Shannon Harvey Insurance

Home safety is important and can also be easy by taking a few simple steps. I'm a big fan of keeping things simple and these are just that.

Prepare For Emergencies:

• Keep a telephone handy in your bedroom and your kitchen or living room.
• Create a list of emergency phone numbers you can keep near your phones, including 911 and the poison control hotline (1-800-222-1222).
• Keep a disaster plan for you and your family. The list should include emergency contacts and designate a meeting place outside your neighborhood so family members can meet up in the event of a disaster.
• Have a well-stocked first-aid kit in your home.

Following these few simple steps to prepare for emergencies allow you to plan for the worst while hoping for the best. Your family will thank you for that.

Congratulations on your decision to become a condo owner. You'll not only have a wonderful new place to call home, but you'll also have both individual and common insurance needs. Individually, you need to protect your personal property, and you also need protection from liabilities and additional assessment fees. With your fellow condo owners, you share certain responsibilities, such as building upkeep, as well as common liability. 

Your condo insurance can help protect you against loss from theft, both at home and away, losses for accidents to visitors in your home, and more. If a guest or family member is injured on your stairs, would you be able to pay the medical expenses? If lightning causes damage to the exterior portions of your condominium building, will your association carry enough insurance to repair everything? If a storm causes your condo to be uninhabitable, are you prepared to pay for the additional living expenses? 

With the right condo insurance, you should be able to relax in your new condo with the peace of mind that you're in good hands. But before you go to closing, here are a few things to look for:

1. Test all appliances.

2. Turn on all water faucets to check water pressure.

3. Adjust the thermostat to make sure heat turns on.

4. Examine the ceilings and walls for spots which might indicate leaks.

5. Look for loose wires and electrical fixtures without covers.

6. Make sure all the doors and cabinets open and close easily.

Maybe these are things you've already taken care of, but if not it's better to plan for the worst while you hope for the best.

I've often heard other insurance professionals say, "People buy life insurance because of love." Life insurance helps you to ensure that the financial needs of your family are met in the event of your death. This gives you peace of mind, since you'll know your family will be secure in the future.

So, to answer the question, you need a life insurance policy if your loved ones depend on your income or stand to inherit a financial burden in the event of your death.

The money your dependents will receive, "the death benefit," can help pay essential day-to-day expenses, such as mortgage and medical bills, and help your family reach longer-term goals such as your children's college education. Plus, life insurance can help ensure that your loved ones are not burdened with debt or forced to sell assets to pay outstanding bills or taxes.

Okay, so you've decided you do need life insurance and you're now asking: "How much life insurance do I need?" This depends on a few factors. Generally, the rule of thumb is 7 times your salary; however, as life changes, your insurance needs might, too. It's a good idea to reassess your needs annually to make sure you have enough to properly protect your family.

Beyond protection, life insurance can be the cornerstone of your family's financial security by providing savings and wealth transfer opportunities. In fact, the very first step in selecting life insurance is to decide how you want the insurance to work for your family.

If you have more questions, I can help you determine the amount of protection you may need and the type of insurance that's right for you.

College football is right around the corner, which means the biggest college football rivalries will soon be heating up. Are you planning a road trip to your favorite college or university for a football game? Do your plans include a trip to Clemson for the Tigers' season-opener against Middle Tennessee on Saturday at Memorial Stadium?

Well, you won't be alone on the roadways, so don't let the typical distractions ruin your trips this college football season. Drivers are faced with the added distractions of extra traffic on the roadways heading to the stadium, congested parking lots and campuses with plenty of pedestrians and moving vehicles. With so many things to do, and so little time to do it, it's no wonder why we try to multitask while driving.

In 2007, nearly 112 people died each day in motor vehicle crashes around the United States on average, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Allstate encourages drivers practice caution behind the wheel, and offer some good driver safety tips:

•·                     Keep your eyes on the road.

•·                     Be aware of your surroundings at all times.

•·                     Do not eat while driving

•·                     Do not apply cosmetics or groom if you are behind the wheel.

•·                     Don't text or use your cell phone behind the wheel

•·                     Pull over if you feel drowsy

This fall you'll root for your favorite team to take extra care of the football late in the fourth quarter when the game is on the line. Use that same frame of mind when you're behind the wheel making those trips back and forth to the games. It's okay to hope for the best as long as you plan for the worst.

No matter the time of year, the aftermath of storms can be devastating, leaving people without homes or dealing with major repairs. While we can't predict whether or not our homes our home will be affected by hail, heavy winds or strong thunderstorms, home owners and renters in Greenville, SC can make sure their property and belongings are properly protected.

The Atlantic hurricane season stretches through Nov. 30, and early preparation is the best way to help protect your family and property.

Regardless of whether you own your house, condo or townhome, or if you rent, this next question should be very important to you: If disaster struck your home would you know what you owned?  Remember that even though it can take years to collect your possessions, they could be gone in a split second following a disaster like a fire, flood, tornado, hurricane, storm or another peril.

We recommend that you compile a home inventory to compile a list of your belongings to ensure the proper coverage in your home owners, condo or renter's policy.  If your home, condo or apartment is damaged or destroyed in a storm, an accurate and up-to-date home inventory can help make the possible recovery process easier on you and your family.

6 Steps To A Home Inventory...

• Whenever possible, make sure your home inventory list includes photographs or video of your belongings. If you have a home video camera, take periodic videos of each room in your house.  Focus on individual items in each room. Take additional video of smaller items like jewelry, silver, and related valuables or keepsakes. The same recommendations apply if you're using a conventional camera. Be sure to be thorough when taking pictures of your belongings.

• Include with any picture or video home inventory list, a detailed, written account of what you own. Be specific in your written inventory. Whenever possible include make, model, serial numbers, receipts, and date of purchase for all items in your home inventory.

• If you don't have pictures, a written home inventory list is better than no inventory, but make sure you are as detailed as possible.

• Store your home inventory list somewhere away from your home. If you have a bank safety deposit box, keep your list there. If you don't have a safety deposit box, ask a friend or relative to keep your inventory list in a safe place.  I recommend, wherever you store your home inventory list, make sure the location is far enough away from your home it won't be lost in the same event that may destroy your house. However, make sure your home inventory list is kept close enough so that it is easily accessible to you when you need it.

• Be sure to update your home inventory after any major purchase or gift. You should be updating your home inventory periodically anyway, but make special effort to do so after any major purchase, holidays, or birthdays.

• If time permits, share your home inventory with your insurance agent so that he or she can help you decide if your coverage meets your needs.

While it's easy to hope for the best, it's best to plan for the worst.

Congratulations to customer, Ben Blanton, for winning the Quarterly Referral Contest drawing for a Nintendo Wii! Thank you, Ben, for your business and for your referrals!

Thank you also to the other entrants in the drawing. Your referrals are greatly appreciated!

The contest is simple. For every referral that you send our way that calls and asks us for an insurance quote, we will enter you in the contest for the monthly and quarterly prize. If the referred individual purchases the quoted policy, your name will be entered a second time. The best part about this program is, there is no limit to how many times your name can be entered. The more referrals you send the better your chances of winning!

Each month we'll select one winner to receive a $40 gas card.  Additionally, each quarter we'll select one person as the winner of the quarterly prize--this past quarter's item was a Nintendo Wii. So what are you waiting for?

I purchased Cancer Insurance for myself nearly ten years ago, shortly after a younger relative was diagnosed with Sarcoma.  After discovering the lump beneath his skin he traveled to Charleston twice for exams & traveled to Texas another couple times to receive the surgery that successfully removed the cancer and he has been cancer-free since.  Needless to say, it was quite a scare for him.

No one likes to think about getting cancer, but according to the American Cancer Society it will affect 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women.  You'll discover at www.cancer.org, 1 in 5 people with health insurance who are diagnosed with cancer use all or most of their savings because of the financial cost of dealing with cancer.  This statistic caught me off guard, but then I realized what most people overlook: there are direct costs and also indirect costs people incur when battling cancer.

The direct costs are the ones that immediately pop into your mind: chemotherapy, X-rays, hospital rooms, drugs and medicine.  The shocking part? They only account for 35% of cancer-related expenses.  The other 65% are made up of the indirect costs, such as: missed work, missed work for a spouse, travel, child care, lodging, food expense, home recovery, and phone bills.

Cancer may not be preventable, but you can protect yourself from some of the costs. Cancer insurance can help you manage the high expenses of treatment, preserve savings, protect your family from financial hardship, and allow you to concentrate on getting well.

Our Cancer Insurance pays you benefits that can be used for non-medical cancer-related expenses that health insurance might not cover.  The policy is guaranteed renewable for life, subject to change in premiums by class.  Benefits are paid directly to you unless assigned, in addition to any other coverage.  A neat feature that I took advantage of is the Return of Premium Rider, which allows you to receive back all of your premiums paid if you never have to file a claim. So I think of my Cancer Insurance as a savings account that also protects my finances in case I'm diagnosed with cancer.

Would your finances survive cancer treatments?  While it's easy to hope for the best, it's smarter to plan for the worst. Find out if Cancer Insurance is a good fit for you.

Congratulations to our customer, Rick Peele, for winning the June Referral Contest drawing for a $40 gas card! Thank you, Rick, for your business. We're glad to put you in Good Hands.

Thank you also to the other entrants in the drawing. Your referrals are greatly appreciated!

The contest is simple. For every referral that you send our way that calls and asks us for a home or auto insurance quote, we will enter you in the contest for the monthly and quarterly prize. If the referred individual purchases the quoted policy, your name will be entered a second time. The best part about this program is, there is no limit to how many times your name can be entered. The more referrals you send the better your chances of winning!

Each month we'll select one winner to receive a $40 gas card.  Additionally, each quarter we'll select one person as the winner of the quarterly prize--this quarter's item is a Nintendo Wii. So what are you waiting for?

It's amazing how much influence a realtor can have on a homebuyer, whether it's which neighborhoods are most appealing, which builders have the best reputations, or which lender is currently offering the lowest interest rates. Another area I've seen some realtors separate themselves from their competition is in pointing out a few things about homeowners insurance, especially since it's easy to think all homeowners insurance policies were created equal (even though they're not).

Here are 4 tips I've heard Expert Realtors give that are not only beneficial to their clients, but also add value to the realtor/buyer relationship.

1.     Since you're married...for about $25/year, you can usually increase the limits on covered losses for Jewelry/Silver/Watches/Furs to $10,000. Otherwise, it's usually only $1,000 for Jewelry & $2,500 for Silver. If you notice a beautiful diamond ring, it's a good bet the owner wouldn't sell it for $1,000 which is essentially what they would be doing if it was lost and they only had the standard coverage on their homeowner's policy.

2.     Since you have a child in college (or soon to be in college)...if they're in a dorm, then covered losses would usually fall under your homeowner's insurance policy. If the student is renting an apartment, you'll want them to obtain a renter's policy. The average renter usually has $30,000 in personal belongings (think about jeans, shoes, and other clothing in the closet, ALONG with any computer equipment) which can be covered for roughly $180/year...which is usually what they'll pay for just a few textbooks during the semester.

3.     You mentioned your photography/music equipment...for about $20/year, you can usually increase the limits on covered losses for Music/Photography equipment to $5,000. Otherwise, it's usually only $1,000. And if they're like most enthusiasts that I know, they likely collect equipment much like stamp collector collects stamps...and the standard coverage simply won't do.

4.     With Identity Theft on the rise for the 9^th year in a row...you should consider adding Identity Theft Protection to your homeowner's insurance coverage, which can often be done for about $30/year. Identity Theft is on the rise and remains the top reason for consumer complaints for the 9th year in a row (and these types of crimes tend to INCREASE during a recession). According to www.IDTheftCenter.org: Victims now spend an average of 600 hours recovering from this crime, often over a period of years. Based on 600 hours times the indicated victim wages, this equals nearly $16,000 in lost potential or realized income.

The great thing about these 4 tips is that a potential problem can be solved for less than most of us spend to fill up our tanks with gas. If a covered loss occurs, your customer would get plenty of mileage out of the money they've spent. There are usually no traffic jams on the extra mile and with these 4 easy observations, you can not only help your clients but you'll also endear them to you for future transactions.

Did you know that July is Women's Motorcycle Month? Female riders can stay safe and still enjoy their rides this summer. A fast-growing segment of the biker population, women represent one-third of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's riding course and about 10 percent of the country's riding population.

Women's bikers are growing in numbers, with the number of licensed motorcycle riders increasing by 28 percent over the past five years. During that same time frame, the number of licensed male motorcycle riders has only grown seven percent. It's important to us that riders - both male and female alike - know how to ride safely, and motorists understand the proper ways to share the road.

Motorcycle fatalities have more than doubled during the past 10 years, accounting for over 4,500 deaths and 78,000 injuries annually, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Additionally, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration reports more than two-thirds of all fatal motorcycle crashes involve a motorcycle and another vehicle.

In conjunction with Women's Motorcycle Month, we and the NHTSA suggest the following safety tips for motorcycle riders:

·         Protect yourself: Choose gear that increases your visibility and provides protection if you were in a crash. Always wear a helmet that fits right, and has a DOT label showing that it meets federal safety standards. 

·         Keep control: Know your bike's limits. Stick to the speed limit. Use your signals. Brake smart by using both brakes at the same time, slow and steady.

·         Know the road:  Watch for hazardous road conditions, including potholes, wet leaves and railroad tracks.

·         Make sure other drivers can see you: Never share a lane with a car. Don't ride in blind spots or tailgate. Always use your headlights.

·         Be respectful of others: Don't weave through traffic or diver on the shoulder.

Motorists can follow these tips to help keep the roads safer for both themselves and motorcyclists:

·         Motorcycles are small and may be difficult to see: Remember that bikers are often hidden in a vehicle's blind spot or missed in a quick look due to the bike's smaller size. Always check your mirrors and blind spots before entering or leaving a lane.

·         Allow the bike a full lane width: Although it may seem as through there is enough room in the traffic lane for both a automobile and motorcycle, remember the motorcyclist needs room to maneuver safely. Never share a lane with a motorcycle.

·         Allow more following distance: Don't follow a motorcycle too closely. Allow enough room for the motorcyclist to take evasive actions. In dry conditions, bikers can stop more quickly than cars.

·         Always use your signals: This allows the biker to anticipate traffic flow and find a safe lane position. Don't be fooled by a flashing turn signal on a motorcycle because motorcycle signals usually are not self-cancelling and bikers sometimes forget to turn them off. Wait to be sure the biker is going to turn before proceeding.

·         Be aware of road conditions: Minor annoyances to you may pose major hazards to bikers. Motorcyclists may change speed or adjust their position suddenly in reaction to road and traffic conditions such as potholes, gravel, wet or slippery surfaces, pavement seams, railroad crossings and grooved pavement.