I would be curious to see what they said about making you overinsure. What is their reason, and can you reduce it? I really think they are just trying to force people to pay higher premiums than they need to. There’s no other good explanation, but I’d be willing to keep an open mind.
Oh I know I can definitely reduce it, we talked about raising my deductible or reducing certain levels of coverage…..that isn’t what I want to do. I just want to know why my replacement value is so high. I did not ask them about that. They did say the personal property % was mandatory % they use and that doesn’t change, so maybe change the value you are coming up with. Maybe it’s correct, but that just seem ridiculous when the lot is valued at $100k. I think I will call them back and ask more questions.
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IF you have a good idea of what it would cost to remove the debris from your burned-out house, and build an equivalent replacement at today’s costs, then I would definitely call your insurance company and have that discussion. Land and hardscape costs, such as foundations, driveways and sidewalks, buried utilities, usually don’t need replacement, which is a major savings. They may also have your house valued with custom trim finishes and high quality, regardless of whether you have that in your home.
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Two good points here, one that I noticed earlier.
First, replacement cost should not have to do with the value of the land, just the cost of construction. The insurer does not have to replace the land, just the physical structures. There probably is a correlation between land values and construction cost because the economy tends to be stronger and labor tighter in areas with high land values as the economy tends to drive land values.
Second, the mandatory percentage applied to figure out the amount of personal property they would insure seems crazy. My memory is a bit hazy, but in our case, I think the minimum they would insure was over $1 MM. Including cars, jewelry and art, our personal property is nowhere near $1 MM and that number does not actually include cars, jewelry and art. We have bikes and skis and bike racks and pool equipment and nice furniture and a rug based upon one of ShawWife’s paintings, but we are hundreds of thousands away from $1 MM.
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I have my coop insurance though Liberty Mutual. The amount of personal property to be insured was determined by me. It was not done by a percentage of value of my apartment.
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Replacement cost does not include the value of the land, but it should include the cost to haul the debris away to a landfill. It should also cost the amount to build you house brand new, exactly the same as it was constructed. That’s what kills us. My house is 116 years old with original wood floors, 10.5 foot ceilings, plaster walls, a stained glass window, full attic with permanent stairs, basement, etc. The cost to replace with historic materials would be a lot - and something we would never ever ever do. It would be a complete waste of $$$ that no buyer would ever pay for where I am, nor am I in a historic district. I do scratch my head on the price to replace the shed. I can’t imagine it would cost that much, but whatever.
Insurance companies ARE bad at increasing the value each year even if it far exceeds inflation costs. We left our last one because they increased the value of our home $50,000/year for 3 years straight during a recession. We switched to our current insurance - Hanover - for a lower amount. They have since raised it year after year as well. Part of me wants to look elsewhere, but on their policy, they seem to think our roof is 10 years newer than it is. I have no idea where they got that from, but I’m not changing it. We would lose that if we switch, and it seems that insurers are iffy about older roofs. Ours is ~18 years old.
I suspect personal property is calculated differently for an apartment vs a house.
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you can go online and pull up your HO insurance to increase/decrease features (Custom vs Standard tract home, rooms, balconies, sheds, roof age…) which will affect your replacement cost. Plus, they offer (you can decline) an Auto buffer % overage if local construction prices spike.
But yes, personal property is a % of Replacement Cost @ USAA. But if that doesn’t work for you, good time to shop around.
I do have the upgraded trim and built-ins but they completely don’t cover my finished basement? Why not, it’s got a certificate of occupancy / completion and all to code, theatre room and built-ins and fireplace. If they included replacing all of that I’d get it but they said it’s not covered as part of my dwelling - it’s a daylight walkout basement. Lots of questions I need to ask - good point about the cleanup and debris removal if a home burned. I’ll try to get in touch with them today.
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Hi - this thread has been so helpful over the years (e.g., @Colorado_mom’s rec to for the Retirement Answer Man podcast - one of many great insights).
Had the first of several meetings with our flat fee planner - have tracked every penny spent for a year, projected all our expenses for future (including estimated LTC costs and car transmission repairs!). Recognizing there are many unknowns (DOD, market performance, health).
He discussed, we ran the software, and we apparently have 90% chance of success (of $ lasting till ‘end of plan’). 
Such good news. Love my job but now ending in 5 months and heading west to ski and be near kids for 2 months. 
Over the moon (and still bit scared and looking for part-time remote job lol). But many thanks to everyone who shared - I’ve learned a lot 
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Congratulations, @Jolynne_Smyth. Welcome to the club, and may this new phase of your life be everything you’ve hoped it would be. 
Keep us posted on the Life in Retirement thread.
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Sounds terrific. Best of luck.
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Thanks so much! There are a ton of retirement discussion board out there - but this smart, thoughtful (often funny) group of CC parents is a special mix whose opinions I appreciate!
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Exactly. I don’t trust anyone to give me as good advice as I get from this group. People have a huge range of experiences that they are willing to share due to their compassion and generosity. That’s why, many years after our kiddo’s college graduation, we stay.
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I’m looking forward to spending the $160/day I will make working on absentee ballots (prep & counting) in August. Don’t laugh … it’s been 7 years since I had a paycheck!
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I spent some time looking at my pension today. This is from my last FT job, which I left in 2002.
We want to do so much on the house but are feeling cash-poor. We’d have to dip a bit into my IRA in order to pay for it all, and then I think about how I have this untapped pension just waiting for me. But it’s worth so much more (4x more!) if I wait until 76 instead of taking it now. It feels silly to take it now when we have this IRA just sitting there growing (usually). We have to get over the idea of not touching retirement savings, because, uh, this is why we saved! Need. New. Neural. Pathway.
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@kelsmom I’ll be moderating both the primary and the general election. And I get paid well to do this… but I think I’m getting too old for this job!! It’s a nice little amount of cash.
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You’re also too old to get arrested, so make sure and don’t pass a mint to anyone while you’re on the job. 
Bless you, the election workers. Thank you for a thankless but important duty.
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In our little town, the election workers seem to have a good time.
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We do. It’s a great group of people. But we have to be very on our toes.
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It was not so hard to touch retirement savings when it was taxed at a low rate, but now we’re struggling with taking it out at a higher tax rate. Right now, take it out at 32-35% tax rate, or pay for a HELOC. Seems fine to keep the money on the HELOC at the 4.74% teaser rate, but when it jumps, it isn’t obvious to me.
It can be hard to look at one own’s situation objectively.
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