Insurance costs

[WanderALot]

I was thinking about how much of our income goes towards insurance NOT including health insurance. I knew it was a decent amount, but never put it in the context of an ER. In our case, we spend:

$500 for home insurance
$400 for earthquake
$1200 for car insurance
$250 for umbrella
$250 for life insurance

for a grand total of $2600. I don't think any of these values are extraordinary, especially considering that some Floridians probably pay more than this for their home insurance alone.

This works out be about 1.75 - 2% of our income, which is not unexpected. However, once we FIRE, we expect our 4% withdrawal to be around be between 65k and 80k/year, meaning that it'll amount to 3.25 - 4% of our income. And this isn't a cost that is going down or ever going to disappear (well, maybe the life insurance and some of the car insurance with downsizing).

What are everyone insurances costs? A breakdown would be nice and also thoughts on coping with insurance costs during ER besides just increasing the ER pile.

[Walt34]

House insurance (includes earthquake) $626
Car & pickup truck $827
Umbrella $209
Life insurance (me only, through former employer) $120

Total.......$1782

No real issue in coping with it, we set aside funds for it, add a little each year figuring it's going to go up, and when the bill comes it's paid and I forget about it for another year.

[W2R]

car: $864
homeowners: $1115 (will be more next year)
flood: $452 (will be more next year)

TOTAL: $2431

They won't sell me umbrella insurance, due to Katrina caused freezes on policies down here. I requested whatever increases they would give me on car liability, homeowners', and flood. No earthquake insurance because I'm having a hard enough time getting more regular homeowners! It wasn't suggested. No life insurance since I have no dependents.

[Buckeye]

I answered incorrectly (too low) as I initially thought "health insurance" when I saw insurance.

Health Insurance plus deductible $1500 (not counting co-pays)
Auto Insurance $900 (2 cars)
Homeowners Insurance $400
Flood Insurance $300 (not required but desired)
-----------------------------------------------
$3,100

[Rustward]

Where do you insure two cars for $800 - 900?
Our's runs about twice that. Good driving records, no claims.

Two modest autos: $1846
Homeowners: $2141

Total $3987

[Buckeye]

Rustward-

2002 Volvo S60 with all the bells and whistles coverage and 1993 Volvo 850 with only liability (which saved us about $200).

We are in the cornfields of NW Ohio.

DH is bound and determined we are heading back to FL soon so there's a good chance the cost will be going up.

And USAA.

[HFWR]

P&L on two vehicles: $880
HO: $770

[Goonie]

LTC = $2200
Med/Dental = $1704
Life = $444
House = $475
Umbrella = $155
Auto = $542
Personal Items = $75
-----------------------
Total = $5595

I have lifetime medical/dental/prescription insurance through my former employer (local gov't) that I pay 25% of the monthly premium (they pay the other 75%). It's auto-deducted from my monthly pension check.

Other than an occasional doctor or dentist visit, I hope I NEVER have to collect on any of those other policies!

[lazygood4nothinbum]

health $4200 after downsize will be $3000 with further reduction once i go offshore
wind $1326 after downsizing might be about $700-900 (still have to confirm)
flood $390 after downsizing might be about $250
liability $1250 after downsize might be $600-700
auto $1515 after downsize will be 990 and then zero when i go offshore

current insurance an obscene $8681
downsized insurance a slightly less obscene $5840
offshore insured living ~$4350 (just a very rough guestimate)

[Fireup2020]

Life: $105 (100K)
Auto: $600
Renters: $85 (yup -replacement cost included)
Med: $598

total: $1388

[Khan]

Calendar year 2007:

Auto/House/LTC: $915.63

Med: $897.19
---------------
Total: $1812.82

[OAG]

Car $560 (one 05 vehicle)
Condo $163 (HOA carries master policy)
Health Ins $0 (Paid by US Govt (no copays, no nothing))
Life Ins $0 (too old, who needs it; actually, have one small policy fully paid for no premiums any more)
Total $723

[ladelfina]

Health = 0
House = 0 (our choice, would be at least $1500)
2 cars = $3128 (obscene, due to large cylinder size, i.e. > 2 liter, plus having to start from the bottom of the risk ladder as insurers will not accept a clean foreign driving history)

I voted incorrectly; before checking I said $2-$3k but should have said $3-4k.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rustward Where do you insure two cars for $800 - 900? Our's runs about twice that. Good driving records, no claims.

Ours are a 2003 GMC full-size pickup and a 2003 Buick Century (small/midsize sedan).

The rates actually went up on the older vehicles when we moved to WV from MD because WV (according to the insurance agent) has more uninsured drivers. WV isn't as good about snagging the tags of those with lapsed insurance and doesn't have the heavy fines that MD does.

In MD, keeping the tags on an uninsured vehicle can result in fines of $250 PER DAY, and a judge cannot waive them.

[Coach]

Homeowners: $481
Auto: $600 (liability only, one driver, two cars)
Umbrella: $220

Coach

[tiredofwork]

$24.6K including health/dental/life
$6.1K excluding health/dental/life

[Moemg]

Home $2,100
Flood $1,500
Car $750

Total $4,300

[ksr]

Home $750
Car $550

I did not include health insurance because it sounded like that was being excluded for this poll. Otherwise, I'd have to add about another $1500.

[Donzo]

Health 5,760 this includes the recent $60. per month increase
all vehicles 3,600
home 1,000
umbrella 240
Life 210

Total $9,910 about 19% of total spending......could always get rid of some vehicles and go for a higher deductable if need be - but not needed yet.

[mickeyd]

My annual totals (2k-3k range) add up to:

Auto~$710 (2 cars)
HO~$959
Health~$460 (Tricare for 2)
Life~ $0 (divs pay it all)

I self insure any other risk.