Stock market investment blog

Yesterday’s question was whether you should buy homeowner’s insurance from the same carriers as your auto insurance. Here’s one person who says yes:

Just had Allstate drop my homeowners insurance due to the “potential” of the upcoming hurricane season. I live on the North Shore of Long Island. I was told if I had the auto policy under Allstate, they would have kept me on. I have spent hours on the phone trying to get a new policy which had unexpectedly become a huge burden due to the age of my home (built in 1925) & underground oil tank.

In the end, I just signed up for a nice policy, with increased coverages, & for less money but had to do a lot of digging. Ultimately, they are covering my oil tank for leaks which is another mess I will have to deal with in the near future. Oh, moving the auto policy over gave me a about a 5% discount on the homeowners.

Question: Currently looking for homeowner’s insurance on Long Island – spoke to a rep whose quote I think I’m gonna accept – Of course, he’s also trying to sell me every other kind of insurance under the sun, including auto insurance.

I told him that I was happy with my current auto insurance with another company and didn’t want to switch. He said I should think about the fact that a lot of insurance companies are looking to drop homeowners’ policies whenever possible. His company, according to him, is not currently looking to do so (obviously, since they’re offering me a policy) but he said that if they do look to shed homeowners’ policies in the future, they’d be much more likely to do so if a person only has home insurance, and much less likely if that person also has auto and/or life insurance.

Is this guy full of s**t and just trying to sell me an extra policy, or is there any truth to what he’s saying?

Answer: If they get out of the business for homeowners they usually drop all their homeowners, not just the ones who only have homeowners’ insurance. Usually the only way to drop their homeowners is to declare they are no longer offering homeowners’ insurance in that state. They cannot then turn around and make an exception for their favorite customers. However they can drop you for a valid reason such as “hurricane, flood, windstorm risk”.

I suspect that the insurance broker is feeding you a line but getting a quote won’t hurt. Just tell him to give you the numbers and you’ll make your own deicsion.

This CNN Money article has 12 ideas for starting your business. The details are pretty weak on investing in Libya so there’s not much guidance at all, but there are some interesting details about gold mines in Bolivia. Here is a list of the ideas:

1. Build cheap Wi-Fi networks for Brazilian resorts.
2. Become a biodiesel producer in Argentina.
3. Create an ad network for India’s mobile content developers.
4. Launch an exclusive social network for Russian millionaires.
5. Open an American-style restaurant in one of China’s fast-growing cities.
6. Remodel homes for China’s burgeoning middle class.
7 Flip mining claims in Bolivia.
8. Export the planet’s next great wines – from Greece.
9. Import fine wines to upscale restaurants – in India.
10. Export gourmet coffee from Rwanda.
11. Become a social entrepreneur in South Africa.
12. Be among the first to invest in the new Libya.