First-time homeowners understandably get caught up in the excitement of buying their own place. It’s easy to focus on the new rooms and how your furniture will align in the space. But something that’s often lost in the mix is home insurance — an essential part of finally closing the deal on your dream home.

NATURAL DISASTERS COME and go in the news, but the actual aftermath lingers long after the TV cameras go away. Not long after Hurricane Harvey hammered the South Texas coast, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Brock Long, said on CNN, "FEMA is going to be there for years."

The situation along the Texas coast, as well as Houston and surrounding areas, is dire. There is hurricane damage and flooding unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Flooding from Hurricane Irma in Florida and the Caribbean follows close behind. Property damage may be inevitable for most, but it’s comforting to know that this catastrophic event isn’t beyond hope.

There is an old Zen saying, "Wherever you go, there you are." A modern, less Zen variation on this may be, "Whatever you apply for, there's your credit score." In so many situations, that finicky three-digit number is used to judge us; if it's subpar or non-extant, we may have to pay more, or see our way out the door.

As a finance writer, I am surrounded by people who know a lot about managing money. But even those with the most money know-how can still miss financial must-haves.

For instance, in a recent conversation, a few of my coworkers stated they didn’t have renters insurance. This puts them among the 59% of renters who don’t have renters insurance, according to a poll from the Insurance Information Institute. On the other hand, 95% of homeowners carry homeowners insurance.

Do you want one more thing on your smartphone?  Your car insurer likely has an app for your insurance identification card that you can also use to file and track claims and make payments

Think your home insurance policy covers every mishap that can come your way? Keep thinking, friends.

The exact instances that are and aren't covered by typical home insurance depend entirely on the details of your policy—and, contrary to what you may think, each policy is quite different.

The U.S. property & casualty insurance industry pays out more than $400 billion in policy benefits, according to the American Insurance Association.

The industry also employs about 2.3 million people, making property & casualty (or "P&C," as insurance insiders call it) one of the more important spokes in the insurance industry wheel.

Workers' compensation insurance provides employees with benefits and protection if they are ever injured or become ill on the job.

The program ensures that employees receive benefits and medical care and (in most cases) protects the employer from legal action in the event of a job-related injury or illness. Workers' comp is similar to other types of insurance in that a company will pay into a workers' compensation fund, from which benefits are paid to employees.

INVESTORS HAVE VARIOUS ways to reduce risk – diversification, cash reserves, planning to hang tough through the dips. But experts say it pays to think outside the investing box and consider other tools, like insurance.

If you own a vehicle, car insurance is mandatory. However, the rate you pay for car insurance isn’t. Auto insurance premiums are often the result of various elements – and fortunately, many of them are within your control. These are some of the factors that go into determining how much you’ll pay for car insurance. 

Some people use the terms interchangeably, but there are differences between “burglaries” and “robberies,” in terms of the crimes themselves, prevention strategies, and next steps if you’re ever a victim of one of these crimes. 

Filing an insurance claim will increase your rates, but you might not know that poor credit can lead to even higher insurance rates.

Having a bad credit score doesn't automatically mean that you're a risky driver or careless homeowner. However, insurers see your credit as a factor if they're using a credit-based insurance score to determine car insurance or home insurance costs.

You can, and sometimes should, switch your car insurance company. Even if your policy is not up for renewal, you can opt to shift your policy.

Sometimes, this can save you a good chunk of change. It doesn’t matter whether you’re getting full coverage or going with just state minimum coverage, also called barebones coverage. Insure.com found that the difference between the highest priced and lowest priced auto insurance is on average:

It's 10 degrees outside, you're wearing every layer in your closet, and all you want to do is spend the next several months of winter hunkered down on your couch with a warm cup of tea. But things like frozen pipes and heavy snow can dampen your cozy plans if you don't properly prepare your home for winter.

Ride-share services like Uber and Lyft have made it easier than ever to get around without a car — so much so that the number of high school seniors with a driver's license is at a record low. But for enterprising teens that do learn to drive, is there an opportunity to put their skills to use to earn money as a ride-share driver? It’s an attractive proposition since they can make their own schedules around schoolwork and other activities.

There are lots of factors that affect your auto insurance premium that have to do with you, like your claims and driving history, but there are also broader factors at work in the economy as a whole that can impact the price you pay for insurance. 

Insurance contracts are a nearly impossible-to-solve puzzle for the average person,” says Jason Turchin, a personal injury lawyer in Miami. In his opinion, insurance companies market insurance as something that does more than it actually does.

When you “bundle” insurance, you’re buying two or more policies from the same insurance company and getting a discount. You can bundle policies for your home, renters, auto, life, and other vehicles like motorcycles, a boat or an RV.  
Bundling your insurance can offer a few advantages: Discounts, one point of contact for payments, and having one provider with a more holistic view of your insurance needs.

Whether your home is hit by lightning, hail, or some other calamity, you'll be awfully glad you have a homeowners insurance policy in place to help foot the cost of repairs.

Yet while home insurance typically covers a variety of common hazards that can befall your home, don't get too confident, because it may not cover every mishap that may come your way.

A total car loss is what happens when the insurance carrier determines it costs more to repair the damage than to fix your vehicle. It’s not necessarily because of a serious accident; your car may be totaled because of a natural event, for example.

Even if no one got hurt, dealing with a totaled car is a stressful, sometimes downright scary, situation. But there are some steps you should expect when dealing with your insurance carrier, and knowing what to do in advance may ease the process for you.  

Buying a new home can be one of the most exciting milestones in your life, but it could also be costly to protect without homeowners insurance. Anything can happen in life, and home insurance could help provide the sense of relief you need to know that certain damages and losses are covered should disaster strike. However, you might not always know when to file a claim.

Your credit score can impact various areas of your life, including your ability to rent an apartment or buy a home, secure a decent interest rate on a loan and even get some types of jobs. Knowing this, you may be wondering, “Does credit score affect car insurance rates?”

Car insurance rates vary based on many factors such as location, driving record and even credit score. Different insurers will weigh certain aspects more heavily than others. That’s why it’s always a good idea to get at least two to three quotes from insurance carriers to weigh your options more accurately.

When shopping for a policy, you should consider a company's costs, available discounts, customer service reviews and the claim-filing process. Using these factors, we ranked the top 10 car insurance companies for 2021 at a national level and at a state level. If you are a young driver, have poor credit or have an accident in your history, we also ranked the best car insurance companies for specific types of driver profiles.