"rick++" <rick303[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

I've heard this rule, but it's never made any sense to me. You should have
umbrella coverage that exceeds any likely jury award. A couple of exceptions:
if you have no assets, you probably don't need to insure them. If you're very
wealthy, you can self insure.

But umbrella coverage is ridiculously cheap. As someone pointed out, they will
provide the defense against a suit as well. They will work much harder if they
have $2 million at risk than $100,000.

-- Doug

John A. Weeks III is giving you good advice. Insurance companies
don't just pay settlements, they also pay for legal representation.
That could easily be hundreds of hours of lawyer time. Yes, lawyers
do actually bill two to three hundred dollars an hour.

You are not just protecting the money you have now, you are protecting
a significant portion of any future earning you may ever have, as
well.

A funny thing about retirement protection. The money is protected in
the retirement account, but you can't spend it. Once it's out of the
account you can spend it, but it is no longer protected. So your
ability to take out the money in nice even chunks over the next couple
decades and spend it at your leisure could be affected by a
judgement.

The only real question is "Do I want $1, $2 or more millions of
coverage?" You may be able to buy a heck of a lot of coverage for
four or five hundred bucks a year.

In article <1169855161.842853.224070[at]m58g2000cwm.googlegroups.com> ,
"rick++" <rick303[at]hotmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

It is a good idea to have umbrella insurance in every case. A
simple car accident can lead to million dollar settlements, and
you never know when someone is going to accuse you of doing something
that has to be defended or settled. It is so hard to accumulate
things and wealth these days that you don't want to lose it all
over something dumb.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john[at]johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

Is it recommended to have as much umbrella liability insurance as all
of one assets
including "retirement" accounts? That word is quoted is because I
believe that
official 401Ks and IRA are protected in many states, but after-tax
accounts are
not protected.