Risk Management for Dentists

Dentists, like physicians and surgeons, have an increased risk for malpractice lawsuits. However, if you run your dental practice with risk management in mind, you can significantly reduce this risk with simple everyday procedures. And as it turns out, these procedures can also keep your practice more organized and enhance your patient care. Sounds like a win-win! Let’s take a look at some of the risk management tips that you can introduce to your practice:

• Keep detailed, accurate and up-to-date records for each of your patients. Include medical and dental histories, diagnostics, patient authorization if copies of records (never the originals) are released from your office and informed consent or refusal for any treatments.
• A satisfied patient is less likely to file a claim against your practice. Improve patient comfort by providing a soothing atmosphere, thoroughly explaining treatments that patients will undergo and ensuring that patients have reasonable expectations regarding treatment outcome before beginning any dental work.
• Examine your patients for signs of oral cancer and TMJ. Record any findings, positive or negative.
• Never conceal information from patients. Inform them of any signs of dental problems or bad outcomes immediately following examination and/or treatment.
• When doctor-patient relationships come to an end, send the patient a letter or email that acknowledges the termination. You may also choose to offer tips for recommended at-home dental care and information about obtaining a copy of his or her dental record.

Prevention is the best medicine, for both patients and doctors. In your case, preventing patients from finding a reason to claim malpractice is the best way to protect your livelihood and reputation. Of course, as a doctor, you’ll never be completely free of risk. Ask your local agent about dental practice insurance, which is designed to cover the unique needs of dentists.
Protect your practice with specialized coverage. Call Alexander & Strunk Inc. at (405) 751-8356 for more information on Oklahoma City dental practice insurance.

Family Protection with Life Insurance

A personal insurance policy is there to cover the cost of the unexpected, but it also provides people with the peace of mind in knowing that financial matters will be taken care of when life’s nasty surprises suddenly rear their ugly head. Of all the different types of personal insurance currently available, it is perhaps life insurance that pulls at the heart strings the most. A sudden death can leave dependent relatives vulnerable, but life insurance can ensure that loved ones are looked after financially when an income is suddenly lost. There are a number of factors to consider before buying the best insurance policy for your needs.

How Much Insurance Coverage Do You Need?
The more coverage you require, the more expensive your premiums will be, so it’s important to gauge your liabilities and purchase only the amount of coverage you need. If you are the main earner in your household, you will want to know that your mortgage is taken care of, your children are looked after until they grow up and any outstanding financial liabilities are paid off. You should consider taking out a policy that will pay beneficiaries at least seven times your annual salary. It is also good practice to assess your life insurance needs once a year. You may not realize it at the time, but growing incomes can lead to higher debts and higher standards of living.

Read more on finding the best life insurance policy for your needs. If you are currently considering Oklahoma city life insurance but are unsure of which type of policy is best for your specific circumstances, call us at 800-375-8356, and we’ll talk you through your options.

Insurance Tips for Homeowners for the Summertime

Summer is the time for kicking back, soaking up the sun, and having fun with your friends. However, summer can also give rise to some less-desirable effects on your insurance policies. To avoid being stung by an unexpected insurance issue that could leave you out of pocket, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the top five ways in which the arrival of summer can have an impact on your insurance policies.

Heat Waves During the summer, temperatures rise. Not only will you feel hotter, but your home and your vehicle will also be affected by the heat. One consequence of summer heat is that household air conditioners are forced to work overtime in order to keep the inhabitants cool. This increased use will put a strain on the air conditioner, increasing the likelihood that it will break down. To avoid being faced with a repair bill that you simply cannot afford, you should make sure that your air conditioner is covered by an insurance policy. It would also be a smart move to carry out some routine maintenance on your air conditioner to decrease the likelihood of the unit breaking down and necessitating an insurance claim. Choosing to take preventative action rather than waiting for a breakdown and then claiming on an insurance policy could help to keep your insurance premiums low.

Thunderstorms The other weather condition to watch out for in summer is thunderstorms. Summer storms can lead to flash flooding, which can wreak devastation on homes and other properties. Most home insurance policies do not cover flooding, so you may need to take out a separate flood insurance policy to cover you against this summer weather hazard.

Summer Travel Summer is traditionally the time of year that people take a vacation in another part of the country or even overseas. If you are traveling abroad, you need to organize travel insurance before you leave. Even if you are traveling within your own country, you should check which hospitals you can use in the area where you will be traveling. Many health insurance policies require you to use particular hospitals, so make sure you know which ones are allowed on your policy before you travel.

Road Conditions The hot summer weather can worsen the state of the roads. The road surface can crack in the heat, leading to potholes, which can cause serious damage to a vehicle that drives over them at high speed. Although most insurance policies cover pothole damage, you might find that your premiums rise as a result of your claim. The best way to limit the damage caused by potholes is to reduce your speed when driving.

Summer Activities Summer brings many exciting opportunities for having fun in the sun. From swimming to skydiving, summer is the time to try a new activity, but before you dive in, check that you have the necessary insurance coverage in case something goes wrong. Standard travel insurance policies do not cover all activities, so you may need to take out extra sports insurance or upgrade to a more comprehensive travel insurance policy.

For more information about insuring your home and family this summer, call 800-375-8356. You can get a free Oklahoma City home insurance quote for any extra insurance you need to keep you safe this summer.

Comprehensive Dental Practice Insurance

Dental practice insurance is a necessity.  It is not something a dentist should debate whether or not to have. In fact, the earlier a dental practitioner insures his practice, the better. Those who wait until they need insurance are seldom able to buy it. A typical dental practice faces different risks such as unforeseen disabling illness, malpractice suit and others. Since it is not easy to pinpoint the risks that will befall a dentist, it makes sense to insure against as many risks as possible. A comprehensive dental practice insurance is the best option to go for since it covers everything (nearly) a dentist might need such as malpractice, disability, workers compensation, facility and office overhead insurance. Learn more about the different types of dental practice insurance coverage.

Determining the Importance of Income Protection Insurance

Almost everyone recognizes the importance of protecting homes and cars with quality insurance coverage, but what about protecting the most important asset? Homes are certainly valuable assets, and cars are too, but what income? The ability to earn an income is a valuable asset.

For instance, a 35 year old currently earning around $50,000 a year would easily lose over $2 million in potential earnings if the ability to work suddenly ended. Of course, this figure doesn’t account for regular pay increases or promotions that could easily increase this figure exponentially. For most people, income is the most valuable asset they have.

Every day, workers become disabled or ill and lose their ability earn a living. Major illnesses and accidents can occur without warning, leaving workers without the means to make any money. Of course, major incidents aren’t the only issue workers must worry about; workers can lose out on income for just a few months or a year, which can lead to significant turmoil.

Protecting a Worker’s Most Valuable Asset

It’s important to insure homes and cars, but it’s also important to insure income too. An income protection policy can replace as much as 75% of a worker’s income if disaster or illness strikes. There is usually a waiting period of approximately 30 days before becoming eligible to draw, but it also depends on the type of policy.

Income protection insurance provides the necessary funds for workers to continue paying for mortgage, rent, groceries, and more. Without insurance or another form of income, staying afloat can be almost impossible.

What About Disability Pensions & Sick Leave?

Sick leave is designed to cover short term absences. Most workers only have a few weeks of sick leave available. In extreme cases, it’s unlikely that a worker would have accrued enough sick leave to cover the rest of their working lives.

Some workers believe that disability pensions will meet their needs, but most pensions won’t cover the needs and expenses of most workers. If a worker has a mortgage to pay and a family to support, the income won’t go very far. Additionally, workers compensation comprises a safety net for people who are injured at work, but it doesn’t cover illnesses or injuries that occur off the job.

Why Income Protection is Vital

Workers who suffer an illness or injury leaving them unable to work for more than a few days can suffer greatly. In fact, misfortunes such as these can devastate a family. Financial problems can lead to other life issues and difficulties. Protecting family from needless suffering is one of the reasons why income protection insurance is necessary for most workers. Workers who have the right income protection insurance in place can ensure that income remains steady and that injury and illness don’t negatively impact families more than it already has. Contact an agent at Strunk Insurance today for all things related to Oklahoma City Insurance.

The Difference between Negligent and Intentional Acts

Liability insurance coverage is designed to protect policyholders from the effect of their negligence but generally offer no protection when a policyholder intentionally causes damage to another. This disparity makes it important that you understand the difference between negligence and intentional harm.

What Is Negligence

When an individual causes harm to another because she did not act with reasonable care, it’s considered negligence. When an individual is negligent, he can be directly responsible for causing harm or damage to another person but it is clear that the damage is not purposeful; it is due to either an oversight, ignorance of a situation, or poor decisions.

What Is an Intentional Act?

Intentional acts that cause harm or damage are those that the perpetrator purposefully creates with the goal of causing damage to another. An intentional act does not have to be a focused attack on a specific individual; in some situations, just knowing about a potential source of danger and deciding to do nothing about it can be perceived as intentional.

Negligence, Intentional Acts and Insurance

Insurance is not generally designed to protect individuals from their preplanned incidents. Instead, insurance is designed to protect against accidental and unexpected damages. Even life insurance, a policy that pays a benefit out after the death of an insured, has some unknowns. Because while every individual knows that eventually he will die, life insurance policies will generally not be issued if you know that your death is imminent due to terminal illness.

Insurance policies do not give policyholders permission to act recklessly with no consequences. It is there to protect the insured from the financial fallout of accidents, unexpected events, and potentially negligent actions. If you have questions about how negligence and intentional activities can affect your insurance policies and payment of benefits, give us a call at Strunk Insurance today. We can discuss the details of your Oklahoma City Insurance policies and help you better understand what may or may not be covered within them.

Emergency Fund? How About Insurance Policy?

Financial advisors often stress the importance of creating an emergency fund. In this economy, filled with job stress, global uncertainty and fallen business profits often still struggling to reach pre-2008 levels, the wisdom of setting aside six months’ worth of expenses into an emergency savings account is not lost on the average individual. What may be lost on the average person, however, is the actual ability to save that much money when trying to support a family and pay off debts.
An emergency savings account is not the only type of emergency fund that one should consider. Another more affordable way to create an emergency fund is to invest in insurance policies that protect the value of your assets in the event they are lost, stolen, or damaged during an insurable incident.

The Value of Insurance

Imagine how expensive it would be to rebuild your home after a hurricane, tornado or fire. Even with a full emergency savings account it’s doubtful you could afford to pay this expense out-of-pocket. However, for a very small annual premium you can purchase a home insurance policy that does just that. This home insurance policy can even be designed to protect the value of your contents and may pay for loss of use if you are displaced by the insurable incident.
And what about your car? If you were to total your car or if it were to be stolen, could you afford to buy a new one? An auto insurance policy can work as an emergency fund reimbursing you for the value of your car when totaled during a covered peril, paying for a rental car, paying for certain repairs, and even covering your liabilities.
Your family faces an emergency event should you pass away. After your death, how would they replace your income, your contribution to the family, pay for your funeral and reach the future financial goals you set?

 A life insurance policy creates a much-needed emergency fund for your income loss and funeral expenses.

A disability insurance policy creates an emergency fund for income replacement should you become disabled in an event that is not related to work. You can choose short- and long-term disability policies and create a more flexible, accessible benefit than social security provides.
Your Oklahoma City Insurance is a vital component in any emergency plan. Give us a call at Alexander & Strunk and find out all the ways that affordable insurance policies can be designed to provide the protection you need at the time that you need it.

Teaching Kids the Value of Insurance

When teaching kids about finance, parents should remember that insurance is a valuable part of anyone’s financial portfolio and is a concept that children can find difficult to understand. For a few tips to teach your children about the purpose and value of insurance, read on.

• Explain to your children how insurance works. Insurance is meant to make a policyholder whole after they suffer a loss caused by an unexpected peril. Helping your children understand that insurance works to protect the value of their stuff is a great place to start your lessons.
• Give them an example. If your children get allowances or birthday money and they’ve bought a toy or other item with the proceeds, use this situation to create an example of the benefit of insurance. Remind them about how long it took them to get the money to buy the item and ask them how they would replace it if it was damaged in a fire. Then, explain how an insurance policy could provide benefits that would allow them the resources to replace it.
• Discuss the different types of insurance available, the assets each line protects and benefits they provide. From health insurance to life insurance, property insurance to auto insurance, there are many different products that your children should learn about.
• Read the policies with them. If your kids are old enough to understand the nuances of an insurance policy, sit and read your policies with them. Not all at once—that’s a recipe for attention span disaster. But try to make it a fun event to read policies together once a week over a pizza and some music. This will help your children understand what to expect from insurance coverage, help them develop critical thinking skills and can open up the lines of communication for questions.
• Explain the consequences of being uninsured. Don’t be afraid to discuss with your children the consequences of not having insurance coverage. Use your own home and assets as an example. Let them know just how much it would take to rebuild and refurnish your home after a disaster and explain how insurance can make the seemingly impossible, possible.

For more resources and ideas about teaching your children about Oklahoma City Insurance, give us a call at Alexander & Strunk Insurance or stop by today.

How Life Insurance Insulates Heirs from Market Risks

Legacy planning is an important topic for most individuals who have children and grandchildren. The ability to leave behind assets that can work to substantially ease the future financial burden faced by heirs is a powerful motivator to many and creates the ultimate reward after a life spent working hard.

While all of your assets can contribute toward your overall legacy, one of the most important assets to have is a life insurance policy. A life insurance policy not only ensures your heirs a certain amount of money upon your death, it also helps to insulate them from the market risk your other assets may bring to the table.

Investment Losses vs. Life Insurance

When you leave an investment portfolio to your heirs, there is nothing that protects them from a swift decline of stock values after your death. This decline can occur no matter how carefully you researched and invested because stock prices are based on much more than just the value of a company. In fact, a global economic crisis that does not directly impact the companies you've invested in could still result in lost value for your heirs at a time when they can least afford to face it.

With a life insurance death benefit, even in a variable policy, the death benefit is predictable and secure as long as there was no misrepresentation on the application for coverage, no outstanding loans against cash value, the death was not caused by one of the excepted situations, and the premium has been paid on time. No matter how the market fluctuates after death, that benefit remains the same.

Assets and Estate Taxes

A decline in the value of the assets you plan to leave behind does not have to occur just after your death, it can even begin occurring while you are alive and there is little you can do to stop it other than sell your assets, take losses, and then find another place to invest your money. On top of the losses, your heirs may also be required to pay estate taxes, especially as the estate tax exemption falls substantially in 2013. With a life insurance policy, as long as there are no instances of ownership, your heirs can likely avoid estate taxes no matter the exemption amount.

If you are ready to strengthen your estate plan with a life insurance policy, give us a call at Alexander & Strunk Insurance today. We can help you create the best, most effective plan for your heirs.

Post-Divorce Insurance Adjustments

A divorce can change your entire life almost overnight. It can change where you live, how you live, and what kind of insurance you need. If you're going through a divorce, here are some adjustments you should consider making to your insurance portfolio.

1. Change life insurance beneficiaries: If the current beneficiary of your death benefit is your soon-to-be ex-spouse, you need to consider who you want your new beneficiary to be. You can leave the benefits to a relative, close friend, your children, funeral home or a trust.
2. Get health insurance: If you're currently on your spouse’s health insurance plan then after your divorce you will qualify for COBRA coverage. However you will be limited to the options available on your ex-spouse's insurance policy and you will be subject to COBRA premiums that can include an additional administrative fee. Instead, you might consider getting your own individual health insurance policy with the coverage options you want, the network of doctors you prefer, and a premium you can easily afford.
3. Renter’s insurance: If you are not keeping the home that you and your spouse occupied and are instead moving into an apartment, then you need to consider replacing your Oklahoma City home insurance. A renter's insurance policy not only covers the risk of financial loss to the contents within your apartment (such as your electronics and furniture), but it also covers your liabilities should someone be injured when they're visiting you.
4. Long- and short-term disability: Should you become disabled after divorce you no longer have your spouse’s income to rely on. That makes it very important that you have your own long- and short-term disability policies. That way you can supplement your income after a disability without waiting for Social Security’s approval and waiting period.
5. Auto insurance coverage: Chances are good you shared an auto insurance policy with your soon-to-be ex-spouse. If that is the case then you need to quickly get an auto insurance policy for yourself. Your individual auto insurance policy will not only comply with state mandated insurance regulations but will also cover those events that concern you such as collision, theft and vandalism.

When you're going through a divorce, the last thing you want to think about is how it will change your insurance policies. But to ignore the impact divorce can have on insurance is to ignore the financial risks you face as you head into your new, single life. Give us a call at Strunk Insurance and we can work with you to make all the necessary changes with your new budget in mind.

Should You Keep Insurance after a Job Loss?

After losing a job, you will likely consult your budget and try to find ways to reduce your cost of living during this unexpected and financially challenging period. Unfortunately, many individuals look at their various insurance policy premiums as acceptable expenses to cut. They may begin the process by increasing deductibles and lowering limits in order to adjust premiums down. Then, they may chop out various “optional” benefits within their policies and finally, they allow coverage such as life insurance, which isn’t required by the state or a lender, to lapse through non-payment of premiums.

Treating insurance coverage this way can be one way to reduce immediate expenses, although it’s an activity that can be financially devastating over the long haul. The less insurance coverage you have, the more risk you bear; and after a job loss, you can’t afford any additional financial risk.

Why maintain life insurance? Your family needs life insurance in order to keep their financial lives together after a loss. When you lose a job, your financial position becomes even more unstable, so leaving your family without a life insurance benefit can be devastating. Instead, find out if your insurance company can do an applied premium loan and utilize some of your cash value to make premium payments.

Why not reduce auto insurance coverage? It will be difficult to find a new job, and get to one if you are offered a position, if you don’t have a car. Without car insurance to pay for damages after an accident, or with a high deductible that puts more pressure on you to pay for repair costs, you could be sabotaging your ability to get a job and remain employed again. Not to mention the risk of liability you take on, which can easily wipe out retirement and other savings.

Do you really need that much home insurance? It’s hard enough to imagine how you could afford to replace all your property and rebuild your home after an insurable event that occurs while you are employed, but imagine having to do so when you are unemployed.

Can you put health insurance on hold? Your health is your most precious asset. Without it you can’t work, enjoy your family or have a happy, fulfilled life. The ability to have serious problems detected early and to continue receiving preventative and emergency care measures is vital when you are unemployed. In addition, keeping continuous coverage ensures that your pre-existing conditions won’t be excluded by certain new plans.

If you have questions about how to continue with your Oklahoma City Insurance policies after a job loss, or how to replace those coverages lost after a job loss, give us a call at Strunk Insurance today.

Insurance: The Secret Weapon of an Effective Savings Plan

For many individuals and families, it is difficult to find the financial footing to start saving for emergencies, vacations, and retirement. With the cost of living rising and paychecks not always keeping pace, savings have become an even more precious asset to protect.

While you might think of insurance as a product that protects “things”, it actually protects your savings because it prevents you from needing to use your personal assets to pay for lost or damaged possessions and liability claims.

Your Property as an Investment

When you buy small ticket items like clothes, accessories and certain electronics, you might not think of them as investments but they are. Often, discretionary dollars are used to make the purchases, which is money that could have been used for savings instead of spending.

Whenever you spend money, you are making an investment. You are trading long hours of work for a product meant to improve your life in some way. By having the proper insurance on the item, whether through home insurance, flood insurance or auto insurance, you give yourself protection like other investors dream of. With your insurance, you’ll be made whole after a loss; and that means you won’t need to tap into your savings.

Liability Protection

Everyone is exposed to potential liabilities. From having a loose walkway stone that causes a neighbor to trip, to running a stoplight and hitting someone, to damaging your neighbor’s mailbox while backing out of your driveway. These are just a few examples of how you face many situations each day that could result in a liability claim.

Liability insurance coverage and umbrella policies help ensure that if you are sued, you won’t suffer financial damages beyond your deductible and those that exceed your limits.

For Your Heirs

Life insurance offers a great way to preserve your savings for your loved ones. Death benefit proceeds can help pay for estate tax liabilities and other expenses after you’re gone. This will ensure that the money you worked hard to save goes to your heirs after death.

When creating your savings plan, you’ll spend a lot of time on your budget. You’ll figure out what expenses to cut and how much to put into certain savings accounts. One of the biggest mistakes you can make though, is to ignore potential shortfalls in your insurance policies. With too little, or nonexistent coverage, you may find that your savings doesn’t stand a chance at accumulating.

Contact an agent at Strunk Insurance to make sure your Oklahoma City Insurance policy is going to protect you in the event of a loss.

Supplementing Your ID Theft Insurance Policy

With the continuing emergence of new ways to steal your identity, ID theft insurance offers a lot of comfort to those who choose to add it to their insurance portfolio. Better still, would be to never have to use the many benefits that ID theft insurance offers you.

Using the following easy steps as a supplement to your ID theft insurance policy is a great way to reduce the likelihood of encountering the frustrating, and damaging, event of identity theft.

• Use only secured internet connections to ensure that identity thieves can’t get your sensitive information. Entering sensitive information only into sites with secured connections, represented by the HTTPS in the address bar. An unsecured connection will simply show HTTP prior to the web address.
• Manually enter web addresses of all sensitive sites. If you get an email from your bank or other financial institution urging you to click an in-email link to clarify your sensitive data, do not click the link. This could be a phishing email meant to look as though it’s from your financial institution when it is really sent by a third party. As soon as you click through the link, the third party will direct you to an address that stores your data for thieves. Instead, always type in the web address for your bank and other financial sites.
• Shred all of your statements. Your statements reveal many items of information about you that an identity thief could use. Shred those and all other documents with sensitive information, including bills and medical documents which could contain your social security number.
• If possible, don’t carry credit cards. Stolen credit cards can lead to identity theft. Only carry a credit card when you know that you need to use it that day. Minimizing how often you carry these cards reduces the likelihood that they will be stolen. On vacation, opt for travelers cheques instead of always using your credit card. You may not be able to re-coop the loss if the cheques are stolen, but it costs you far less than losing your identity.
• Close unused credit accounts. If you no longer use a credit account, and you don’t need to keep it open to help your FICO score, then close it and destroy the card.

ID theft insurance protection helps to make you whole after your identity is stolen. It can’t prevent the theft from occurring, but it can help you work towards getting it back. For information on your Oklahoma City Insurance policy, contact Strunk Insurance today.

What Makes HIPAA So Important

When you have a pre-existing condition, it can be difficult to get insurance coverage. If you delay obtaining insurance coverage until you know you are sick and need treatment, it is an action referred to by insurers as adverse selection. It is adverse because in order for insurance to work with existing premium payment structures, it cannot be purchased only by individuals with costly medical treatment expenses. Insurance must be purchased by a large number of individuals in order to protect against the potential of a serious illness or injury.

One way that health insurance companies protect themselves from adverse selection is to create pre-existing condition exclusions that allow them to collect premiums and provide protection for treatment of injuries and illnesses that are unrelated to the pre-existing condition while excluding claims that are related.

HIPAA, the Health Insurance Privacy and Accountability Act, limits the pre-existing condition restrictions that a group health insurance arrangement can enforce. It gives group health plans the ability to exclude conditions for the first 12-months (in some cases 18-months) only if the insured had a significant break in creditable health insurance coverage (which excludes coverage like major medical) that lasted more than 62 days. This protection means that as long as you have continuous coverage, a group policy cannot exclude your pre-existing condition.

But HIPAA also protects the privacy of your medical records, something that’s become increasingly important in this digital age. The way that your sensitive health information is handled and disbursed is tightly regulated and penalties are explained within the act, giving many businesses the encouragement they needed to train staff in proper data handling and enforce compliance.

Between helping secure your coverage and protect your information, HIPAA is one of the most valuable legislative protections to affect the insurance industry in recent years.

Check with Strunk Insurance today to make sure your Oklahoma City Insurance has you covered.

Variable Life Insurance

Variable Life Insurance—The Basics
If you’ve decided to get a whole, or permanent, life insurance policy then you are going to have a policy that not only pays out a death benefit, but also accrues cash values which can earn interest and accumulate. Whole life policies aren’t a singular breed; there are many different types that you can get and one of the most popular is the variable life insurance policy.

What is a variable life insurance policy?

A variable life insurance policy is one that has its cash values invested in funds that the life insurance company sets up. These funds are created from various underlying investments like bonds, money markets, and stocks. The funds may be created based on risk tolerance, type of investment or even for the purpose of diversification.
The important note here is the word variable. That word means that your cash values will perform as any other investment would, and means they may increase and gain in value or they may decrease in value. This can happen throughout the life of your policy, depending on how the underlying investments perform in the fund that you’ve chosen.
Like other permanent policies, the variable life needs to be underwritten only once—when you first apply (unless you allow it to lapse through nonpayment of premium and want to reinstate it). The death benefit and premiums are fixed for the life of the policy and, as long as you pay your premiums, you can expect your beneficiaries to receive the death benefit (normal exceptions including material misrepresentation and two-year exclusions apply).
Can I switch funds?

If you choose a fund when you first take out the policy that you feel is no longer right for you, then you can switch funds. It is important to note that even if you switch funds, any losses you experience will not be gained back upon switching, although your fund could increase in value giving you the opportunity to gain it back again. As you age and your tolerance for risk reduces, you may find it a good strategy to switch from aggressive funds with high historical returns to less aggressive funds.
How does this affect my death benefit?
If you lose money in your cash value, that is held separate from your death benefit and won’t affect any payout to your beneficiaries. If you take a loan from the cash value and do not pay it back, then your death benefit may be reduced.
A variable life insurance policy has more risk than a fixed policy, but it also has the potential for more flexibility and higher cash values. It is important to work with your agent and weigh the benefits and drawbacks of variable life against your personal goals.
Make sure you have the best possible option for your Oklahoma City Life Insurance policy with Alexander & Strunk today!

Why do I need Motorcycle insurance?

Many states require motorcycle owners to have liability insurance. Liability insurance compensates the other party if the policyholder is held accountable in an accident and as a result, causes injury to someone else or damages their property. Usually, because motorcycles cause less damage than a car, liability for a motorcycle is moderately priced. 

Other policy coverage to take into account is comprehensive and collision coverage, which includes damage to the vehicle, but does not cover mechanical breakdown. Collision covers accidents with other objects, such as trees, signs, or another vehicle. Comprehensive, also referred to as Other Than Collision, provides coverage for dangers such as vandalism, theft, flood, fire.  Most policies would pay up to the actual cash value of the bike.

Medical coverage for injuries to your passengers should be contemplated. This coverage is referred to as Guest Liability. This can be highly valuable on the occasion that you are the cause of an accident and your passenger is hurt. Coverage can also be purchased to cover your injuries. 

To guard against injury caused by uninsured drivers, Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage can be obtained. In some states uninsured motorist coverage is restricted to only covering your medical payments, while in other states you can also purchase coverage to pay for damages to the motorcycle in the instance it is damaged by uninsured driver.

Learn more about Motorcyle Insurance from Alexander & Strunk today!

Oklahoma City Insurance

Some lawyers deem reform measure unfair

Some lawyers question fairness of reform measure

Some lawyers say a lawsuit reform measure pending in the Senate is unfair to those who carry insurance.

Senate Bill 864 would require compensation from sources independent of a defendant, such as a plaintiff’s insurance, to be subtracted from the amount of damages recovered from the defendant.

Oklahoma City attorney James Dunn called the proposal “totally egregious.”

When a person pays for life, disability or health insurance, it should not be deducted from the amount of monetary damages that a defendant is required to pay, he said.

“Why should a drunk driver or negligent person get credit?” Dunn said.
Clark Brewster, a Tulsa attorney, said Senate Bill 864 makes no sense.

“Say you have an insurance policy that you are paying $1,500 a month to make sure you have medical insurance and another person is poor and doesn’t have the same policy,” Brewster said.

“You get into the same accident. All the money you get from the insurance company offsets their liability to you so they don’t owe you anything because you are covered by insurance, even though you paid it.

BY BARBARA HOBEROCK - Tulsa World

Make sure you know all there is to know about your Oklahoma City Insurance from the agents at Strunk Insurance!