SouthGroup Gulf Coast - Your Trusted Choice: 2022

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Errors & Omissions Insurance to Protect Your Professional Advice

If your professional advice or service costs your client money and you’re sued, E&O insurance will cover you. Full article here: https://www.trustedchoice.com/business-insurance/liability/errors-omissions/

Many people pay experienced professionals to give them trustworthy advice on things such as buying a home, legal issues, tax preparation, investing, and more. Most of the time, these professionals give sound advice that can help them with their goals. But what happens if they give inaccurate or faulty information to a client?

Besides potentially costing money, this could result in a lawsuit. Fortunately, for professionals who are brought into those lawsuits, there is insurance that can cover them. This type of insurance is called errors & omissions, or E&O, insurance. It’s also sometimes referred to as professional liability insurance. E&O insurance is always a separate insurance policy that’s bought in addition to a standard general liability insurance policy.

Businesses that offer any type of professional advice or provide services to clients are good candidates for E&O insurance. To help determine if your business needs errors and omissions insurance, it’s important to understand what your standard commercial general liability insurance doesn’t cover you for.

General liability is the type of liability that almost all businesses have if they have business insurance. It covers your business for lawsuits if you’re found negligent for somebody else’s injuries or property damage, such as a slip-and-fall injury or having a faulty product that caused somebody injury. General liability specifically does not cover (excludes in insurance-speak) professional advice and services.

Typically, insurance companies have specific errors and omissions coverage forms that apply to each industry.

Common professions that use errors and omissions coverage include:

Lawyers
Accountants
Financial advisers
Barbers and beauticians
Cemetery professionals
Contractors
Architects
Engineers
Social services
Teachers or tutors

Funeral directors
Wedding planners
Fitness trainers
Veterinarians
Doctors
Dentists
Insurance agents
Counselors
IT services
Marketing firms

If your business is based on your professional expertise and you’re providing advice and recommendations to clients, then be sure to speak with an independent insurance agent about errors and omissions insurance coverage.

To help you through the maze of coverages, carriers, premiums, and find ways to save money on your insurance, contact your Trusted Choice agent, SouthGroup-Gulf Coast http://www.southgroupgulfcoast.com/ , SERVICE TEAM: Angelyn Treutel Zeringue, Tammy Garfield, Tammy Hogue, Denise Russell, Melissa Moran, Alex Treutel, Mark Strickland, Anne Gillam, Michael Scardino, Joey Eagle, Cody Barnes, Wendy Butler and Melinda Teaford at SouthGroup Gulf Coast. You can reach us by snail-mail: 412 Hwy 90, Suite 6, Bay St Louis MS 39520 or 2505 Pass Road, Biloxi MS 39531; email: info@southgroupgulfcoast.com, phone or text:228-466-4498 or 228-385-1177, fax:888-415-8922, FaceBook www.facebook.com/southgroup.gulfcoast. We have 2 Gulf Coast locations to serve you - 2505 Pass Road - Biloxi and 412 Hwy 90 Ste 6-Bay Saint Louis, MS.

We offer the following Lines of Coverage: Workers Compensation, Auto, Home, Life, Health, Disability, Motorcycle, Boat, Wind, Flood, Commercial Property, General Liability, Directors and Officers Liability, Bonds, Group and Individual Life/Health/Dental/Disability/ Vision/Long Term Care, Business Owners, Builders Risk, Commercial Crime, Errors and Omissions, Dwelling Fire, Commercial Flood, Group Accident, Garage Dealers, Inland Marine, Law Enforcement Liability, Pollution Liability, Professional Liability, Personal Umbrella, Commercial Fire, Commercial Umbrella, Excess Flood, Identity Theft, more…

We serve Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and many other states. We specialize in coastal exposures.
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Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Annuities - How Do they Work and Are They A Good Idea?

You purchase an annuity by paying a single lump sum, or in some cases, by making periodic payments over time, such as through payroll withholding. The insurance company then invests your payment so the annuity earns interest. Depending on the type of annuity you choose, that interest may or may not change the payments you receive or the length of time the annuity pays.

You buy an annuity because you want a predictable, guaranteed source of income in the future that isn’t subject to market fluctuations.

The primary advantage annuities have over other investments such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds is the predictability and guaranteed income they provide. With a simple annuity, the only way your payments will ever go down or stop early is if the issuing company were to become completely insolvent.

Annuities are typically purchased by retirees and those planning for retirement. They’re also sometimes purchased by people who come into a sudden windfall, such as winning the lottery or receiving a large legal settlement, and by people when making wills.

You probably wouldn’t want to leave children a large sum of money with no restrictions, so an annuity would provide a good way to give them a safe, guaranteed income for many years.

Annuities are neither better nor worse than stocks, bonds and mutual funds; they serve different roles.

Annuities provide a safe, predictable future income. They aren’t usually purchased with the expectation that they will gain value like stocks and mutual funds are. They are somewhat similar to bonds, but bonds can be traded on the open market at any time while annuities cannot.

Many annuities offer optional riders that provide a death benefit that allows a spouse to continue receiving payments if the owner dies, or even to accelerate payments if the owner is diagnosed with a terminal illness. This is something you should carefully consider and discuss with your insurance agent when buying an annuity.

The full article is available through Trusted Choice here https://www.trustedchoice.com/best-annuities/

Saturday, October 1, 2022

Commercial Umbrella Insurance for Liability Protection for Your Business

Your business insurance provides critical legal protection, but in certain cases, it might not be enough. If a particularly costly lawsuit gets filed against your company, you could easily be in need of extra coverage. Fortunately business umbrella insurance is designed to provide this important protection.

This article is courtesy of SouthGroup Insurance and Trusted Choice. You may view the entire article here: https://www.trustedchoice.com/business-insurance/coverage-types/umbrella/

Business umbrella insurance is an extension of the general liability coverage provided by a business insurance or businessowners insurance (BOP) policy. Umbrella policies often start with coverage limits of $1 million. You can even stack more business umbrella insurance on top of that, if necessary.

Basically, business umbrella insurance complements your existing liability coverage. If your company gets slapped with a hefty lawsuit and you exhaust your general liability coverage limit, your umbrella insurance would kick in to help cover the remaining costs, up to the policy's limit.

Businesses that buy umbrella insurance typically:

Need to extend their liability coverage with an additional policy, or more
Already have insurance in place but need to bridge the gap on $2 million or higher coverage requirements
Are at an increased liability risk, such as businesses that get a lot of traffic or have risky operations

Business umbrella insurance covers the following:

Excess liability: Business umbrella insurance extends the liability coverage limits of underlying policies like business insurance or commercial auto insurance. Umbrella insurance kicks in only once the underlying policy has been exhausted.
Coverage gaps: Umbrella policies can also be used to cover additional liabilities not covered by regular business insurance or other policy. Libel and slander are common examples.
Additional limits: Umbrella insurance's limits are based on the limits of the underlying policies. Your business umbrella insurance can include coverage up to its full limit, exclude coverage for sublimited events, or double the sublimit.

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Special Event Insurance Coverage to Protect Your Wedding or Fundraiser

A special event can be as simple as a birthday party or as complex as a month-long state fair. If you are planning a special event, you need to check with a professional insurance agent to determine what coverage, if any, may be provided by your existing insurance and what additional special event insurance you will need to carry.

You should obtain insurance for events well before the time it is needed, because the process to underwrite this kind of coverage can be complicated and lengthy.

This article is courtesy of SouthGroup Insurance and Trusted Choice. You may view the full article here: https://www.trustedchoice.com/business-insurance/liability/special-event.

Special events can involve a many different exposures:

Automobile liability
Liquor liability
Aircraft liability
Spectator liability
Products liability
General premises liability
Animal liability
Liability for rented or loaned property
Damage to owned property
Medical malpractice if you have a first aid station

Standard personal or commercial policies will not cover all these exposures. In most cases you will find that you are better off having event liability insurance that is specifically tailored to cover your situation.

Here is the kind of information an insurance agent will want to have available in order to price your special event insurance:

The nature of the event
The length of the event
The location of the event
A list of all activities planned
The number of participants expected
What are the provisions for crowd control?
Will liquor be served or sold?
Are there any amusement rides?
Are there activities that can involve injury to spectators?
Are vehicles or other motorized equipment involved?
Is food to be provided or sold?
Are outside vendors involved and will they provide proof of their own insurance?
Who is running the event and what experience have they had?
Are there any prior claims if the same event has been held previously?
What limits of liability are requested?

If you are planning to rent a facility for the event, the owner may require that you purchase special event coverage as a condition of the rental. In many cases, the owner will want to be an additional named insured on the policy.

Weddings and concerts are two of the most common special events. A private wedding in a church with a reception on the grounds will not normally require special event insurance.

However, if your wedding is a more elaborate event in a rented facility, you may have to purchase a special events insurance policy. You should take extra caution if your event involves alcohol. Liquor liability laws vary from state to state.

However, it is very possible that if you provide alcohol to a guest or participant at your wedding and that person later is responsible for an accident, you could have some legal responsibility. If you do provide alcohol, the safest thing to do is to be sure your special event insurance includes this exposure.

Concerts can vary from small, one-time events to large, elaborate affairs involving thousands of spectators. Some concerts involve fireworks, which can and have caused serious injuries and large legal claims. Large events can also involve issues having to do with crowd control.

Crowd control is a challenging issue for concert organizers to deal with. Too little crowd control can cause injuries to spectators and potential liability risks, but too much crowd control can be just as problematic and could also cause you to face a lawsuit if a patron was handled roughly by a bouncer, for example.

A festival can be anything from a bake sale in your church parking lot to a large music festival like Lollapalooza. The longer the event, the more activities, and the more participants involved, the more likely it is that you'll need private event insurance.

One-day events, like a 5K run or a food truck festival, still take a lot of effort to organize. Depending on the events you plan and the vendors you use, you may still have a lot of insurance risk to juggle.

If you have vendors at your event, make sure you know if they have proof of insurance to operate at the site. Similar to a wedding or a concert, be sure that you have insurance to cover your exposure, like liquor liability insurance.

Monday, August 1, 2022

Disability Insurance Pays You When You Can't Work Due to Illness or Injury

Disability insurance pays a benefit if you can’t work because of illness or injury. It covers you for total disability and partial disability. Your independent insurance agent is available to offer you assistance.

Disability plans have a “Definition of Disability” that describes when benefits are payable. The benefit period is how long they are payable. The elimination period is how long after disability occurs benefits are payable.

This article is an excerpt from Trusted Choice. The full article is here: https://www.trustedchoice.com/best-disability-insurance/

Disability plans also have exclusions that describe when benefits aren't payable. Common exclusions are injuries caused by suicide attempt, or the commission of a crime. Disability because of a preexisting condition or illness may also be excluded. Disability plans may also limit coverage for certain conditions. Mental illness and substance abuse benefits are often limited.

Disability plans pay benefits when the definition of disability is met and the elimination period is satisfied (usually 90 days).

An individual disability insurance policy can follow you throughout your career and has numerous advantages over group disability insurance. Your disability doesn’t need to have been caused by your job for it to be covered by individual or group disability insurance.

There are two kinds of individual disability insurance: long-term and short-term. They cover two different disability scenarios. You may be able to convert your short-term coverage into long-term coverage if your disability is more serious than you and your doctors initially realized.

Solo Options:

Individual disability insurance: This is all about supplementing your income in the not-so-rare event that you will need it due to an injury or illness. Be sure not to confuse this policy with coverage for getting hurt on the job. Getting injured at work actually falls under your employer's workers' compensation policy. Typically, you are getting this policy on your own if your employer doesn't offer it, or if you’re self-employed.
Individual long-term disability insurance: This provides a portion of your income, as much as 60% - 70%, for as long as your disability keeps you away from work, whether it's years or even decades. Typically, your benefits won’t become available until 90 days into your disability or illness, so be prepared for that. This coverage isn't normally offered by your employer, and if it is, the coverage can be pretty basic. Luckily, if you find your employer’s plan isn't a slam dunk, you can supplement it with another policy on your own through your independent insurance agent.
Individual short-term disability insurance: This is your other not so long-term friend. And while it covers about 40% - 60% of your income, similar to your long-term friend above, it only lasts a fraction as long. This policy will be in use for months, at the most a year, and is often provided by your employer. Unlike long-term, a short-term disability policy will kick in fast (usually within 14 days), before vanishing like the wind.

Group Options:

Group disability insurance: Pile an eligible group of employees together and offer them basic disability income insurance at a group rate, and there you have it, group disability insurance. This plan is pretty simple for your employer to offer, pulling all qualified employees together in one easy policy. One of the benefits of group disability is that it covers employees regardless of their health. This makes the rates on average lower than your individual disability insurance, but the coverage is still pretty basic.
Group long-term disability: Group long-term disability is provided by your employer and assists in paying a portion of your income for a long-term illness or disability if it keeps you from doing your job. Coverage can last for years or more, depending on the policy terms. Like the group disability insurance above, this plan is provided to eligible employees and isn't dependent on health status.
Group short-term disability: Group short-term disability is like the rest of the group plans discussed, and is provided through your employer. It assists with income replacement during an employee's short-term illness or disability, and coverage lasts an average of 1 - 6 months. It's possible to use your group short-term disability and then move to your group long-term disability plan if the need arises.
Voluntary disability insurance: This is another employer-offered disability insurance. Voluntary means that the insurance or benefit is volunteered by you, usually during the beginning of employment or during open enrollment. As in, you volunteer to participate in any or all of the benefits offered. Short-term disability plans are normally the type of benefit that employers offer in the voluntary offering, among others.

Friday, July 1, 2022

Surety Bonds for Your Business Protection

Professionally, not producing a promised product or completing a project could get you in a lot of trouble.

Protect your reputation and company name by purchasing a surety business bond from an independent agent. This article is an excerpt from Trusted Choice. The full article may be viewed here: https://www.trustedchoice.com/business-insurance/coverage-types/surety-bonds/

Who Needs Surety Bonds?

Automotive dealers
Construction companies
Independent contractors
Collection agencies
Health clubs
Auctioneers
Medical equipment providers
Travel agencies
Notaries

What Is a Surety Bond?

Many people think of surety bonds as "surety insurance." But they are not actually a form of insurance. Think of a surety bond as a line of credit.

If you can’t complete a project, the project owner can then tap into that line of credit to finish the project as necessary. Surety business bonds are a three-party agreement. The three parties involved include:

The surety company supplying the bond
The obligee, who is the project owner
The principal, which is the contractor, organization or employer providing the work

Before the contractor can begin the job, the project owner may require a surety business bond from a surety company. Some projects will require a surety bond and others may not.

Types of Surety Business Bonds

Although surety bonds are common in the construction/contracting field, there are many types of bonds that serve many different purposes.

License and permit bonds: The obligee, which is often a government agency, requires a bond from the principal. The bond states that all codes and regulations will be followed. For example, a plumber may be required to obtain a license before beginning work. To get a plumber license, you must first secure a license bond, agreeing to adhere to city plumbing code.
Public official bond: This bond states that elected or appointed officials will perform the duties they are given. Typical bonded positions include notaries, judges, and treasurers.
Probate and other court bonds: If you’re given a certain responsibility as a fiduciary or trustee, a probate bond guarantees you perform honestly and faithfully. Other court bonds include:
- Administrator
- Executor
- Conservator
- Injunction
- Release of lien
Miscellaneous bonds: These are complicated bonds requiring an experienced underwriter, since most involve large risk obligations. These include several types of bonds, including:
- Utility payment guarantees
- Union wage and welfare
Contract performance bond: This bond guarantees that you will follow all terms and conditions set forth by the contract. Many require advance notice. Types of contract performance bonds include:
- Bid bonds
- Performance bonds
- Payment bonds

Benefits of Surety Bonds

If you aren’t required to purchase a surety business bond, why would you? There are multiple ways surety bonds can benefit both parties. As the principal, obtaining a surety bond prior to working with a new project owner displays business integrity and financial stability.

To get a surety bond, principals must apply and meet certain standards set by a surety company. Being rewarded with a surety bond from a top quality surety company is a testament to your business strength.

For a project owner, surety bonds can be a lifesaver. Even if a terrible tragedy prevents a principal from fulfilling a contract, the project must still be completed. Working with a principal that possesses a surety bond can provide peace of mind that, no matter what, your job will get done.

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Mobile Home Insurance - You Need Protection Whether Your Home is On Wheels or Grounded

Mobile home insurance can be confusing, which is why an independent insurance agent can help clear things up and find you a great insurance policy. This article is courtesy of Trusted Choice. You may view the whole article here: https://www.trustedchoice.com/mobile-home-insurance/

To start, let's talk a little more about mobile homes because they don't always come on wheels.

What Is a Mobile Home?

A mobile home, also called a manufactured home, is a four-walled structure that’s built in a factory and delivered to you to live in. It can remain “on wheels” or not, and in some cases, it can be built on a permanent slab for safekeeping. Just keep in mind that the more “secured to the ground” it is, the more insurable it is.

And similar to a manufactured home, but different, is a modular home. Modular homes are also built inside of a factory. But unlike mobile homes, they are brought to a permanent location in bigger chunks and assembled on-site.

A modular home, depending on the insurance company, can sometimes be classified as a manufactured home and sometimes as a site-built home if it’s built on a foundation.

What Is Mobile Home Insurance?
Mobile homes are typically made with different materials than today’s site-built homes. Since they're created in a factory and then transported, the materials need to be much lighter. Unfortunately, lighter materials are easier to damage, so mobile home insurance takes this into consideration.

What Does Mobile Home Insurance Cover?

Similar to homeowners insurance, mobile home insurance coverage begins with the three most common and basic coverages that any homeowner should have:

Property coverage: Protects you from any big loss to your property due to fire, natural disasters, etc.
Liability coverage: Protects you financially if someone files a claim or lawsuit after getting hurt in your home or on your property.
Contents coverage: Protects all of your possessions in the event of theft or natural disaster-related damage

Now the amount of coverage you’ll need depends on a number of factors, the most important is probably the value of your home and its contents.

If your mobile home is involved in a claim, there are two ways you can choose to be reimbursed:

Actual cash value: Compensation based on the value of your structure in the current market which takes into account depreciation. (Mobile homes depreciate very fast, just like a car.)
Replacement value: Compensation for the amount it would cost to rebuild the structure to its original condition with similar materials.

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