What is an Insurance Advisor?

What is an Insurance Advisor?

On this blog, we seek to educate the consumer in a straight-forward way so that you can make the best decision to ensure your family  and your property  are covered in the event of a catastrophe. While you may make the best decisions and cross your fingers that nothing befalls your family, it’s good to know that your best interests are secured by hiring an insurance advisor. If you’ve never heard of an insurance advisor, this article will show why the fiscally-savvy  find someone who is after their best interests.

Insurance Agents vs. Insurance Advisors

An advisor goes one step beyond an agent, as they are also a broker and agent. One common misconception is that an advisor is superfluous—why do I need an insurance advisor when I already paid for coverage?

Independent advisors don’t make the policy more expensive. In the vast majority of the times cheaper, because we know which company specializes in what and how to structure the policy properly. there’s no additional fee, the policy is the same, and we can custom tailor it to your unique situation. (UNIQUE TO RISKBLOCK vs. COMPETITORS?)

Let’s take an example to show how an advisor can work for you:

Suppose you purchase an insurance policy from a captive agent—“captive agent” is an insurance-industry try term, but it means that that agent is directly-related to the company that they’re selling insurance for. In other words, they may try to get you the best deal, but their employment is commensurate with selling insurance; not your best interest.

As a metaphor: if you want a car and you go to Ford dealership, they can only sell you Ford cars; the salesman will tell you what’s good about the Ford car and sell you a Ford car. Why would they recommend a competitor’s value?

Essentially, that person is a licensed agent but they are order takers. You want the cheapest insurance we got? Ok here’s the price. There is no “education” involved—and why would they? It’s against their own best interest. In addition, they also will sell you their OWN product only. There’s no advice on what you need to do and they usually don’t ask/don’t care.

How is that to your own benefit?

Benefits of Hiring an Insurance Advisor

Well, that’s all well and good, but how will an insurance advisor really help me. Let’s provide some advantages:

• More customization: an independent insurance advisor is as if you’d want to buy a car. An insurance advisor willl ask you what you want the car for, how you will use it, what brands you like, what other accessories, then make suggestions on the best way to do that or things they recommend you need or don’t need. After that, they go to each car maker to find the best car that fits what you wanted.

• Accountability: Have other insurance policies and wonder how they interact with one another? You need an insurance advisor. Think about it. Suppose you have an umbrella insurance policy  that you bought to cover the limitations from your renters policy. Are you aware of when your umbrella policy kicks in, and do you know the correct way to fight for your coverage? That’s the job of your insurance advisor.

As an example, suppose you purchase a policy from Geico, purchasing car insurance at 25/50 coverage. Your friend causes an accident in your car. Your insurers will be breathing down your neck and try to negotiate the best rate for their own best interests. That’s why you need an advisor in your corner.

• Double-checking: If you’re reading this article, you’re not an insurance expert. Nor should you be. An advisor also looks at all your policies to make sure its correct and that their expertise ensures that you are adequately covered.

• Consultations: Here’s a common question: Does the advisor negotiate rates with companies (for instance, making sure umbrella kicks in at the right threshold, ex. above $100,000 in damages)?  The answer is yes!

For example, suppose you have excellent budgeting/money-management and always have emergency savings. An advisor will suggest a higher deductible to save more money each year. But for someone who doesn’t really have savings and will not be able to afford a big deductible if they had a claim. An advisor would say, “ok, then you have to pay more upfront for a lower deductible, so that when you DO have a claim, you won’t have to break the bank to get the claim covered.”

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As you can see, this only the tip of the iceberg. An advisor works on your  behalf to make sure you’re covered. Contact the insurance advisors at RiskBlock to make sure your needs are in YOUR own best interest, not the bottom line of all the insurance companies.