Personal Finance and Investing

If you work for or own your own small business, providing or finding
affordable and comprehensive health insurance can be even more difficult than usual. In fact, a recent survey found that more than half of small business owners in California don’t provide health insurance for their employees. The cost for providing health insurance for an employee averages over $3000 a year.

This is despite a requirement under California health insurance laws stating
that small group health insurance must be available to any small business that
otherwise qualifies for group health insurance.

By law, any small business (defined as 2 to 50 employees) in the state of
California must be offered the same health insurance for small businesses that
is offered to other small businesses.

Coverage cannot be denied as long as a company pays their premiums, has been in
business for at least two months and offers coverage to all eligible employees,
including any who work part time.

An insurance company may also specify a minimum acceptable number of people to
enroll in their plan otherwise they do have the right to withdraw the insurance.
The health insurance may be revoked if the required minimum number of employees
doesn’t participate.

Under California law, it’s also illegal for an insurance company to refuse
coverage based on the health of the insured group – coverage may vary based on
employees’ average age and location.

And those companies that do bother to provide health insurance are cutting back
on benefits or employer contributions – around 25% of employers said they have
had to either reduce benefits or make their employees responsible for more of
the costs.

Apart from being a requirement, health insurance for employees of small
businesses makes financial sense – as well as being an excellent way of keeping
employees happy and reducing absenteeism, there may be major tax benefits. In
general, expenses related to health insurance are entirely tax-deductible when
incurred by an employer.

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Wow, starting a new business sure has a lot of responsibilities. Does the Government understand how hard it is for a Small Business to stay ahead?

Worker’s Comp Insurance, Commercial Insurance, Property Insurance, Health Insurance, the list goes on. Then, License, Permits, and Misc. items creep in.

Well, should I go through the Yellow Pages and see who has the Best Ad? Are they still even in business? And the answering machines – who will call back. Then they all call back at once.

Or, register on the Internet – searching for Insurance and receive 20 to 30 calls in a couple of days.

The most efficient way is to Make sure the Insurance Agent or Broker is Independent. Not Exclusive. Independent Brokers can give you different quotes – not just the one from the one company they work for. Independent Brokers usually belong to a Professional Group who can cover several Insurance Companies specializing in Small Business.

Things to look for in looking for Professional Independent Insurance Brokers

1. In the State you Are In.
2. Do Not Work For One Company or are an employee.
3. Respond back withing 24 Hours.
4. Ask if there is a Minimum Dollar Amount for the Coverage For instance $1,000,000 Commercial General Liability in my type of Business would cost Minimum?
5. As for One Day Event type Searches – Usually Independent Brokers Can Find You Coverage.
6. Independent Brokers are Great At Helping You With Getting Coverage for a Business that Has A hard time getting coverage due to the Type or Nature of The Business.

Good Luck and Let Me Know Your Outcome Professional Insurance Agents PIA are the Best

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So you’ve survived college. You head out into the working world with your fresh diploma in hand and land a plum job making more money than you could’ve ever imagined. Your first instinct is to go get that big screen TV or plush ride that you’ve been eyeballing for the past year. After all, why not? You’re making the cash now, you can afford it, can’t you? But wait. Before you take the plunge on that big ticket item, practice that old safety adage they taught you way back in elementary school about crossing the street: “Stop, look and listen.”

Stop.

So you’re finally making a little bit of coin, good for you. But don’t make the mistake of many of your peers and splurge on a big purchase. If you’re a recent college grad new to the working force, odds are you have credit cards to pay off and the burden of student loan repayments to deal with. Do you deserve to be rewarded for surviving years of boring lectures and countless all-night cram sessions? Sure you do. But your first order of business should be getting out of debt, followed shortly by investing in your future.

Look.

That new job can offer you more than just a nice paycheck. Along with health insurance and other fringe benefits, most employers today offer generous 401(k) plans. As soon as you’re settled into your new cube or office, head over to your human resources department and sign up for your company’s 401(k) plan–it’s the most important thing you can do when planning for your financial future. I know what you’re thinking, “retirement is a long ways away, why should I deal with it now?” Much of your generation feels the same way. In fact, a recent study found that almost 70 percent of workers ages 18 to 25 don’t contribute to a 401(k) plan. Don’t be one of them. The sooner you sign up, the more money you’ll make in the long run. Most employers will match your contributions up to a certain percent. Contribute to that number, declining to do so is the same as refusing free money.

Listen.

Okay, so you’re contributing as much as you can afford into your 401(k). Congratulations, the hard part is over. Next up, you’ll have to decide how to invest. It can be confusing, but when you sign up, usually a financial representative will guide you through the steps. When contributing to a 401(k), you’ll be investing in a mix of stocks and bonds. The trick is in selecting the combination that is right for you. History shows that while stocks are more volatile, they usually show higher returns over the long term. However, there’s no sure way to predict that what has happened in the past will happen again in the future, that’s why it’s important to insure yourself by investing in bonds, as well. Bonds, while typically not showing the same high returns as stocks might, have shown to be a solid–albeit slower–investment strategy. To make the wide world of investing a little less confusing, most employers offer index funds and target funds designed with different age groups and investment strategies in mind.

But choosing how to invest is nowhere near as important as investing in the first place. Get that money automatically deducted from your paycheck and into your 401(k) account now. Trust us, you won’t miss it.

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Health insurance for small businesses is an issue that many small business owners struggle with. Finding group health insurance that is both affordable and valuable can be difficult. However, as many entrepreneurs soon learn, there are actions that can be taken to increase the odds of a satisfactory outcome for both the small business owner and his or her employees.

First, the question may be asked as to why coverage for small groups is less affordable? The question can be found in one word: Risk.

With small group health insurance, it is much more difficult for underwriters to predict the average cost of medical care. That is, small businesses have fewer employees to spread the risk of a major medical claim. Indeed, if a member of a small group incurs a major injury or illness, it impacts the overall costs of medical care for the whole group much more so than for larger groups. Accordingly, in an effort to protect themselves from this higher level of risk, insurance companies charge more for health insurance for small businesses.

Small large companies will opt to self-insure their employees. However, unlike their larger counterparts, small businesses typically cannot afford to serve as their own health insurer. That is, they cannot directly fund health insurance for their employees because the financial risk is simply too great. Given this environment, what can small businesses looking for health insurance do?

One option for small businesses is to join a trade or professional organization that offers group health insurance for its members. If this is not an option, small business owners should contact a health insurance broker and request several small business health insurance quotes. By doing this, the small business owner can at least get a sense of what his or her options are for a known budget.

Obtaining health insurance for small businesses may take some determination on the part of the small business owner. Joining a trade or professional organization may be the answer for some, while others may simply opt to pay the necessary costs for their small business health insurance. Either way, it pays to do your homework so that the choices made will be informed and not simply the “lesser of two bad” choices.

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Insurance policies do not supply endless amounts of coverage. In fact, there is a limit to how much all of your insurance policies will pay for an insurable event-including your health insurance, home insurance and auto insurance. These caps are called limits and they protect your insurance company from committing an endless supply of dollars toward the reimbursement of your insurance incidents.

Imagine how difficult it would be to develop car insurance rates if you had no idea how much you might possibly have to spend on a particular accident. It would be almost impossible. From medical expenses to emotional damages, from property damage to auto damage-there is no end to the amount of money you could be responsible for without limits to your benefit set.

When you get your car insurance quotes and rates, you are asked to decide what kind of limit you want on your policy. The lower the limit you choose the less the insurance company knows it will have to spend per insurable interest-and that means the lower the rates you are quoted. But if you choose a limit that is too low in your eagerness to get cheap auto insurance rates then you run the risk of hurting yourself. Why? Well what do you think happens if it costs more to fix your car after an accident than the limit in your policy provides? That’s right-you have to pay it out of pocket. Any expense that exceeds your limit must be paid by you and if you don’t have the funds available then you run the risk of having your car in the shop and unrepaired much longer than you intended.

For guidance on limit setting, check with your mechanic to get an idea of repair and replacement costs for your car. Also, check with your insurance company to see if they have any data that will give you the average amounts for claims of various natures in your state. Lastly, make sure the limit you choose looks like one that will cover the bulk of any accident or insurable event and doesn’t seem like it will leave you paying out-of-pocket beyond your deductible.

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