Chapter Twenty-One Protect Your Assets by Being Well-Insured

Insurance is the business of protecting you against everything, except the insurance agent.

—Evan Esar

Bad stuff happens to everyone. That’s just part of life. Sometimes that bad stuff can wreak havoc on your financial well being. One of the best ways to prevent it from wreaking financial havoc on you or your family is by carrying the proper types and amounts of insurance. Just one bad uninsured mishap can financially ruin you or your family forever. Carrying proper coverage is a must.

Specifically, you need to consider the following types of insurance:

  • Life insurance for anyone in your family on whom others depend for financial support
  • Health care coverage for everyone in your family
  • Disability insurance on any breadwinner whose future income is vital
  • Property insurance in case of fire, theft, or other disasters
  • Auto insurance
  • Liability protection against expensive lawsuits
  • Long-term care for older family members to prevent nest-egg erosion

To be a successful investor requires being a good risk manager. Managing risk means having a plan to cover the downside. That’s what insurance is all about—damage control to prevent the unforeseen from smashing your nest egg. The purpose of this chapter is to give you a broad overview of who should carry what types of insurance, how to decide how much coverage you may need, and how to find qualified people to help you make good insurance decisions.

COMMON INSURANCE MISTAKES ...

Get The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.