The 15-Minute Year-End Insurance Checkup

By The NMH Agency Team, Licensed Agent

Most financial rituals get their season. Taxes get April, budgets get
January, and insurance gets… nothing, which is how policies drift five
years out of date while premiums quietly climb. So here’s a proposal:
give insurance fifteen minutes once a year, ideally the same fifteen
minutes every year, and run this checklist. It’s the exact review we
walk customers through, written down.

Grab your declarations pages (the summary sheets for each policy) and
go.

Minutes
1 to 3: does the paperwork still describe your life?

Read the basic facts like a stranger would. Right vehicles? Right
drivers, nobody missing, nobody who moved out still listed? Right
address, right commute, right annual mileage? Homeownership status
current?

This sounds trivial and catches something in a remarkable share of
reviews: the sold motorcycle still being paid for, the kid at college
400 miles away still rated as a primary driver at full freight, the
“commute” rating on a car you’ve worked from home away from for years.
Every mismatch is either money being wasted or a claim problem being
incubated.

Minutes 4 to 6: what
changed this year?

Scan the year for insurance-relevant events, because almost
everything big is one. Marriage, divorce, a new baby, a death in the
family. A new job, retirement, going remote. Home renovations, a new
roof, a finished basement. New valuables: a ring, instruments, guns,
art. New toys: boat, RV, golf cart, trailer. Started a side business,
started renting a room, got a dog.

Each of these moves at least one policy: pricing, coverage needs, or
both. Renovations especially deserve attention, because a $60,000
kitchen changes what it costs to rebuild your house, and your dwelling
limit doesn’t know about it unless someone says so.

Minutes 7 to
9: the three numbers that matter most

Liability limits. As your savings and income grow,
yesterday’s limits stop covering today’s downside. If your net worth has
outgrown your liability coverage, that’s the cue for higher limits or an
umbrella policy, which adds a million dollars of protection for a few
hundred a year.

Dwelling coverage. Construction costs have moved a
lot in recent years. Would your current dwelling limit actually rebuild
the house at today’s prices? If the number hasn’t moved since you bought
the place, it’s suspect.

Deductibles. Two directions to check. If your
emergency fund has grown, raising deductibles saves premium on claims
you’d never file anyway. If money’s tighter than it was, make sure the
deductible is one you could actually write a check for this week.

Minutes 10 to 12: the
discount audit

Ask (or have us ask) what discounts you’re getting and what’s
available. The list changes, and so do you. Paid-in-full, autopay,
paperless. Alarm and monitoring systems. New roof. Good student, student
away at school. Low mileage, telematics. Professional and alumni
affiliations. Bundling, and whether your bundle still beats the split
(we quote it both ways; the answer changes).

Five minutes of discount questions routinely finds something.
Carriers don’t retroactively apply discounts you never claimed.

Minutes 13 to 15: the
gaps and the market

Last pass, two questions. First, the known-gap checklist: flood
(excluded from every home policy, priced separately, cheaper than
assumed outside high-risk zones), water/sewer backup (cheap endorsement,
ugly claims), umbrella liability, and gap coverage on any financed
vehicle worth less than its loan. We’ve written about all of these; the
year-end job is just confirming each is a decision you made, not a
default you inherited.

Second: when did you last re-shop? If it’s been two-plus years, or
your renewal jumped more than about 10 percent without a claim, it’s
time. Carrier appetites rotate, and the market rewards households that
look around. Re-shopping through an independent agency means one
conversation covering 50+ carriers at matching coverage, and sometimes
the answer is “stay put,” which is also worth knowing.

Making it stick

Put it on the calendar: same week every year, maybe the week your
homeowners policy renews, or the slow week between Christmas and New
Year’s when you’re already staring at finances. Recurring appointment,
fifteen minutes, this checklist.

Or outsource the whole ritual: call us, say “annual review,” and
we’ll run every item above with your actual policies on screen. It’s
free, it’s genuinely fifteen minutes, and it’s the single highest-value
habit in personal insurance. The households that do it simply pay less
and get surprised less. That’s the entire pitch.

Due for one? Call 800.388.6780 or start
online and ask for the annual review. Bring the declarations pages;
we’ll bring the checklist.