Self Employed Insurance

June 20, 2009 by Be Safe Insure
Filed under 1. Commercial Insurance, Self Employed

To be successfully self-employed, you must wear many hats, one of which is the hat of the ‘Human Resources – Benefits’ professional. Determining the right insurance for you, including accident, health, dental, and vision insurance coverage, is important for you now that you are self-employed. And the right time to sort out your insurance needs and obtain insurance coverage is when you first start out as being this self-employed professional. Yes, one more thing to do, but well worth doing.

Self employed health insurance is not cheap. Actually, when you are just starting out insurance rates can be daunting. So here are some tips & advice to obtain self-employed insurance to right-size your insurance premiums and get the best value coverage:

1st Step. It makes sense to acquaintance yourself with the topic by starting to talk to people knowledgeable about business insurance. Of course it’s natural to want to talk to the people you already know, however your friends and ex-colleagues from your prior employer are usually not the best informed. It’s far superior to contact an insurance broker who will offer you realistic insights and information on what you need and how to keep your overall insurance premium cost down.

2nd Step. Now that you are armed with realistic self-employed insurance cost information, it’s timeto incorporate these figures into your business budget and forecast. Once the figures are included in your financial overview, you can review your overall cost picture and determine if there are perhaps other expenses which could be curtailed to make room for some insurance in the budget.

3rd Step. When insurance does not seem to fit into the budget, you’ll have to consider your options. You should be able to vary your deductibles on many insurances. For example for health insurance, you can also vary your co-payment to create a premium level that you are comfortable with. Choose premium levels that befit your budget and that are realistic for when you may actually need to claim on your insurance.

4th Step. This is not really an ‘action’- step, but more of a ‘thinking’ step: It is important for self-employed to be professional, and to even see your health insurance as an investment in you and your business. When you are not working because you’re sick, there is no income. So taking care of your health as well as of your health insurance is of paramount importance.

5th Step. Delving into the sophistication of the types of business and individual risks to insure, and to protect. By looking at risk as factors to manage as well as to insure, there will be a host of preventative measure you could take to reduce your insurance needs and costs. Actually taking preventative measures is safer, and while there will be some investment/cost associated with prevention, it probably lowers your insurance premiums and needs. This requires some real thinking as some of these preventative measures are not necessarily the first things that come to mind. For example, you you decide to become a non-smoker, that will significantly lower your health insurance premium. Look for hidden financial gems to be found to fit insurance as a line item on your business budget as it should.