Friday, May 18, 2012

How do you define VALUE?

Being a "young" (although we are no longer in our twenties) family, my wife and I, raising our three children, typically try and be thrifty when it comes to buying groceries to feed our ever growing brood, (not in number, just size). So, when we are cruising down the cereal aisle, with all of the sugary bright colored boxes all standing from 6 inches to 3 feet in height and the boring and mundane boxes up above, all of the prices seem outrageously expensive, (although less than the average trip to Caribou or Starbucks, but that is another topic) we like to look for the store brand or "off brand" cereals with oddly sounding yet similar meaning names to the name brands! Typically these less costly cereals save between 1 to 5 cents per ounce of cereal, or a dollar or two per package at best. So, being the thrifty shoppers we are, we seem to continually load up a couple boxes or bags of cereal into our cart each week to supply breakfast during our rush around mornings.

Now, if this is a brand or even flavor we haven't tried before we will open it up on Monday morning all excited as we imagine the flavors of those sugary sweet cereals we used to eat as kids, or once in a great while, the bearable flavor of a healthy cereal we have chosen for that week. Then, as we pour the milk on and dig in with excitement, just as we begin to crunch on that first bite, we have to look twice at the package and make sure the factory didn't accidentally box up the cardboard shavings left over from the box making rather than the real cereal.

At best, these bad ones taste like nothing at all and others leave a taste in your mouth even Listerine can't seem to eliminate for 3-5 days! Now, I am not saying they are all bad, we repeatedly buy some of them because they taste very good to us as a family, but others are a huge disappointment. So, what does this have to do with insurance and value you may ask?

Well, when my wife and I are doing our grocery shopping we are looking to save money, but when we return home we want to have food we can actually eat. What I am really looking for is not just about price it is about value. As defined by dictionary.com the best explanation I could see for what I was wanting was this:

value (ˈvæljuː) - reasonable or equivalent return; satisfaction: value for money

That is exactly what I am looking for, not only when I am shopping for groceries but when I am making any purchase, especially those that have a larger price tag. I want to spend what is necessary to get what I need or want out of that purchase.

This same principle applies to buying insurance, the difference is, it's not packaged in bright boxes on the bottom shelf for younger consumers and in boxes with fruits and grains all over for the more experienced and wiser consumers, and it is a larger purchase with much larger financial and emotional implications than poor or terribly tasting cereal. If you go into insurance and either buy it purely on price or on nostalgia of family history or a fancy namesake, it may not be the best value for you and your family.

Insurance agents should be considered a personal shopper for you and your family with your overall best interest at heart. They are trained to have already looked for the value in each company and policy type that should fit your families needs to help you avoid from paying too much for something unneccessary but also to help you avoid that bitter aftertaste from paying too little and the long term after effects that can have on you and your family.

The key is to communicate with your current agent, or one that is willing to take time and visit with you about what you need and expect out of an insurance policy or policies. They can then evaluate your needs and expectations with what insurance can fit your situation best. Then share that and the options available with you along with the benefits and downfalls to those options. This way you get VALUE out of your insurance purchase up front rather than finding out after tragedy has struck.

If you have any questions about your current insurance or would like an evaluation, I know there are many great agents in your area that would love to consult with you, and if you have or find one that isn't, give us a call at Advantage 1 Insurance, because here, your policy always comes with an agent!