Risk & Business

As a business owner you will be exposed to the insurance marketplace in various ways as you buy and use insurance. You will hear from your insurance professional terms like "standard market", and "surplus market" , and you may wonder what all this means?  So I thought I will go through this briefly to give you some clarification. The insurance industry is regulated by the states. Each state will  license and monitor the activity of insurance companies that want to do business in the state. These companies are "admitted"  into the state and generally are determined to be "standard markets".  The state backs up the buyers of insurance from  "standard markets" if they cannot  pay claims. This is usually done with a guarantee fund set up by the legislature. "Standard markets" usually insure the risks that are considered normal risk or lower risk and cover the majority of the insurance needs for business. Now when a business is a...

You have built your business from the ground up.  You worked hard, and many hours without a day off have been the norm to get your business where it is today. You insure your buildings, equipment, autos, and employees,  however do you insure you ? The majority of business owners do not insure themselves. What happens to the business when something happens to you? Most business owners do not even think about this scenario. In reality most business will fail when the owner or "driver" dies or becomes disabled. It is only fair to the employees, vendors, and customers to make sure your business can go on without you. This can also apply to your best employees or managers that help your business run. So what is the answer to this risk?  Life and disability insurance.  Key Man life and disability  insurance is a necessity for a business owner. You are the "Key Man" (or Woman) that make the business work,  so insure "you"!!  The premiums are deducted as an e...

Most business owners cover their loss of business income. This coverage is included in most business owners policies and is easily added to Propery & Liability package policies. But what happens when the business loses income because their main supplier cannot supply the products or services the business needs? This type of coverage is called Contingent Business Income. In today's "just in time" inventory supply lines, businesses do not stock as much as they use to. A business can order online at night and by the next day have thier supplies from their favorite vendor. However if a main supplier has a claim that prevents this "just in time" delivery, the business owner could lose money. This is especially true with specialty products or supplies that come from only one or two vendors. It does not take much for a business to lose income when their shipments of inventory are delayed. Customers do not want to wait for a new order to come in from other vendors t...