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As with any type of insurance, if you take the money you are paying for it, stick it in a savings account, soon enough you'll have your own small insurance 'fund' that will only get bigger.
-Nate
The real strength of an insurance policy is the coverage of liability. Are you self-insured to cover the possibility of being sued for several hundred thousand dollars if a guest slips on your carpet and breaks his hip? I don't want to have wages garnished or go deep into debt; it's worth the less than $100 a year to be protected.
They did have 2 different types of policies for me to choose from. I can't remember the names for the types of coverage, but basically one covers the replacement value, whereas the other covered the original value. The cost of the replacement value coverage was more expensive, since it's assumed your belongings (electronics, especially) depreciate over time. I went with the cheaper one since my stuff is not that nice anyway! If I had taken the move expensive policy, I would have ended up paying about $10 more per year. It's really ridiculously inexpensive.
Congrats on being covered! It's a nice feeling, even if you don't think you're going to have to use it.
It's worth $90/year for us to free up all the money we'd need to truly be self-insured for paying off student loans and the like. No offense meant, Nate, but I think it's ridiculous to suggest that $90 a year in a savings account could replace even the useful basics any time soon. My husband has only two suits, but each of those cost over $200 and he needs them for his work as a professor. At $90/year even with interest...that's 4+ years just for the suits. You can call us materialistic, I call it a practical investment in a tool for his career---just like his computer. We got a great deal on it, but replacing would probably cost another 6 years of putting aside that money, even if we got a decent price. Would a sweet deal come along just at the right time? We can't count on that when self-insuring.
I'm not opposed to the idea of self-insuring, but I think it's a bad choice for most people when it comes to renter's insurance or car insurance. The liability risks are far too high, given the trend of medical awards, and for replacing items in an apartment it's just not practical because renter's insurance is so cheap. If you're concerned about money, find a way to earn an extra $90/year. :)
Nate, I read on your about page on your site that you have a rental property. Do you require your tenants to have renter's insurance? I hope you do, because if you don't and something happens you could be at fault and it could come out of your insurance policy since you're the property owner. I'd be interested in knowing what your position is on that.
You all have me convinced. Perhaps a little insurance isn't a bad thing. This is why we young people, need you old people. ;-) I say old in an affectionate way.
-Nate
Many things changed. Management might as well not even be on the premises. The neighborhood has gone to hell with irresponsible people. I still don't fear a lawsuit. My husband has a hobby that has built up to a level where it would be quite a loss if something happened to his collection. I collect at a smaller level. I asked about renter's insurance when insuring our new car at AAA, in 2007. It's around $200 a year, and it would take many years for that to amount to anything much in savings, so we got it and think it's worthwhile.