It is amazing how much literature has been written about the car insurance business online. The main approach in use by the bulk of the writings is in the direction of selling car insurance, rather than offer it in the proper context of insurance product or ‘a product to protect your assets and wealth.’ That is why when searching for the phrase ‘auto insurance’ a large number of websites emerge with the ‘selling’ phrases like affordable auto insurance, or cheap auto insurance or low cost auto insurance.In the early part of 2011 and according to Google AdWords there were 8,100; 74,000; 9,900 monthly searches for the above key phrases, respectively. On the other hand, there were only 110 searches for the phrase ‘reliable auto insurance’, 170 searches for ‘quality auto insurance’, and 8,100 for ‘top auto insurance companies.’ It is rather easy to conclude that most of the searches on line are about price, not quality of insurance.A basic principle in marketing is to understand what people ‘want’ and design and package your product or service to meet what the folks want. Looking at those numbers we can tell that most people want cheap auto insurance. As a marketer, if you design any campaign without considering that analysis you may eventually flunk the marketing tests, close your website and go do something else.So what’s the difference between auto insurance polices? From a ‘financial planning viewpoint’ car insurance comparison should never be based on price only, and perhaps most people agree that cheap insurance is not necessarily the best car insurance. But what most people do not know is that an insurance policy with the best rated company may also be one of the most problematic contract. An auto insurance policy should be compared in reference with three factors:1. Price: of course the cheaper the better.2. Company Rating: Non standard companies are more flexible than their standard or preferred counterparts with regard to past violations found on the MVR activities of the drivers and the credit score of the car insurance applicants. However, non standard companies are harsher than others in customer service and paying claims. Most of complains come from non standard insurance companies. While preferred companies do not hesitate to quickly pay for smaller claims suck as seven or eight thousand dollars claim, or even little more; all companies from top to bottom will try to examine the application to see if they have to or do not have to pay a $100,000 claim.3. Liability Limits. This is the most ignored, least understood, but is the most important aspect of the policy which affect customers during time they need the insurance. It measures how much protection you have in the event you get sued. A professional financial advisor will never ever sell you an auto insurance policy at low limits if he/she has enough information that you and your spouse have enough wealth to be sued for in the event that you or a family household member cause a major auto accident and your car insurance pays the maximum on the policy which turns out not to be enough.There are many insurance policies sold with superior insurance companies at the lowest liability limits mandated by the state. In the State of Illinois these limits are 20/40/15, which means that in the event you cause an accident that is your fault and you get sued by others, then your company will pay to others on your behalf no more than $20,000 for bodily injury for one person, no more than $40,000 for bodily injury for all other people in the accident, and a maximum of $15,000 for any and all property damage you case in that accident. If you are a business owner and you cause a major accident resulting in a unbeaten lawsuit of $300,000 and your insurance company maxed the payment on the policy and paid $20,000, the difference of $280,000 will have to come from your own money!Financial Planners and Auto Insurance Marketers Are Not in HarmonyFinancial planners are not in harmony with insurance marketers about the weight that needs to be placed on limits of liability in auto insurance. Marketers like to stress the aspects of price and company rating, while financial planners like to stress the importance of liability limits first, then company rating second, and perhaps price at a later stage.Although financial planners and auto insurance marketers have the common goals of maximizing their earnings while providing their services, the scope of their operations is different. Auto insurance marketers make their money by selling as many polices as they can have. The marketer does his best to make as many sales as possible, hence making small amount of money on too many policies sold. Financial planners work differently as they try to make big money from each of the few number of customers they have. Selling an auto policy is not the primary concern of a financial planner, but for him or her auto insurance is one of the fundamental subjects of the financial planning process.Car insurance agents look at auto insurance as a way to protect the car itself in the event of theft, fire or another loss, besides the fact that it’s the law. Financial planners look at auto insurance as an integral part of their clients risk management process. To the financial planner an auto policy is not to repair the car in the event of loss, but is mainly about protecting the assets and wealth of the insured, especially against potential lawsuits.Some auto insurance marketers would even suggest to cut down on liability insurance as a way to save money. No sound financial planner will ever make such a suggestion. No way!When does height matter?How high your liability limits should be is the main issue that should prevail when you buy car insurance. You probably need only the minimum liability limits mandated by the states if /when(1) you shopped for higher limits and could not afford it, (2) your current assets or wealth is not big enough to expose you to further lawsuits in the event of at fault auto accident. (3) you are a high risk driver where no one else wants to insure you except at the minimum limits. But, if you have certain amounts of assets and wealth, or is expected to have sizable assets or wealth, then you need to worry about the height of your liability limits.What about if you are not wealthy with plenty of assets? Even for people with little or no wealth, the height of liability limits should be much of a concern to them. This is due to the fact that liability insurance contains certain coverages to pay for your bodily injuries in the event that you get hit by a vehicle that is legally uninsured, or is insured but the insurance on that vehicle was not enough to cover your bodily injuries. According to the Insurance Research Council, approximately 15% to 17% all drivers in the United States are uninsured. Coverages for Uninsured Motorist (UM) and Underinsured Motorist (UIM) vary from states to states with regard to their mandatory status and limit amounts. In Illinois UM is mandatory at the limits of $20,000 for bodily injury per person and $40,000 for bodily injury per accident. Underinsured motorists coverage is not mandatory in Illinois but insurance companies must offer it to clients for policies issued with liability over the state limits. Clients can still reject to have higher uninsured/ underinsured motorists but it must be in writing. As you can see, your liability only policy provides coverage for your bodily injuries, and making sure that you have high limits on both liability, UM and UIM can have tremendous effect on your life.
Do You Worry About Your Dog’s Health and Dog Food Diet
With the ongoing incidents of contaminated pet food, it’s perfectly understandable for pet parents everywhere to be questioning their dog’s diet and worry about what they are actually feeding their dog. For so long, pet parents just assumed that all dog foods were the same and surely the companies making them would only have their pet’s best interest at heart. Unfortunately, we all lost our faith in most of the dog food companies with the breaking news of contaminated dog foods.If at some point you have:
Questioned the quality of your dog food
Wondered if the food you are serving is safe
Considered changing foods to a better quality foodThen you are definitely ready to evaluate your dog’s diet and make a change.To many, attempting to make a change to their food can seem like a daunting task. With so many brands and varieties to choose from and misleading food labels that can seem impossible to interpret, many people just continue to avoid the process out of frustration. However, your dog’s overall health, quality of life and the length of their lifespan are all dependent on feeding them a quality dog food diet.Many pet parents fail to realize the huge impact their dog’s diet has on their pet. The effects are wide ranging, starting with:
Levels Can Be Poor With a Bad Diet
Health Problems Like Kidney or Liver Failure and Cancer
Behavioral Problems Such as Short Attention Span
Arthritis and Joint Pain
Weight Issues
Lifespan, the Length of Their Life is Directly Affected By Their Diet
Allergy Problems like Skin Flaking, Itching and Hotspots
Overall Health and Appearance including a shiny coat and clear eyes
Quality of Life is impacted By Low Energy, Nutritional Gaps and IllnessThese are just a few of potential health risks your dog faces when eating a poor quality diet.The good news is that you can improve your dog’s health simply by learning how to choose a quality food with simple tools & information. By considering your dog’s individual needs such as body weight, breed, genetics, age and their activity level, you can narrow quickly start to narrow down the proper food choices.By using a step by step process, you can learn to easily interpret those misleading food labels and identify the hidden ingredient meanings. You’ll need to use your dog’s personal needs as discussed above to start determining the proper category of pet food. When you are considering a food for your dog, it’s important to consider your own lifestyle in that choice. If you are a busy person with very little free time, then it’s unlikely a homemade food diet would work well for you because you would lack preparation time.It’s also important to consider the quality of the food. If the food is full of fillers and ingredients that are not whole meats for example, these should immediately be crossed off of your choices. You should also consider your budget when choosing a quality food. What can you reasonably afford to pay each month?Look for fresh ingredients such as fruits and vegetables. Avoid chemicals such as preservatives and dyes. When you are searching for a dog food, be sure to choose multiple possibilities. You will want to end up with 3 to 5 quality food options to provide both a change in variety and fill in nutritional gaps between foods.Try using a dog food comparison chart and a dog food ranking comparison worksheet once you have an idea of what you are looking for in a quality food. This can help you narrow down your choices and make ingredient and nutritional comparisons.By keeping it simple, you can learn to make an informed food choice for your precious pup. By choosing to be an informed pet parent, you can improve your dog’s quality of life, overall health and lifespan. All of which will give you:
A Happy Healthy Dog
More Years To Love Your Dog
Lower Vet BillsThese are just a few of the benefits of feeding your dog a quality food. Imagine the potential changes in your dog once they are eating a quality food. So give your dog a quality food and the healthy life they truly deserve and enjoy the benefits that come with being an informed pet parent.
List of Best Internet Service Providers
We all like indulging in online video games or PC games from time to time. To support online games you need great internet service providers. Even though, many service providers claim to provide the best experience but at times they fail to deliver the same. The experience of internet speed and connectivity varies on geographical locations. You need to look for the best internet service provider to suit your needs.The settings provided by the ISPs for online gaming differ with each provider. What you get with one provider for online games might not be available with another. It is all about the functionality and the utility that can fulfill your desired requirement for speed. When you settle for a given ISP for online gaming, it is only beneficial when it can match the requirements for an online match. It requires a quick response, high speed, and great connectivity.Why do you need a great ISP?Now let us look at a gaming scenario where you are playing Call of Duty. You are playing the most interesting part of the game and battling alongside with your friends. The time is crucial to match the desired output and result to take the lead. You are about to make a strike on the potential enemy, and you pull out the sniper rifle, taking aim you are about to pull the trigger, but the internet gives away. You get cut off in the middle of the most essential and interesting part.When you regain internet connectivity, the game is almost over and to your horror you discover that you lost two lives in the process. You are just rendered helpless due to the poor internet connectivity and late response time. This situation is not only annoying but frustrating that leads to a lot of resentment.The thing to understand here is that not only you got kicked off the game, but your team lost because of a poor connection. Online games are all about high-speed internet connectivity, continuous connection, a great response time without having to deal with crappy connectivity even once. For this very reason, you need to look for an ISP that gives you all.How Do Online Games Use the Internet?• Online games that include MMO, First Person Shooters, RPGs, fighting games, battles and driving are all about ease of online gaming.• The systems that are used include PS2/3, Xbox (360), Wii and of course a dedicated PC.• Communicating through chat and headsets with other players while gaming.• Purchasing and downloading games.The factors that influence the connectivity and the speed include the games that one chooses to play online. You should know that when you are choosing a game, the internet connectivity too gets affected with it. The speed and the ping rate are the things that might be compromised due to heavy graphics and the amount of downloading it requires.When you are playing games like Fallout or Call of Duty, it requires fast processing and good ping rates. For these very reasons, it is essential to choose ISPs that compliment your games.VerizonVerizon is a leading brand when it comes to ISPs globally. It is all about delivering high connectivity, great surf speed that includes nothing less than 1.23 Mbps. The service provider delivers high speed Internet connectivity by using the fiber-optic network or the FiOS. However, with this in mind it is not always possible for everyone to opt for the technology of FiOS. There is a great possibility that due to a different geographic location you might not be able to gain access to a better network or even feel compromised with the lack of FiOS.ComcastComcast is a great brand that is known to deliver XFinity service that is a collaboration of high-speed connectivity through fiber optic. It is with the recent upgrade to the technology of XFinity that can provide 1 Mbps surf speed. You get 15 Mbps download without any hassle or technical glitch. However, chances are that some geographic locations are out of reach. It is possible that due to a different geographical location you cannot benefit from it just yet. However, the standard version will still provide you with 992 Kbps surf speed.CoxCox ISP can provide wide network coverage and connectivity through cable service. You will be able to get the XFinity and the FiOS technology at your home. You will get a great speed of 1.14 Mbps surf speed. This service is ideal and works well for those who have to reach zones like rural areas or countryside. If you are located at the far side of the country, where it is difficult to get fiber optic connection then this is the one for you. Opt for this ISP and you are good to go for PC games.Optimum OnlineOptimum Online might not be as popular as other ISPs, but it is capable of providing good cable connectivity. The connectivity option is designed for online games or PC games. The connectivity and the surf-speed provided by this ISP is 1.12 Mbps that is amazing. This ISP is certainly a great choice when it comes to speed similar to the fiber optic connection.Choosing any of the ISPs mentioned here will benefit you in PC games and help you achieve optimum internet usage.