Protecting your gadgets is analogous to protecting your assets. Essentially, you need five forms of protection or insurance coverage: disability, life, health, homeowners’ liability, and long-term care–especially given that women live longer, but often in worse health. “Every day, you face innumerable risks. A woman behaving wealthy protects her assets: loved ones, income, health, and property,†adds Young.
Retailers such as Best Buy and manufacturers such as Apple offer their own protection plans or warranties. Also, visit SquareTrade.com, an independent warranty provider that says it offers prices that are on average 40% less than most retailers’ prices. For more information on insurance products, visit A.M. Best’s Consumer Insurance Center at www3.ambest.com/consumers/.
Do you have an emergency card?
An emergency card lists your healthcare emergency names and numbers (e.g., hospital, doctor, dentist, pharmacy, health plan, and insurance policy). It includes your family’s contact information (e.g., spouse’s, parents’, and children’s contact numbers) in case of an accident. The best time to prepare for an emergency is before it happens. One quick way to create an emergency card is to go to RedCross.org/contactcard. Young says that if you have an emergency card, you have probably taken steps to create an emergency kit, which RedCross.org also explains how to prepare.
This mindset of preparedness ties into estate planning, she adds, because women behaving wealthy prepare for other unfortunate possibilities such as disabling illness or death. You should have a financial directive or power of attorney (someone to handle all your financial matters) and medical directive or power of attorney (someone to make decisions about your medical treatment) in the event that you’re unable to.
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