how much apartment/home owner's insurance...?

[tvpnyc]

how much home-owner's insurance is enough? to cover the cost of ALL contents? should jewelery be included in the policy? want if you have some "Business Items" (i.e. computers, audio gear used for recording, etc...) that resides in your home? do you need a separate business policy?
thanks in advance.

[pochax]

i think most people think of homeowner's insurance as something to cover the cost of rebuilding/repairing a heavily damaged home. it is not primarily used for covering the contents (eg. jewelry, business equipment, etc.) however, you can ask for an umbrella policy that can cover such things as well as liability for your property (for that weirdo who slips on ice on your property and sues you for not keeping your driveway clean). obviously the more you cover, the more the policy will cost you. but that is the way i think about it. personally, i would recommend an umbrella policy ($1M+) IF you can afford it...but please cover all your other insurance needs first: health, life, auto, and home.

[KrozFan]

You should talk to an insurance sales person about this. Find someone who is willing to talk to you and explain how things work. I think you get a policy for a certain dollar amount, but you won't necessarily get that money if something happens. For example I have renters insurance that I think is a 25,000 policy, but that's not 100% coverage. So if I call up and say my computer was stolen and it was worth 1,000 I won't actually get that, I'll get a percentage of that. Jewelry may have a separate rider (I think that's what they call it) because it's not always in the home, in theory it goes out with you. If it wasn't on a separate rider than if you had it stolen out in the world instead of your home it may not be covered. I would think your business things should have a different policy for business reporting purposes but I'm not sure, I would check with an insurance person and maybe my CPA. You should be able to write off your policy but I don't know if you can write off a portion of your home owners policy that covers business items.

I really like my insurance guy, he's my guy for renters and auto. I ask him questions and he gets back to me with informed answers, and has actually told me not to buy things before because I would be wasting my money. He takes care of me and I trust him. Find someone like that, not someone who's just trying to sell you.

[bob]

TVPNYC,
this is a pretty thorough article you might want to check out...

http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-f...you-need-9714/

[P31woman]

With all insurance first ask yourself WHY am I buying this stuff?

For us the anwer is simple. We self insure for most thing.