Insurance: Helping You Fulfill Your Personal Fiduciary Responsibility

What would you do if you were put in charge of assets or property belonging to someone you loved? If for some reason your parents, siblings, grandparents, children or other loved one was unable to care for themselves and you had control and decision-making power over their assets, you would probably do everything in your power to protect and preserve them.

As a fiduciary, one entrusted with control over another's assets, you would owe it to your loved one to act in an honest, forthright way and to make decisions in good conscience with the goal of preserving and protecting the property your relative could no longer care for.

It’s likely that one of the methods you would use to protect their assets would be the purchase of insurance policies. After all, if the assets were to be damaged or stolen while under your care, the absence of insurance could spell a total loss for your loved one and that's not something you'd want them to endure, especially when it could be so easily and affordably prevented by the purchase of insurance.

If this is the case, then why would you not protect your own assets the same way? By default, we are each our own fiduciary and, as such, have a responsibility to ourselves to act in good conscience and protect our own assets.

There are some instances that require the purchase of insurance in order to satisfy other entities. More specifically, drivers must carry Chicago auto insurance to comply with their state regulations and those who have mortgages and auto loans must carry insurance to protect the investment of their lenders. But state regulations and lenders are no more important than your own personal interest in the property that you pay for. Insurance should always be purchased, first and foremost, to protect your financial interest since that is, understandably, your own top priority.

Whether you handle assets for another individual or yourself and your family, you have a fiduciary responsibility to protect and preserve those assets. Give us a call at Oxford Insurance Group today and see how we can help you fulfill your personal fiduciary responsibilities through the purchase of affordable insurance policies.

Newly Married: Should You Share an Auto Insurance Policy?

There is no law stating that once a couple gets married they must share everything. A couple can choose to keep their assets separate, their bank accounts separate and they can even keep their auto insurance coverage separate – but should they?

Sharing Means Saving

By sharing the same auto insurance policy, a couple could save money because some insurers offer multi-car and multi-driver discounts. Taking it a step further, the couple could choose to bundle home or renters insurance with auto insurance and save even more.

Sharing Means Less Lapsing

When a married couple shares an auto insurance policy, it means they have just one insurance premium to pay. This gives the couple a better opportunity to manage their payments and less chance of forgetting to pay the premium completely or paying late. This can help cut down on instances of a policy lapse due to nonpayment.

Sharing Means Less Paperwork

With two insurance policies a couple will have two sets of policy login information, two sets of policy pages, two different processes for claims, separate renewal dates and different mailings for insurance cards. All of this can make it much more difficult to keep paperwork and policy information updated. By sharing a single policy, the couple minimizes much of this busywork and is less likely to forget important dates.

Sharing Means Single Quotes

It’s a good idea to get auto insurance quotes every year or so or when something major changes such as the purchase of a new vehicle, the receipt of a ticket, or after one takes a driver’s training course. It's much easier to get quotes on a consistent basis when a couple has just one policy rather than two.

Sharing Means Joint Access

If one person in a married couple has an accident and submits a claim on his individual policy, the other spouse will generally not be permitted to get information on that claim unless he or she is included on the policy. By sharing an auto insurance policy, you never have to worry that you won't be able to manage your spouse’s insurance should they become incapacitated.

To learn more about how having a joint auto insurance policy can make your married life easier or to get quotes for a new policy, give us a call or stop by.