Employer-provided life insurance policies explained

In the old days employers used to provide welfare benefit to any employees who got into difficulty and some of the retirement plans were remarkably generous. Those were the compassionate times when employers recognized the levels of pay were low and prevented the employees from saving for their retirement. Indeed, this practice actually hung on through the decades and new laws were required as recently as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. This deals with the management of the retirement funds established over the years. All employees pay a small percentage of their pay into the fund and it tops up the pension when they retire and leaves enough to cover funeral expenses.

While the country remain in the grip of these socialists, everyone saw good returns from these retirement funds. Even though there were minor recessions and more serious depressions, these funds were solid, steady performers. During the boom years, they grew spectacularly. And that's when the problems began. The owners of these businesses began to question why so much cash was being left sitting around doing nothing. With the economy doing well, many of these funds were therefore used to fund dramatic expansions of the businesses. The owners always meant to pay the money back except, this was a cheaper source of funding than using the banks. Repayments were therefore delayed.

When they looked at the retirement plans, many owners discovered the plans could be amended without having to ask for permission from anyone. This came as a surprise to many who had retired. They began receiving notices regretting the reduction in their benefits. A recent case against Qwest Communications International has just been decided by the Court of Appeals. The employers won. So the moral of this story for you is a simple one. If your employer currently offers you a pay package including insurance and retirement benefits, look at the small print very carefully. If you see anything along the following lines, "the Company reserves the right to amend or terminate any of the benefits under this section. . .", don't rely on the plans and policies apparently on offer. The courts are not going to protect the rights of an employee against an employer in the face of an express contract term.

The life insurance policy you buy, whether directly or through an agent, is a contract made for life. So long as you continue paying the premium installments and don't cancel, that policy is good for decades. But no matter what the appearances, including the appointment of well-known individuals as trustees to administer the fund, no employer who reserves the right to amend or terminate the plans can be relied on to leave the fund untouched. If this applies to you, you should seriously consider topping up the coverage apparently available. Discuss your options with an experienced life insurance agent and find out how best to protect your retirement prospects and the welfare of your family.

Car rental companies and road trips with children

When you're young, you can go anywhere, anytime, and either just hang out or go hang-gliding or anything else ending in "ing" that involves putting your life on the line. You're free of responsibilities and, as you think about the world over a couple of beers as night draws in, it never really occurs to you that having children is a life-changing event. Only when confronted by the practical reality of two toddlers does it occur to you that hang-gliding with them suspended from your belt might not be a good idea.

So the burning question is where do you go and what do you do when you get there? Let's start with a fairly obvious problem to avoid. If you've been carefully training these little ones to sleep when it gets dark, going too far north into Alaska is a bad idea since the sun tends to stay in the sky more hours than you like. Stay in the southern regions where it goes dark at a sensible time. Now think about how much kit you need to keep the toddlers clean and fed during the driving. In addition to the seating to keep them safe, you need easy access to all the stored essentials without having to stop and dive into a crowded trunk every time you need something. Now think about breast-feeding. You need adequate room and it might be a good idea to have curtains at the windows in the back of the vehicle.

Do a strategic run-through in your own vehicle to get an idea of how much space you're going to need and then check on what makes and models will give you what you need with a miles-per-gallon rate that won't break the bank. Once you have the field narrowed down, it's on to the internet to find one of your preferred makes and models from car rental companies at a price you can afford. That's potentially going to need some negotiation with the car rental companies to get child-friendly seats of the right size fixed in place ready for you.

Cheap flights and what to do if refused boarding

There are some very comprehensive rules protecting European citizens when they travel around Europe. If the airlines fail to comply with these rules, they will be prosecuted and heavy fines are payable. So it's in your interests to know your rights. Let's start with the not uncommon situation of overbooked flights. You have paid for your ticket, you told the airline you were coming, and you present yourself at the airport on time only to find there are too many bodies waiting to get on the same flight. If this happens to you, the airline must first call for volunteers to give up their seats in return for agreed compensation. But suppose no one volunteers. Well, the choice falls to you.

If you decide not to travel, you are entitled to a full refund and compensation of up to 600 Euro. The actual amount varies depending on how long the intended flight and how many miles. But if it will still be worth traveling onward, you are entitled to be booked on to the first available flight to your destination. If you are offered a seat upgrade, the airline cannot ask you for the difference in price. If you must now break your journey and catch a connecting flight, all expenses must be met. Food and accommodation may also be necessary. Should the only available seats be in a lower class, you are entitled to a refund of the difference in ticket price.

As to cheap flights, particularly those booked as a package through a travel professional, you will be in line for significant compensation if you lose the benefit of car rental or hotel accommodation. If you did buy through a travel agent, the airline is obliged to compensate the travel agent and, in turn, the agent is obliged to pass on the compensation to you. If you have any complaint about the airline and the treatment you received when you were refused boarding, make a complaint to the National Enforcement Body in your home state. Officers are supposed to help you recover the full amount of compensation available under EU law.

Keep in mind your house safety to get lower home insurance rates

If you own an apartment or a a house a sound idea is to obtain an insurance policy for your property. There are many risks your home may be exposed to over the course of the years, from natural perils to technological disasters and simple human misbehavior. In situations like these your property may be damaged to a great extent and paying for its repair will prove to be very costly. Home insurance is designed to protect you financially in such circumstances since it pays for repairing or rebuilding your property in predetermined situations. Still, for some people the cost of having their homes insured seems to be very high. They will say that they can't afford to have home insurance because of the rates. Fortunately, there are many effective ways to reduce the costs of having your property insured. And improving your house's safety is certainly one of the most effective and beneficial of them.

Security and safety play a very important role in all forms of insurance. Insurers base their rates on the risk they undertake when covering a certain item (home, auto, jewelry, etc.). This risk is determined by many different factors, yet the security of the object is naturally a crucial one. The lower is an object's (or subject's) security, the higher is the risk of the insurance situation taking place. For example, if your car doesn't have an alarm it is more likely to be stolen than if it had one. And that's obvious why insurers relate their pricing on the security rating of the object they are to insure.

Let's project this knowledge on houses and try to understand which measures should be taken for improving home security and optimizing home insurance costs. Fact is that home safety and security can be a bit complex and overwhelming since there are so many aspects involved. From simple pluming optimization and minimization of leak risks to fire alarms and video surveillance systems - it all may look too costly and time consuming. But no one's rushing you here and you can easily take one step at a time.

Consider the most common perils home insurance is designed for: fire, flood, windstorms, burglary, earthquakes, lightning, etc. Some of them cannot be prevented or protected from like in the case of earthquakes or technological disasters, while others are quite simple to prevent. Fire damage risk can be minimized by installing smoke detectors, fire alarm or even an extinguishing system. Even having a common fire extinguisher somewhere within reach can be a good measure that the insurer will take into account. Checking your roof and walls for leaks and maintaining your pluming system can be very good for decreasing flood damage. Lightning damage can be easily eliminated by having a lightning rod at the top of your house. Burglary can be prevented by having sturdy doors, quality locks, alarm and surveillance systems installed in your house.

One by one, these measures will gradually make your house more secure against a range of risks, and the insurance company will surely notice that. The better you are at securing your property the lower will be your home insurance rates because insurers like it when the customer minimizes the risks for them. So you're actually killing two birds with one stone here since you both make your house safer for you and your family to live in and decrease the cost of insuring it.

Cheap air tickets and children behaving badly

Back in Victorian times, the Brits had a saying, "Children should be seen and not heard". In other words, although children are the only way of perpetuating the species and so we have to put up with them, it's much better if we never have to tolerate their bad behavior. How many of us have stood or sat transfixed by a child demonstrating the art of the tantrum. It usually starts with a yell of outrage over some imagined disruption to quality of life. If we're lucky, the resulting reaction is purely verbal and, yes, we're frequently amazed at how colorful even the youngest children can get when they have the bit between their teeth. They can hold their own with dock workers and others famous for their ability to swear nonstop for ten minutes without drawing breath. If we're unlucky, there's physical involvement. This can be passive resistance but, more often than not, the first step is to look for things to throw. When the available ammunition has been used up, it's into violence against anyone within range of flying fists and feet.

Allowing for the fact children are more likely to lose their self control when they are tired and traveling can be a very tiring experience, and boredom on a long flight adding fuel to the fires, we see rather more bad behavior than we would like in airports and on long haul flights. In a recent survey, more than a third of those patient and long-suffering Brits said they would willingly abandon cheap air tickets and pay more for the privilege of traveling without any young children on board.

So ask yourselves how many times you have had the pleasure of a child sitting behind you and kicking the seat, or with children throwing food or spitting at you. Would you be prepared to pay a few more dollars to avoid the frustration of parents who seem incapable of controlling their children? Do you think airlines should offer this service? Just think. They could batch all the families with younger children together, and leave the rest of the skies free of noise for the rest of us. Would you surrender cheap airline tickets for peace and quiet?