A yearly insurance review across everything

Insurance is bought in pieces at different times for different reasons, and the pieces stop fitting as life changes.

An annual review across all of it catches what a policy-by-policy renewal does not.

Start with an inventory of what you have

List every policy: type, insurer, policy number, coverage limits, deductible, premium, renewal date, and agent contact.

Include: health, dental, vision, life including employer coverage, disability short and long term, auto, homeowners or renters, umbrella, flood, earthquake, long-term care, business coverage, travel and any specialty policies.

Most households discover something they had forgotten and something they are paying for twice.

Then ask what has changed

Marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, a child leaving home, a new job, a job loss, retirement, a house purchase or sale, a renovation, a new vehicle, a new business, a significant income change, a health change, a move.

Each of these affects at least one policy and frequently several.

The gaps to check for

Liability limits below your net worth. The most common gap. Check auto, homeowners and umbrella together.

No umbrella policy despite having assets to protect.

Dwelling limit below current replacement cost, given construction cost inflation.

No flood coverage, including outside high-risk zones where it is cheap and where a meaningful share of claims occur.

Life insurance term expiring before the need does.

Beneficiary designations out of date on insurance and retirement accounts.

No disability coverage, or coverage with a two-year benefit period that does not address a career-ending event.

Employer coverage treated as permanent, when it ends with the job.

Business activity at home not disclosed or covered.

Rideshare or delivery work not disclosed on the auto policy.

Valuables above policy sublimits not scheduled.

A rental property on a homeowners policy.

Short-term rental activity not covered.

An adult child still on or wrongly off a policy.

The duplications to remove

Rental car coverage duplicating a credit card benefit and your own auto policy.

Roadside assistance from three sources.

Accidental death coverage where adequate life insurance exists.

Credit life and credit disability on loans, which is generally expensive per dollar of benefit.

Extended warranties duplicating manufacturer coverage or credit card protections.

Travel insurance duplicating existing health, life and card benefits — though medical evacuation coverage abroad is frequently a genuine gap worth filling.

The financial cross-check

Emergency fund against deductibles. Add up every deductible you might face at once — health, auto, homeowners including any percentage deductible — and confirm you could fund them.

Percentage deductibles for wind or earthquake can be very large and are frequently overlooked in this calculation.

Out-of-pocket maximum on health coverage, as a known worst case.

Elimination periods on disability coverage, which you must self-fund.

These three figures together define how much liquid savings you actually need.

The documents

Save current copies of every policy, digitally, somewhere accessible from outside the house.

Update the home inventory video.

Update appraisals on scheduled items.

Write or update the summary document listing every policy, so that someone else could find them.

Tell someone where it is. This matters more than people think — beneficiaries who do not know a policy exists do not claim it.

The shopping decision

Shop auto and homeowners every two to three years, or after a large increase.

Compare identical coverage across at least three insurers, on the same day, checking complaint indices and financial strength alongside price.

For life insurance, check whether current rates have improved, without cancelling existing coverage before new coverage is in force.

For health coverage, review annually at open enrollment against your actual medications and providers.

The order of priority

If resources are limited, the sequence that protects the most.

Health coverage, because medical costs are the largest single cause of financial catastrophe.

Adequate liability limits on auto and home, because a judgment can take everything.

Disability coverage, because your income funds everything else.

Life insurance, if anyone depends on you.

Property coverage at replacement cost.

An umbrella policy, which is cheap relative to what it protects.

Then the rest.

The afternoon

List the policies. Note what has changed. Check the gaps. Remove the duplications. Cross-check deductibles against savings. Update the documents. Shop what needs shopping.

Then put a reminder in the calendar for next year.

General information about insurance planning, not insurance, legal or financial advice. Coverage needs depend on individual circumstances. Consult licensed professionals about your own situation.