Homeowners insurance is the ideal way to protect one of your lifetime investments, your house and also the pricey things kept in it. By purchasing this policy you insure your house and possessions against several threats such as natural disasters, theft etc.
While purchasing a homeowners insurance the first issue of extreme concern is the amount of coverage you want. A recent survey conducted by the Insurance Information Institute revealed that two-thirds of all homes in America were underinsured by an average of 27%. Thus it is important to opt for a right amount of coverage.
If you are finding it difficult to calculate the extent of coverage you want, there are several ways to do it. For instance if you want coverage for reconstruction of your house then multiply the square foot of your home by the local building cost per square foot. To know the cost of rebuilding your house, also known as dwelling coverage, you can take the help of any local insurance or real estate agent.
For instance in Nevada an average of 1268 square foot home that was built in 1997 has a current dwelling coverage of $81000. However if the homeowners feel that they are underinsured by 27% and increased their coverage to $110,000, the monthly payment will increase by $7.50 per month.
Since most often the homeowners insurance also compensates for personal liability, you should also keep in mind how much coverage you require for certain legal expenses, medical expenditure or injury to any member of the house.
Though a standard homeowners policy comes with liability coverage of worth $100,000, insurance professionals usually advise to get of coverage of around $300,000 to $500,000 as liability coverage. To have this extra amount added to your standard homeowners policy, purchasing an endorsement is a wise idea.
You can also go for personal umbrella coverage in case the worth of your assets is more than $300,000 to $500,000. The umbrella cover is extremely useful once you are through with your homeowners or automobiles coverage. For instance if your colleague is injured at your house and revengefully sues you for $500,000, your homeowners insurance will cover for $300,000 and get exhausted but the amount left will be easily covered by the umbrella coverage.
For insuring your household things there are three ways. First is the actual cash value in which the policy pays for replacing your personal property using the method that is based on replacement cost of the thing minus the depreciation?
Second is the replacement cost strategy where you receive current amount for the thing you lost in any of the covered dangers. Though this way requires you to pay an additional premium but it can prove extremely beneficial in the long run.
The third option is the guaranteed replacement cost. This coverage means that there is no maximum payout applied to coverage of your insured personal possessions. You need to pay an extra premium but on the same hand increase your deductible to make the coverage somewhat cost-effective. Similarly the structure of our house is also to be insured in these three ways but with slight variation.
According to current facts and statistics presented by National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2002 the average expenditure on homeowners insurance increased by 12% from $593 to $668 in 2003. Expenditure varies with the state. For example in 2003 Texas witnessed the highest average expenditure of $1328, in Oregon it was $461, Delaware $442 and Maine $462.
A private limited company advantages include:
1. Limitation of Liability
There is no distinction between business money and personal money for anyone self employed as all business debts are the personal responsibility of the sole trader. The private limited company advantages are that the company is a separate corporate body and liability for payment of debts stops with the pvt ltd company, the owners, shareholders are not personally liable. The directors are only liable if they continue to trade and incur liabilities after it becomes apparent the ltd company is insolvent.
2. Lower Taxes
Lower corporation tax offered a private limited company advantages over self employment in recent years. The £10,000 tax free limit was cancelled several years ago. Corporation tax rates have increased from 20 per cent to 22 per cent in recent years compared with the sole trader basic rate tax which was reduced from 22 per cent to 20 per cent in 2008. Incorporation still has tax saving advantages dependent upon the net taxable profit.
The private limited company advantages come from the flexibility of being able to determine the proportions of salary and dividends taken compared with a sole trader whose basic accounts are subject to tax at fixed tax rates and thresholds.
A sole trader receives a £6,035 personal allowance and pays basic rate tax of 20 per cent on the next £34,800 of earnings up to the higher threshold limit and 40 per cent tax thereafter. Class 4 national insurance is 8 per cent of earnings up to the upper primary threshold and 1 per cent thereafter.
Dividends are taxed at 10 per cent on total income up to the higher threshold and 32.5 per cent above. The dividend is a distribution of company profit after corporation tax has been deducted and so the shareholder also receives a dividend tax credit from the pvt ltd company of 10 per cent.
There are significant private limited company advantages regarding tax liability compared to a sole trader where net income is below the upper earnings threshold.
For example assuming the limited company net profit before salary is £35,000. A sole trader would pay income tax of £5,793 plus national insurance of £2,317.20, a total of £8,107.20. If a salary of £6.035 is taken and the rest is taken in dividends a private limited company would pay £6,372.30 corporation tax, after deducting the salary from net taxable profit and the sole trader now the shareholder would pay no income tax.
The advantages increase where net taxable profit is above the self employment upper earnings limit as money can be left in the business and therefore only subject to the 22 per cent corporation tax rate thereby avoiding the sole trader 40 per cent tax rate. Another possibility is to distribute the shares among family members to reduce the risk of 40 per cent tax.
3. Limited Company accounts and Sole Trader basic accounts
Sole trader basic accounts can be quite simple as a formal accounting system is not required and can be reduced to simple lists of income and expenditure supported by documentary evidence of sales and purchase invoices, effectively single entry bookkeeping. Producing a balance sheet is optional. Due to the simplicity then an accountant may not be required saving a significant cost.
Ltd company accounts have to use double entry bookkeeping to produce the year end accounts including a balance sheet with statutory notes and statements. Unless accounting software is employed to produce the company accounts in this format then accounting knowledge is required and an accountants fee may well be in the region of £500 to £1,000. An accountant is not essential for a small pvt ltd company but is the normal approach and offsets some of the tax advantages.
4. Additional financial considerations
Because a director is also officially an employee of the pvt ltd company this gives rise to a number of considerations in determining the extent of a private limited company advantages.
Pension contributions of a sole trader are personal and while may be deducted from the personal income liability do not form part of the basic accounts. The cost of a pension scheme including the company contribution is a deductible business expense as an employee cost.
Using a car for business purposes may have an impact. The sole trader basic accounts would include the business proportion of the vehicle running costs or the mileage allowance. If that vehicle is used by a director then that director is receiving a taxable benefit potentially resulting in a higher tax burden depending upon the type of vehicle as taxable benefits vary. An alternative may be to leave the company vehicle privately owned and the director claim mileage allowances rather than vehicle running costs.
Potentially small issues but there differences in the accounting treatment of deductible expenses such as charitable donations, entertaining expenses and use of home as office. A private limited company advantages consist of being able to claim such expenses as valid business expenses which would not be claimable in the sole trader basic accounts as treated as personal not business.
If the director and main shareholder have other associated companies then the corporation basic tax rate could be affected.
5. Administration, management and business standing
A sole trader basically pleases themselves with regard to the administration and management of the business. A company director is responsible for adhering to company administration according to statutory regulations in regard to both the limited company accounts, statutory books and management as stated in the articles of association. The duties of a director are more formal than a sole trader.
Forming a private limited company is an indication that a business is both serious, has a long term objective and is correctly managed. This psychological perception can increase the business standing of a business. Funding requirements are more likely to be met as the lender to a sole trader has to consider the absence of a balance sheet statement in the basic accounts and the financial influences personally affecting the sole trader. A private limited company advantages concern the published financial statements, protection of the financial position from personal influences and the option of increasing security by virtue of asking directors to provide additional personal guarantees.
A private limited company advantages over self employment also extends to long term finance. Companies retain more funds within the business to meet future financial commitments which promote business growth, a more sustainable business and medium term profits growth over a sole trader.
According to the Financial Ombudsman Service there has been a 70% increase in motor insurance complaints over the past six months.
With the value of cars rising, motor insurers are choosing to repair cars as appose to writing them off. This has resulted in the majority of disputes between consumers and insurers being based on bad quality repairs and valuations.
Repair costs for cars that are worth £30,000 to £40,000 can easily be in the region of £15,000. Because of this, many insurance companies prefer to have the repairs conducted at one of their garages, whereas the consumer may prefer their vehicle be repaired at a specialist garage.
Consumers that find themselves in this situation do not have to accept repairs at the garage their insurer offers. They can choose exactly where they would like their vehicle to be repaired.
Moreover, the vehicle should leave the garage in perfect condition. Any dissatisfaction regarding the quality of repairs and the insurer should commission a report from an independent engineer report.
Another big problem the ombudsman found is that there has been an increase in the number of consumers that have been denied payouts when their car has been stolen.
“The typical scenario is you get up one morning and your car has gone. The insurer somehow blames you for it, and refuses to pay up on the grounds that it can’t be stolen,” Robert Short, lead motor insurance ombudsman.
Insurance companies justify this move by saying that many of today’s cars are fitted with sophisticated security systems, and that the only way the car could have been stolen is down to consumer carelessness.