The average person in the Shelton, CT area will have a variety of personal insurance requirements and needs. One form of insurance that nobody in this area should overlook is life insurance. When you get this form of insurance, you will benefit in several different ways. There are several reasons why you should get a life insurance policy. 

Need to Protect Dependents

One reason that you may need to get a life insurance policy is that you need to protect your dependents. If you have people that rely on you and your income, it is important that you ensure they have financial protection if you were to pass away. When you get a new life insurance policy, you are going to be providing this protection to ensure that your dependents and loved ones are cared for. 

Need to Add to Investment Portfolio

While the primary benefit of life insurance is that it will give you financial protection to your dependants, it can also be a good addition to your personal investment plan. When you get a whole life insurance policy, the premium payments can seem more expensive than with a term life policy. However, a portion of your life insurance policy with whole life will build in an account that you can liquidate in the future. This will also accrue in interest, which can make it a conservative investment option.

As you are shopping for life insurance in the Shelton, CT area, you should spend time considering your insurance needs and options with Goodman Insurance Inc. When you call the insurance team at Goodman Insurance Inc. you can learn a lot more about how life insurance can help you protect your loved ones and achieve your financial goals. They can also help you pick a policy that meets your needs. 

As a business owner in Shelton, CT, you’re responsible for protecting your enterprise against disasters. Connecticut is prone to severe thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters that can affect your business operations. By planning ahead, you can be prepared for any eventuality. These tips from Goodman Insurance Inc. can be helpful in preparing your business for disasters.

Develop a Disaster Plan  

Develop a plan for what to do in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. Make sure all employees are aware of the plan and know the role they are to play during and after a disaster. Your plan should include a clearly established chain of command, a means of communicating with customers and employees, safe evacuation plans of the business site, and a means of continuing business operations if your location is compromised by disaster damage.

Make Sure Your Important Data is Backed Up in a Secure Site

Back up your important data to include customer and employee information, financial accounts, payroll, tax forms, and other essential documents and store it safely in a separate site to prevent loss in a disaster. Safeguarding essential data will make it easier for you to recover from a disaster.

Make Sure Your Commercial Insurance Coverage is Up to Date

Review your commercial insurance policy regularly to ensure your coverage is up to date and relevant in protecting you against disasters. Your commercial property coverage should be sufficient to cover repairs of your business location or replacement of business equipment and inventory if they are totally destroyed in a disaster. You should also consider business interruption insurance to cover lost revenue, payroll, and other business expenses if your Shelton, CT business has to close temporarily for disaster repairs. 

To learn more about commercial insurance protection against disasters, contact Goodman Insurance Inc. today.

Life insurance can be really confusing. Your needs are not always the same. As you go through life, your life insurance needs may go up and down. You may be a little uncertain about when you should reevaluate your insurance needs. What sorts of events make a difference in your life insurance needs? At Goodman Insurance Inc. in Shelton, CT we are there for you through all the stages of your life and we are happy to sit down with you as often as you feel it is necessary. 

Buy a Home  Experts recommend buying life insurance when you are young. The rates will be lower. As a young and single person purchasing a home in a major life change. It also means that you need to have enough life insurance to pay off your mortgage if you should pass away. 

Get Married Getting married is a major life change. While you may want to increase your coverage when this happens, more importantly, you will need to change the beneficiary on your policy. This is best done in a sit-down reevaluation with your insurance agent. 

Have a Child Having a child changes everything and it means also changing how you think about your life insurance. You may also want to start them off in life with a policy of their own. 

Children move out Children grow up and they move out. The life insurance that you had to protect them while they were your responsibility is now not necessary and it may be time to think about the type and amount of insurance that you have. 

Get divorced or spouse dies When your marital status changes you need to take a look at your insurance policies. The beneficiary needs to be changed and the amount of insurance may also need to be considered. 

These are just some life events that may require that you reevaluate your life insurance. At Goodman Insurance Inc. in Shelton, CT we understand that life insurance needs change and we are happy to sit down with you to discuss where you are now. Call our office to set up an appointment. 

Owning a business in Connecticut comes with plenty of stress but the fear of losing your business should not be one of them. Goodman Insurance Inc. of Shelton, CT has been in business for 60 years and that makes us uniquely qualified to understand the business climate in the state. Commercial insurance is not one size fits all. As an independent agency, we are able to offer our customers products from multiple companies and find the perfect combination to fit your particular business. Commercial insurance offers a variety of different coverages all of which can help to save your business. 

Business Interruption

Lots of things can happen to make it impossible to do business as usual. It may be damage to the building where your business is located or it can be weather events like a hurricane. With business interruption insurance you can still collect your salary and also have the money to pay your normal operating expenses. 

Workers’ Compensation

In Connecticut, all businesses are required to have workers’ compensation for their employees, whether full or part-time. If a business is found not to be in compliance they can be fined and a stop-work order may be issued. 

Business Liability Insurance

If someone is hurt while visiting your business or by one of your products, you may find yourself hit with legal action. This can be very expensive not only in legal fees but in a judgment against you.  

At Goodman Insurance Inc. in Shelton, CT we care about our customers and making sure that their business is protected against all the hazards that are out there. We would love to sit down with you and discuss your business needs. Give us a call or stop by our office and let us put together a commercial policy that makes sense for your business. 

Why Do I Need Life Insurance?

Life insurance is intended to help your loved ones if tragedy strikes. Most often, it is bought so that people know that their spouse and children will be taken care of in the event of the insured’s death. Those who care for sick, disabled, or elderly family members often also purchase life insurance so that the family member will still receive the care they need.

How Much Life Insurance Do I Need?

The amount of life insurance you should get really depends on your personal life. You may want to discuss it with a financial advisor, but some things to factor in are:

• How much would a funeral cost my loved ones?
• Do I have any debts that would be unpaid if I passed? If so, what is the total?
• Is there a mortgage or college fund I need to worry about?
• How much would my family need to continue living our current lifestyle?
• Do I pay for the care of any family members? If so, how much would they need to continue receiving that care?

The answers to these questions can help Shelton, CT residents determine how much coverage they should consider.

Basic Types of Life Insurance

It is also important to have a basic understanding of the types of life insurance available. The two basic types are permanent and term life insurance. Permanent covers you for your whole life as long as you pay your premiums while term life insurance only covers your death during a set time period.

Term life insurance is something people consider when they only want coverage until they pay off a mortgage or perhaps until their children are grown. People who purchase permanent life insurance do so with the thought of leaving something behind for loved ones.

If you are considering life insurance, you want an agency at your side that will take the time to learn about you so they can help you choose the right coverage. If you live in Shelton, CT, Goodman Insurance Inc. can be the agency you need. For questions or a no-obligation quote, call or stop by Goodman Insurance Inc. today!

Whether you’re providing delivery services to your customers, running a mobile operation, or need vehicles to move your employees around, your business vehicles are essential to your daily work. Goodman Insurance Inc. suggests setting up a maintenance program to ensure that your business vehicles are always working when you need them most. Well-maintained equipment, however, isn’t the only benefit of proper fleet management. These tips will help you maximize the cars, trucks, and other vehicles that keep your Shelton, CT business on the move.

• Keep service records updated and easily accessible. Designate an employee to ensure that services like tune-ups, oil changes, and other routine maintenance are accurately documented. Using a spreadsheet program allows easy access and minimizes the chances of losing your logs.
• Choose one mechanic for all of your work. Find a full-service mechanic who can do all of your maintenance and emergency work. Building a relationship with your mechanic helps you avoid problems with overcharging, shoddy work, and other potential problems. Some shops may offer discounts or contract rates for businesses with multiple vehicles.
• If you have more than 5 vehicles, it may be worthwhile to hire a dedicated shop mechanic. This position would be responsible for keeping records, performing routine maintenance, and performing periodic inspections to prevent small problems from becoming big ones. Your mechanic can also train your employees on the proper use of equipment, safety procedures, and give you expert guidance when it’s time to purchase new vehicles.
• Track fuel consumption. Knowing how much fuel each vehicle uses helps you budget properly. It can also provide helpful information on how your employees use the vehicle or provide clues that there is a mechanical problem.

A good commercial auto insurance policy is also important to a well-managed fleet. Talk to the experts at Goodman Insurance Inc. to find out how to protect your Shelton, CT business with customized auto insurance.

 

Connecticut has one of the highest life expectancies in the United States at 80.8 years. Residents of Shelton, CT are lucky to be living in this state but in spite of the high rating death is unavoidable and making sure that those you leave behind are provided for is important. No one likes to talk about death and life insurance but not talking about it doesn’t make it go away. Life insurance is an important part of estate planning and also life planning since not everyone gets to live a long life and if you are taken unexpectedly, provision needs to be made for your dependents. Goodman Insurance Inc. has a team of experienced agents who are looking forward to discussing your life insurance needs with you. 

Experts say that if you are married and have a family, ideally you should have 10 to 12 times your yearly income in life insurance. Especially if you have young children or a spouse who is not employed, this makes perfect sense. You would also want to have enough for a college education for your children. Obviously, the amount you need will be affected by the number and age of children and the needs of your spouse. Your outstanding debt including mortgage also has to be taken into consideration. 

How much life insurance you need is different at different times in your life. If you are helping to support your parents, you need to add that in. How many years of support you need to provide and clearing all your debt and final expenses are part of the things that figure into the total life insurance you need.

Talking to the knowledgeable staff at Goodman Insurance Inc. in Shelton, CT will help you to come up with that figure. Why not give us a call or stop by our office and let us come up with a plan that fits your needs and your wallet. 

Owning a commercial business can be very rewarding but it can also end in plenty of issues when it comes to customer damages. For those that live in the Shelton, CT area, the agents with Goodman Insurance Inc. can help you to find the best insurance for your needs.

Commercial insurance is something that is very important and that does make a big difference in the way that you are able to run your business. Keeping this in mind, your commercial policy does help to keep you covered in cases where your inventory or your store is damaged by customers. Your commercial insurance policy will cover damages that are caused by customers if you are able to document the damage, show it to an insurance adjuster and that you can also show that the damage was caused by customers and not by yourself.

It is always best to speak with an insurance agent to see just what needs to be done and what you do need to do in order to get your store or business fully covered. There are some limits to what you can claim in terms of damages by customers and speaking with an agent is going to help you to determine what you can claim and what other coverage you might need to make sure your business is fully covered. You can claim damage to inventory, damage to the building itself or the store itself, damage to things like displays and other elements in the store.

For those that do live in the Shelton, CT area, the agents with Goodman Insurance Inc. can help you to find the best coverage for your business and can help you to determine what coverage you need.

An investment portfolio should have diversity and different types of financial tools to help you meet your goals. Many investors in the greater Shelton, CT area are adding life insurance policies to their portfolios to provide greater diversity and reduce their exposure to market risk. The team at Goodman Insurance Inc. has the answers to your life insurance questions and is here to help you decide if this step makes sense for your financial portfolio.

Life insurance can provide many benefits to your financial portfolio

Term life provides the basic death benefit that you need to make sure that your final expenses are covered. And other types of life insurance such as variable, whole life, and universal can help to diversify your financial portfolio. These policies combine financial investment with a death benefit and offer other important features that can be useful during your life.

As your policy gains value you may also have the option to withdraw all or part of the growth for expenses such as college tuition for your children or to help fund your retirement. Your agent is able to advise you on the various types of policies and which one makes the most sense. Your financial goals become more important as you age and your working years become lower, why not find out about all of the options that are available to help you meet them? Life insurance policies have the potential to provide a lot more than just a death benefit for your family, they can also help make your life better. 

Ready to find out more about adding life insurance to your financial portfolio? Contact Goodman Insurance Inc. today and learn more about how life insurance is helpful for clients in the greater Shelton, CT area.

Home businesses need insurance protection just as much as other “brick and mortar” enterprises. Home or renter’s insurance won’t protect your business equipment or provide liability coverage to protect your business assets if a client has an accident and gets injured while visiting your home for business purposes. At Goodman Insurance Inc. we can guide you to the appropriate insurance coverage to protect your Shelton, CT home-based business. Here’s why you need commercial insurance if you’re running a business from home.

Protection for Your Business Equipment

If your home business requires the use of business equipment like computers, printer, fax machine, office furniture, etc., you need business property insurance to protect these assets. Home insurance isn’t designed to protect business equipment or products. If your business equipment gets damaged in a fire or flood due to faulty plumbing, commercial property insurance will cover repair or replacement costs.

Protection against Lawsuits

If you have clients coming to your home for business purposes, you need commercial liability insurance to protect you against accidental injuries clients may sustain while on your property. Accidents happen all the time. If you’re found liable for an accident, a client can sue you for damages. Liability insurance protects your business assets by covering the legal fees of prospective lawsuits.  

If your home business makes products or supplies products to the public, product liability coverage will protect you against damages your product may cause to customers due to faulty manufacturing or design.

Protection for Your Employees

If your home business employs one or more workers, you may need worker’s comp to protect your workers against injuries on the job. Worker’s comp also covers lost wages so your employees will have financial support while recuperating from their accident.

For more information on commercial insurance coverage and costs, contact Goodman Insurance Inc. in Shelton, CT.