Learning to Assess Your Risks

Life is full of risk. Sometimes, the realization of this can cause us to ignore risks in favor of a comfortable ignorance that allows us to sleep at night. The ability to face and accurately assess your risks can give you the power to protect yourself effectively, and invest in insurance policies that can help protect you should a potential risk become a reality.

What Risks do You Face?

One of the first ways you can realistically determine the risks you need to protect yourself against is to take a look at your assets. There are many you will want to protect which could endure losses you can’t afford to replace on your own. This can include things such as your home, car, health and life.

Next, you should consider damages that could create losses against your assets and the likelihood of being exposed to them.

Consider events such as:

• Theft
• Inclement weather or violent storms
• Illness
• Accident

Once you’ve got a handle on what risks you are exposed to, and the likelihood of their occurrence, the next step is to determine what your financial exposure is. Every risk has a potential cost, and insurance policies help you protect your financial future from the damage these costs can bring. One good example of this process can be found in health-related policies. You may decide that based on your health history, your family history and your age, that you have little risk of illness but, like anyone else, you have some risk of major accident. Major medical insurance protects you against many of the costs associated with treatment of damages due to an accident. Choose a policy limit that you feel accurately reflects your financial risk exposure. To complement your limits, and help control costs, you can choose a policy deductible that you can afford to offset the insurance company’s responsibility.

Insurance agents are trained in recognizing risk and helping consumers to determine what kind of financial protection is reasonable for them. For the best Chicago auto insurance, Give Oxford Insurance a call today and we can get you started on the road to insurance protection you can afford.