Friday, December 16, 2011

What are the oldest insurance companies?




People always ask me about what are the oldest U.S. insurance companies? There are many companies that are older but I will tell you a few of them.



State farm


State Farm Insurance is a very old insurance company that initially insured farmers. While now it is an all around company that provides all sorts of services, it used to be mainly aimed at farmers. In fact, it was founded by retired farmer George J. Mecherle in 1922 as a company that provided auto insurance for farmers. As of November 2011, State Farm is ranked Number 34 out of the Fortune 500 companies. In 2008, it was named as one of the top employers in the Toronto, Canada metropolitan area by a local newspaper, the Toronto Star.



Allstate


Allstate has a good marketing campaign by saying that "You're In Good Hands with Allstate". Their marketing campaign is based on a security frame where you will feel safer (those hands can hold you and catch you!) if you buy their insurance. The motto "Are you in good hands?" is meant to make you feel insecure, and then you feel secure if you buy their insurance. I myself have never had Allstate insurance but they are an old comapny.

Blindspot commercials


Allstate recently launched a series of commercials whereby there is a person who is strapped to your car that is pretending to be a blindspot. The blindspot is the place on your car where you are unable to see easily, it is usually over one of your shoulders. If the field of view is a clock and you are driving an American car (where the steering wheel is on the lefthand side) then the blindspots will be at about 7:30 and 5:00. I usually think that the blindspot over my left shoulder is a bigger problem than the blindspot on my right shoulder because it is easier for me to do a shoulder check over that shoulder than it is for me to check over my left shoulder, since then I have to strain my neck all the way around even though I'm moving my spine as well.


That is the basis of the Allstate blindspot commercials: They are reminding people that everybody forgets to check their blindspot occasionally and as a result they get into car accidents. It is plausible to think that you'll get into one accident in your life because of blindspots but this is just a rule of thumb and it is not based off of any data. Furthermore, the blindspot commercials are funny which should help grab a lot of people's attention so that they buy insurance and understand the dangers of blindspots.



American Automobile Association


The American Automobile Association, or AAA, is a United States non-profit association of motorists that is primarily used by drivers to provide roadside assistance. Founded in 1902, this organization is not determined to make money like the other ones, which means that it is able to provide cheap insurance without refusing to pay you when you file a claim. However, Triple-A has lobbied against environmental regulations and has been accused of really standing up for car manufacturers instead of motorists. To help with their bad publicity, AAA has ran numerous battery clean up and similar environmental-related campaigns.



This is a guest post by Murray Newlands, the CEO and Founder of Influence People. Murray writes on many topics, such as how to monetize mobile apps.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

What to do before purchasing health insurance (fitness)





purchase insurance
Although the insurance industry eliminated the public health insurance option from the Individual Protection and Affordable Care Act, the law still added many customer rights. Among them are prohibiting insurance companies from not accepting individuals for having pre-existing health insurance conditions, allowing teen children stay on their parents' or a mom's or dad's medical plan until the mature is 25 years old, and giving states financing for providing medical to individuals who cannot afford it.



Despite this, you still need to be a smart customer when picking a health insurance plan protection provider, and you should do some things before purchasing insurance plan protection.



Health and fitness insurance: Research your options first


There are hundreds if not thousands of different insurance companies out there. Because of that, it is important for you to look at a dozen or more. This may be a daunting task but it is really worth it. A lot of magazines like Consumer Affairs do some of the rating work for you, which means that you will be able to spend less time doing the research yourself. However, you still need to make sure that your companies are trustworthy and will pay you back when you need them to and do not breach your contracts.



Don't be cheap


While there are some pretty good cheap insurance plans out there that definitely beat not having any insurance whatsoever, the bottom line is that you really do not want to have to get a cheap insurance plan because you get what you pay for in the world of insurance. That means that if you walk down to your local insurance office and buy the cheapest plan they have, you will not be well covered and it might be so bad that it will be like not having any insurance at all. On the other hand, if you shop around for cheap insurance online then you will have better insurance than you would have had if you went down to the local insurance office and bought some cheap insurance there.



Cheap health insurance


Cheap health and fitness insurance is not necessarily advisable per se but it can be necessary. When you buy one of these plans, one thing you really should look out for is the maximum yearly coverage plan. Some of the least expensive plans cover only up to $1000 of dental work (or exclude dental and/or vision altogether), which might be enough to get four or five cavities filled and pay for between half and a third of a root canal. This should be enough for one individual but if you have more serious teethwork then you might need to pay for it out of pocket.



Don't have holes in your insurance plan protection coverage


Some individuals try to “save money” by not being guaranteed for a bit, but this actually makes you more expensive to guarantee subsequently because the plan protection providers will worry that something may have occurred to you while you were off protection. Also, even though they are prohibited to reject protection for pre-existing conditions, they might still try to not pay for it and neglect the law permanently, or claim that it is the liability of a prior insurance company.



Image copyright note: This image is in the public domain, and was found here on the Wikimedia commons.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Buying Insurance: Why You Should Get a Credit Report




Buying Insurance: Why You Should Get a Credit Report




buying insurance



Credit reports are very important to almost anybody who is concerned about buying insurance. Some people do not need to buy insurance because they have made a large deposit. In California, for example, if you deposit over $35,000 with the state then you are not required to pay for monthly auto insurance. In the state of New Hampshire, you don't even need to have any car insurance whatsoever, but if you do not then you are still responsible monetarily if you cause an accident. In the other forty nine of the fifty states you are required to have car insurance.



Types of insurance


There are many types of insurance for which you will need a credit report. One type is health insurance, because if something happens and you have to pay a high co-pay then they want to make sure you are able to pay your co-pay so that you can continue buying insurance from them. Similarly, you should definitely be able to get auto insurance if you have good credit, or even bad credit. This is because auto insurance is mandatory in almost every single U.S. state, which means that there is a much bigger market for car insurance for people with bad credit than there is for people who want to get boat insurance.


Types of insurance plans


The insurance plans that you might need should truely be reflective of what your needs are instead of just being some boilerplate plan stamped out to fit the most people. Many online insurance brokers have plans that you can tailor make to your needs. For example, let's say you've never had a cavity in your life. If this is the case, then you will want to save money on dental insurance. But if you get sick a lot you can buy a better general health plan with a cheaper dental sub-plan, while offline brokers do not necessarily give you this flexibility.


Where does a credit report come into play?

A credit report helps out in a variety of ways. For one thing, insurance companies really do care about whether or not you are able to pay your payments every month. Because of this, they think that people with bad credit are not going to be able to pay off large amounts of money so you will not get as high quality insurance if you have bad credit. Since most insurers are not desperate for clients, you will not get a cheaper deal; you will simply get a cheaper policy that has less coverage. For example, it might not buy you a new car if your car gets totaled and it is your fault. It will only cover the other driver's car.



How can I get a credit report cheaply?

There are many online credit report websites such as creditreport.com that can give you a credit report for as little as $1. They also offer cheap credit monitoring services where you pay a small subscription to get updates to changes in your credit score every single month. There are similar competitors as well.



Image credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1980-091-21,_Schaubild_der_Arbeiterversicherung.jpg

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Funeral insurance: How long does it take for funeral insurance and life insurance benefits to come?





funeral insurance


I am sure that you know someone who has missing someone or have perhaps missing someone yourself. If this is the case then you will know what a traumatic and on an emotional level burning time this is. Financial hardships due to them not having funeral insurance or life insurance can be high as well. There are two issues that you can do to help convenience the discomfort of your own moving past though. You can get insurance coverage and funeral insurance.



It is essential that you get both of these plans in position as soon as you are able to do so. Both of them will take some of the economical stress of your moving past off the shoulder muscles of your loved ones.



Funeral insurance plans


Funeral insurance plans will pay out within a few days of your passing. This implies that your funeral expenditures will be taken proper good. If you know anything about funerals you will know that they are actually very costly issues to organize and pay for. This can put a lot of economical stress on your loved ones if you do not have a funeral insurance coverage to deal with these expenditures. You can get different amounts of funeral insurance. The best one is obviously the most costly one as this will take care of more of the expenditures than the more cost-effective ones will. You do need to look at your funds though to create sure that you can manage the coverage coverage before you make to it.



Life insurance plans


When it comes to insurance coverage issues can take quite a bit longer than with funeral plans. This is because lifestyle guidelines have quite a number of circumstances that have to be explored to make sure that they have not been disregarded. This implies that it could perhaps take years for the coverage provider to pay out the insurance insurance plan value. At the same time, your loved ones is going to have to deal with themselves as best they can. Once the coverage coverage coverage does pay out lifestyle will be a lot simpler. You just have to be sure that you know what the circumstances on your insurance coverage coverage are so that you can do your best to not break any of them and provide the insurance insurance plan zero and avoid. You want the coverage provider to pay out the value of the insurance insurance plan in the long run after all.



Make sure your family's safe


When a main breadwinner in a family dies, the economical effects are large. This is why it is essential that all mom and dad and couples create sure that they have both funeral and insurance coverage in position as soon as possible. No one knows what the long run supports and you do not want to end up making your loved ones in the lurch monetarily. Rather be secure than sorry and create sure that your loved ones will be offered for and that your funeral expenditures are taken care of as far as possible before it is too overdue. There are a lot of insurance organizations out there and most of them will be able to provide you the type of insurance that you wish, all you have to do is ask.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Can I get by without insurance?





health insurance
I woke up this Sunday morning to a cheap insurance email from a young lady from Palm Springs, California with the following question:


I'm 22 and I can afford health insurance (my company provides a subsidy) but if I buy it I will not have money for much else. I don't have any health problems. What should I do?



Well, in theory you have two options: Buy insurance or do not but insurance. You can also buy cheaper insurance than what you currently have and you will be covered less but you will be more at risk for serious injury. Often they have higher co-pays as well and very low maximum yearly benefit caps, so cheap dental insurance might only get you coverage for one or two teeth getting drilled. Let's weigh the pros of each possibility:



Buy insurance


Buying a good insurance plan and spending a lot of money on it is usually the best course of action when deciding whether or not to be covered, and it is good for a plethora of reasons.


You are more healthy and have a higher quality of life


Simply put, people in countries with single payer healthcare are more healthy than people in countries with more primitive, insurance based systems. They are more healthy because they go to the doctor more, even in countries where people also have poor diets like us Americans.


Because you are more healthy, you save money on healthcare costs (just like with car insurance in the long term


It is a lot cheaper to remain healthy than it is to get sick and get cured. Let's take cancer, for example. If you go to the doctor and get a cancerous skin growth removed, it might cost you $50. But if you let it become full blown cancer then you will have to go back in a dfew years and spend thousands on expensive radiation therapy.


You have piece of mind knowing that you will be covered if you get sick


If you have a good insurance plan then you do not have to worry about paying for it if you get sick as long as you select a good insurance company and do not have gaps in your insurance coverage. Plus, not being worriful has positive health effects since worry puts strain on your heart, among other things.



Don't buy insurance

There are, however, a few times when it is probably best to not buy insurance.

For example, let us say that buying insurance for your car will make it so that you cannot buy good health insurance. If you have kids or you or a loved one is sick then it is probably best to buy health insurance and avoid driving if possible.



Cheap insurance: You save money in the short term


A cheap insurance plan will help you save more money in the short term than getting no insurance plan and being uninsured, even though the cheap plan will not give you as good of coverage as the more expensive insurance plan. Because of this, instead of becoming full uninsured, you should instead just downsize yoour insurance plan so that it costs you and your family less money.



So, now we have the pros and cons of buying health insurance. Although some people are too destitute to buy it, when it is your choice you should really almost always buy it as long as you have enough money.

Photo credit: http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/marigranula/marigranula1012/marigranula101200004/8403474-presentation-of-insurance.jpg


Used under fair use educational exemption

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Beriklan Gratis Online

free advertising
Facebook membuat kejutan baru ketika mengumumkan rencana untuk menawarkan iklan gratis senilai $10 juta minggu lalu bagi bisnis kecil mulai bulan januari. Perusahaan mengatakan langkah tesebut memberi kesempatan bagi small entrepreneurs menguji dan merasakan dunia iklan media social dan untuk tujuan jangka panjang diharapkan pemasang iklan tetap setia untuk menggunakan facebook .

Facebook bukan satu-satunya yang mengambil terobosan ini, menyediakan iklan gratis bagi small business. HopStop juga mengumumkan rencana mereka, free ad program, bulan ini. Pemilik bisnis kecil dapat beriklan gratis di HopStop selama 30 hari senilai $250. Sedangkan Linkedin menawarkan kepada pemilik bisnis kecil $50-$100 kupon iklan gratis. Bahkan raja pencarian online, Google, juga menawarkan hal yang sama melalui program AdWord dan promosi khusus bagi pelanggan baru AdWords. Promosi gratis ini memberikan kesempatan bagi bisnis kecil untuk tumbuh kembali dan mencari pelanggan baru.

 Facebook akan memberikan iklan gratis senilai $50 yang dapat mereka gunakan untuk beriklan dengan konsumen tertarget yang akan menghasilkan ribuan impresi, kata Grady Burnett, facebook vice president of global sales and operation.

Program iklan gratis hanyalah bagian pertama kampanye untuk membuat jalinan pertemanan dengan komunitas bisnis kecil. Pada bagian kedua, Facebook akan turun kejalan untuk berpromosi, dari kota ke kota mengadakan seminar dan workshop untuk membantu pemiik bisnis memahami dan membuat sebagian besar iklan mereka di Facebook. 800 juta pengguna di seluruh dunia menjadikan Facebook sebagai situs social media terbesar di dunia, dan hal ini dimanfaatkan dengan baik oleh Facebook untuk menstabilkan pendapatannya di masa mendatang dengan menarik bisnis local untuk terlibat didalamnya.

image courtesy breast-augmentation-blog.com

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Apakah Google Musik bisa menjadi peluang pemasaran baru untuk band dan label?

Google terus mengembangkan sayapnya, kabar yang terdengar saat ini adalah mereka akan meluncurkan toko music online yang akan menjadi pesaing langsung dari iTunes dan layanan streaming yang bisa menyaingi Spotify.

Layanan tersebut telah diluncurkan di Amerika Serikat awal tahun ini yang mengijinkan pengguna untuk mengupload music non DRM mereka ke Google dan memutar kembali di setiap browser yang sdudah disupport dengan flash. Sebagai bagian dari layanan ini. Google telah menawarkan music gratis untuk di add langsung ke library anda.

Google Add Free Music

Selain itu, Google juga mengirimkan email mingguan yang didalamnya juga berisi beberapa music yang disarankan untuk anda melalui layanan Magnifier mereka.


Google Music Magnifier

Peluncuran toko music yang terhubung secara lansung ke akun Google bisa menimbulkan ancaman yang serius bagi iTunes, juga tidak kalah hebohnya dengan layanan Google Movie Rental di YouTube.

Dengan jejaring social terbaru mereka, Google+, yang telah mencapai 50 juta pengguna, kesempatan berbagi lebih luas bagi band baru dan artis yang dapat dimanfaatkan untuk keuntungan komersial. Rekomendasi musik dapat menjadi sebuah kesempatan pemasaran yang berharga untuk merek dan artis, terintegrasi dengan promosi Google lainnya termasuk AdWords dan YouTube.

Google music saat ini tidak tersedia di inggris, tapi anda masih bisa diundang untuk menikmati layanan tersebut.