ones I really need. The ones I really think they would give me a better quality sleep:

1) A General liability insurance
2) A product liability insurance
3) A legal expenses insurance
4) A contingency cover
5) A cargo insurance

For the moment, a general liability insurance, a cargo insurance and a contingency cover are not so urgent.

A product liability insurance would be good to take, before I start selling my products, of course (the same with a general liability insurance).

And a legal expenses insurance: This one is the one that I would need most, right now from the beginning, but since it usually doesn't cover any trademark issues then, in my case, is worthless.

3) The ones that are recommended to purchase but not a must:

There are many, like life insurance, medical care, catastrophe insurance, insurance over the insurance, etc. Yes, they are recommended, but they are not a must for your business operation. Then again it depends on your business branch. For example, I heard David Copperfield had a lot of troubles finding an insurance company that would take him as a client.

What can you do in order to minimize the expense of insurances?

Nothing and at the same time a lot of things. I would advice keep working with good eyes in all certain issues that could become wrong.

If you don't have so much money in the beginning, simple: Buy the ones you must by law.

If you have a medium budget: Buy the ones you must by law and the ones that you really need.

If you have a large budget: Buy all the insurance programs you need and you want.

Insurance companies are more than willing to take your money, but I keep my doubts if they have the same willingness to pay back. If you got a good anecdote PLEASE share it with us.

Two agents contacted me last week in accordance to the help that Katariina Rantanen gave me. I commanded her to write down that I would like to receive information ONLY by E-mail. No phone calls. The first agent, read my info and contacted me by e-mail, he was more than happy to contact me and to give me an appointment. I explained him that I could only take information by e-mail before any meeting. I'm pretty sure he wasn't that happy with the news (I wonder why?), but he did send me more information.

The second agent ignored my instructions and called me. Well I was clear from the beginning "why did you call me if I stated clearly that I wanted to have contact by e-mail?", he sort of apologize and later on he said that he would send me more information by e-mail. So far he hasn't sent me anything.

Am I paranoid or the term "brain washing" does exist?

Anyway, there is a lot of information about insurances on Internet. There are a lot of cases, blogs, open questions and answers, etc. Just read a lot, before meeting any agent and specially before signing any contract.

Any other insurance advice you can share with all of us? Yes, I need advices, we all need them.


;)


p.s. No sauna, but a nice dinner!