flood insurance

By Kimberly Lankford, Kiplinger If you have a refund check coming your way, consider using it to bolster your personal balance sheet. The average refund has been around $3,000 for the past two years. (Most people receive their refund within three weeks of filing their returns.) That's a nice...

It's bad enough that we fork over gobs of money for all kinds of necessities, such as our mortgage payments, groceries, gas, and electricity. But it's a real shame when we fork over dollars needlessly, buying things we don't need -- like many kinds of insurance.

Hurricane season comes every year, and 90% of natural disasters nationwide involve flooding. Yet less than a fifth of U.S. homeowners have a flood insurance policy. With Hurricane Irene poised to hit the U.S. this weekend, now may be a good time to ask: Are you covered, and should you be?

Ordinary insurance policies cover the basics -- but what if you want more? The industry will happily take more of your money to give you the added piece of mind that a rider can provide. The question is, when are riders worth it?

The deadly tornadoes that struck the South and Midwest in April, the devastating quake in Japan and concerns about terrorist reprisals after Osama bin Laden's death should serve as reminders to property owners: plan for the worst-case scenario.

The market value of your home may have fallen as much as 50% over the last five years, but your homeowner's insurance bill has probably risen. Why is that and what can you do about it? Like it or not, the insurance industry is firm about the answers to these questions. They say the cost of...

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is older, wealthier and less diverse, but it's also home to more well-off young people -- demographic changes that could attract more businesses and developers, and give a real lift to efforts to rebuild the Big Easy.

While residents and businesses of Rhode Island and Connecticut are looking to FEMA for help after flooding, those in California are screaming because new FEMA flood maps may mean they have to buy flood insurance for the first time. FEMA is updating flood hazard maps nationwide. After the update, if...

Flood insurance is only available through the federal National Flood Insurance Program, and this program is scheduled to expire in March. Now groups are lining up on both sides of the question of whether to include wind damage in the coverage. The Hurricane Katrina experience showed how difficult...

Insurance is a necessity of modern life. Face it, there is, as yet, no way to guarantee that nothing bad will ever happen to you or that you will live forever. Oftentimes, though, people forget that simple fact and discover all too late that they did not adequately protect themselves.The good news...