Tag Archives: credit.com

Repeat Timely Article – Personal Update Reminder Story, Broken Water Heater at 8222 Douglas … Pertinent Article – When NOT to file an Insurance Claim … USA Today and ABC News Runs Our ORIGINAL Credit.com Article …

This is a repeat article from earlier… given the local and nationwide damage caused by the recent storm we thought it worth a re-run! Much of this article is around when not to file a claim, near the end of this post there are good tips on what to do should there be severe damage!

While at the Perot Museum putting the final details on our November 14th upcoming event … this text hit Jen’s Cell …

Water is leaking in the kitchen and has covered the rug ….

followed shortly by…

Building people are here and have stopped the leak ….

Not even knowing each suite at our building had a small water heater for hot water, we were surprised to find our little friend had given up existence after what seems to be several decades of light use at most:

Water Heater JK Financial

Just by coincidence we were reviewing our Insurance Coverage as the annual bill was in our hands for payment, AND the Perot Museum was asking for coverage as well.

In knee jerk reaction …NOT thinking of our own earlier-written article (see following) the phone number to the insurance company was found, but never dialed…. thankfully …

For the record, we are paying out of our own pocket, a very reasonable rate to have the baby water heater replaced as it is mandated by our lease, but we never created a CLUE report…

Original Post – See Below:

A few years back, Credit.com came to us and asked to write articles occasionally. With good feelings and spreading the better Financial Planning word in mind, we accepted and our first article hit the printers. The following is from the original post here at Street-cents.com AFTER the article had run in the appropriate channels.

USA Today NBC News Runs Our Article

USA Today Article Circle JK

On Monday, August 3, USA Today ran our Insurance claim related article… that originated from YOU, the best friends and clients in the world.

After originally being published by credit.com and having  ABC News run our article, we thought surely we were done … Nope…

ABC News Article

Thanks USA Today, we enjoy your publication very much … even more now!

Here is the Original Article in Full

One of the main reasons for having insurance is to offset risk, especially major risks and losses. We pay many insurance premiums throughout our lives to various carriers for a multitude of different risks. When a possible claim occurs, an initial thought might be “I am finally cashing in on some of those premiums!”

Think Twice Before Filing a ClaimUSA Today Article Circle JK

Not only do you want to strategize before filing your possible claim, you might want to hold off on even calling your insurance company. The premiums paid in our lifetimes reflect an amortization of the possibility of the risk occurring. The greater the risk, the greater the premium. If you are a constant “claimer,” your premiums will reflect this.

Do you have a CLUE?

Various carriers have been known to treat calls as a claim without the insured’s knowledge. Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, CLUE, is a database that keeps records of claims. LexisNexis offers a handy service that allows easy research of five years of claims data. It is a terrific service as a buyer but not a database you want to land on accidentally from an inquisitive phone call.

The easiest defense against this problem is to know your coverages and your deductible amounts. With the knowledge of what your insurance covers and the amount (i.e. ring, roof or fender) you are armed with the power to make your own decisions and not put yourself in a possible accidental or unworthy claim.

ABC News Article

Speaking of deductibles, if at all possible, carrying a high deductible will likely save you money over the long term. Most insurances can be looked at as a defense for a major event. Not reaching to your insurance to cover minor or lower cost repairs or replacements is a terrific defense against higher long term premiums. If you are a claimer with lower deductibles, it is highly likely you will have higher than necessary premiums in your lifetime. One important planning tip is that it is critical to have adequate emergency funds available to cover all of your deductibles.

What are some examples of NOT filing a claim?

The easiest example is a car accident that is just barely over your deductible. It is likely that a $1,500 or even $2,000 claim against a deductible of $1,000, through eventual higher insurance premiums, may quickly turn your claim into a negative financial transaction over the longer period of time. Thinking of your premiums again as an amortization of your claims will help you in determining if you should file a claim or not.

Filing a claim against an asset that has been depreciated in coverage to a small dollar amount may not only hit your CLUE report but could also result in higher immediate premiums, plus put you on the list for being dropped should you have several other claims in a short period of time. If you are dropped by a carrier, your new carrier with this knowledge may adjust your NEW premiums accordingly, as a higher risk. Not all carriers will even offer coverage to someone who has been dropped. That’s another reason to think twice before filing that claim.

Your cherished ring was lost accidentally. Your deductible is $1,000 and you think the ring is worth $3,000 but you have not had it appraised, was not itemized on your policy and have no way of proving the value. It is highly likely you will get little, if any, by claiming this loss and your file will be marked with a claim.

So when should you file a claim, sometimes quickly?

Automobile accidents that involve an injury, personal liability or severe damage to another vehicle, even though your car was not harmed are cause to pick up the phone and bring your insurance company up to speed with the situation. Tell your story first, directly to your carrier, in order to protect yourself and arm your carrier with as much information to help defend in the situation.

Catastrophic damage to your asset is clearly cause for notification and in most cases, the sooner the better. Major geographic damage often causes a large backlog of claims all at once, making it better to be at the front of the line.

Lastly, another money saving tip, if you decide to pay out of your pocket for your repair or replacement, be sure to let the service company know this. There are often different prices for insurance related and out of pocket services.

Have a great “No CLUE Report” Day !

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

http://www.jkfinancialinc.com
http://www.street-cents.com
8222 Douglas Ave # 590
Dallas, TX 75225JK Street Cents Logo

Personal Update Reminder Story, Broken Water Heater at 8222 Douglas … Pertinent Article – When NOT to file an Insurance Claim … USA Today and ABC News Runs Our ORIGINAL Credit.com Article …

While at the Perot Museum putting the final details on our November 14th upcoming event … this text hit Jen’s Cell …

Water is leaking in the kitchen and has covered the rug ….

followed shortly by…

Building people are here and have stopped the leak ….

Not even knowing each suite at our building had a small water heater for hot water, we were surprised to find our little friend had given up existence after what seems to be several decades of light use at most:

Water Heater JK Financial

Just by coincidence we were reviewing our Insurance Coverage as the annual bill was in our hands for payment, AND the Perot Museum was asking for coverage as well.

In knee jerk reaction …NOT thinking of our own earlier-written article (see following) the phone number to the insurance company was found, but never dialed…. thankfully …

For the record, we are paying out of our own pocket, a very reasonable rate to have the baby water heater replaced as it is mandated by our lease, but we never created a CLUE report…

Original Post – See Below:

A few years back, Credit.com came to us and asked to write articles occasionally. With good feelings and spreading the better Financial Planning word in mind, we accepted and our first article hit the printers. The following is from the original post here at Street-cents.com AFTER the article had run in the appropriate channels.

USA Today NBC News Runs Our Article

On Monday, August 3, USA Today ran our Insurance claim related article… that originated from YOU, the best friends and clients in the world.USA Today Article Circle JK

After originally being published by credit.com and having  ABC News run our article, we thought surely we were done … Nope…

ABC News ArticleThanks USA Today, we enjoy your publication very much … even more now!

 

 

Here is the Original Article in Full

One of the main reasons for having insurance is to offset risk, especially major risks and losses. We pay many insurance premiums throughout our lives to various carriers for a multitude of different risks. When a possible claim occurs, an initial thought might be “I am finally cashing in on some of those premiums!”

Think Twice Before Filing a ClaimUSA Today Article Circle JK

Not only do you want to strategize before filing your possible claim, you might want to hold off on even calling your insurance company. The premiums paid in our lifetimes reflect an amortization of the possibility of the risk occurring. The greater the risk, the greater the premium. If you are a constant “claimer,” your premiums will reflect this.

Do you have a CLUE?

Various carriers have been known to treat calls as a claim without the insured’s knowledge. Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, CLUE, is a database that keeps records of claims. LexisNexis offers a handy service that allows easy research of five years of claims data. It is a terrific service as a buyer but not a database you want to land on accidentally from an inquisitive phone call.

The easiest defense against this problem is to know your coverages and your deductible amounts. With the knowledge of what your insurance covers and the amount (i.e. ring, roof or fender) you are armed with the power to make your own decisions and not put yourself in a possible accidental or unworthy claim.

Speaking of deductibles, if at all possible, carrying a high deductible will likely save you money over the long term. Most insurances can be looked at as a defense for a major event. Not reaching to your insurance to cover minor or lower cost repairs or replacements is a terrific defense against higher long term premiums. If you are a claimer with lower deductibles, it is highly likely you will have higher than necessary premiums in your lifetime. One important planning tip is that it is critical to have adequate emergency funds available to cover all of your deductibles. ABC News Article

What are some examples of NOT filing a claim?

The easiest example is a car accident that is just barely over your deductible. It is likely that a $1,500 or even $2,000 claim against a deductible of $1,000, through eventual higher insurance premiums, may quickly turn your claim into a negative financial transaction over the longer period of time. Thinking of your premiums again as an amortization of your claims will help you in determining if you should file a claim or not.

Filing a claim against an asset that has been depreciated in coverage to a small dollar amount may not only hit your CLUE report but could also result in higher immediate premiums, plus put you on the list for being dropped should you have several other claims in a short period of time. If you are dropped by a carrier, your new carrier with this knowledge may adjust your NEW premiums accordingly, as a higher risk. Not all carriers will even offer coverage to someone who has been dropped. That’s another reason to think twice before filing that claim.

Your cherished ring was lost accidentally. Your deductible is $1,000 and you think the ring is worth $3,000 but you have not had it appraised, was not itemized on your policy and have no way of proving the value. It is highly likely you will get little, if any, by claiming this loss and your file will be marked with a claim.

So when should you file a claim, sometimes quickly?

Automobile accidents that involve an injury, personal liability or severe damage to another vehicle, even though your car was not harmed are cause to pick up the phone and bring your insurance company up to speed with the situation. Tell your story first, directly to your carrier, in order to protect yourself and arm your carrier with as much information to help defend in the situation.

Catastrophic damage to your asset is clearly cause for notification and in most cases, the sooner the better. Major geographic damage often causes a large backlog of claims all at once, making it better to be at the front of the line.

Lastly, another money saving tip, if you decide to pay out of your pocket for your repair or replacement, be sure to let the service company know this. There are often different prices for insurance related and out of pocket services.

Have a great “No CLUE Report” Day !

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

http://www.jkfinancialinc.com
http://www.street-cents.com
8222 Douglas Ave # 590
Dallas, TX 75225JK Street Cents Logo

Equifax breach and what to do about it?

On Thursday of last week Equifax announced it had a breach of possibly 143 million people who may have a credit report on file.

Before you jump off a cliff, understand this ranks only as the Fourth largest breach in history…. big, but not even close to the largest from yahoo, about 1.5 billion from 2013-2014.

This is again a modern day Bonnie and Clyde!

Breach Occurred in JulyEquifax

Here is the website Equifax is giving for information that also contains a link to a page that will allegedly check to see if your information has been compromised.

Before you jump in and check your information on the Equifax site, read the following:

The website they have given to check to see if your information was compromised says yes to any inquiry according to a  New York Times reporter… hmmmm

What to do? – Calmly take actions

Assume your information has been compromised !- It will most likely be eventually anyway, if it was not already …. so again no jumping off a cliff, it’s better than be held up at gunpoint “Modern day Bonnie and Clyde”

Monitor your credit from now on- Credit.com, credit karma and many others that guard your credit are a good place to go. Many credit card companies and mortgage companies send your soft, high level score monthly, keep an eye on your report for fluctuations.

Check your credit annually,  here in our article on how to safely do this in what is called a soft check so as not to hurt your credit.

Have all of your credit cards send you an email after every transaction- its easy and a good safety net.

You can opt for the free Equifax year, if you do you must do this by November 21st. We would not recommend the monitoring after the free year unless you have an incident. There will likely be a large number of people who forget about the free year and actually become a paying client to Equifax after their breach… real irony !

Expect more breaches in the future, but if you have done the preventatives above, you will be fine.

This too shall pass and likely not nearly the incidents many are calling for!

End of our all our credit?  …. nah … pesky modern day Bonnie and Clyde, and a need to heighten our radars from now on? … YEP !

Have a Great “Less Worrying Credit” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
www.jkfinancialinc.com
www.street-cents.com

 

 

May 2017 Podcast Video, Financial Planning Tax Review and Earnings Update- By John Kvale

The School years are finally finishing up…

Summer is beginning across the country…

While moving slower, business is still going on…. let’s review!

But First our 22cnd Annual Holiday Party Announcement!

November 18, 2017 at The Dallas Texas Arboretum from 1-3 PM – Food and Fun – Enjoy the park until 5 pm!

12Nights1

 

Here is the review!

May 2017 Video

 

Financial Planning Tip(s)-

Credit Reportcredit-40673__340

With today’s technology, it’s no surprise more data is being used by everyone from our Mortgage companies to our Insurance carriers to set rates charged to us.

Given the comprehensive use of our data it has become even more important to guard our credit reports.

In our post here, we discuss the importance of watching our credit and how to check your credit report as well as getting a copy of your report, along with ways to dispute difficiences as well.

Sharing your financial life without giving up control

In this post, one of the most popular of the month, we discussed the ability to give access to your financial life, but not control, to someone.

Our job is of course to always know where everything is located and help carry the spirit of your wishes, but the sharing option of our New Total Vault may be an easier introduction to the subject matter, should you desire to bring it up on your own.

You may even want to have a subtle suggestion for the access to a special person in your life …. we have you covered with our New Total Vault.

Capital Market Comments

Employment Update

With over two thirds of our GDP (Gross Domestic Production) aka broad measure of our economic growth, being consumer related consumption, an employed and happy consumer may likely lead to better growth prospects for the US Economy. Here is the full review!

The consumer is certainly employed, as shown by this chart of the falling unemployment rate!

img_0792

Hello Swimming Pool, talk to you at the end of June !

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
www.jkfinancialinc.com
www.street-cents.com,

Why you need to know your Credit Score and where to get your Annual Free Credit Report

Knowing your credit score and your credit report has become increasingly important. With updates in technology and increases of consumer related fraud, we all need to keep an eye on our credit and our credit score for protection.

Why Do I need to Know or protect my score?credit-40673__340

While you may not owe anyone, anything i.e. have a loan with anyone … well done by the way….. A bad credit score can still affect items such as your automobile and your homeowners premiums… no kidding (see this  Forbes article.) We cannot blame them, there is data to check and it is their responsibility and ability to review it.

Bottom line a bad credit score or report may be costing you more money.

Where do I check my score?

As a pro-bono author for credit.com I created my own personal free account before agreeing to author a few finance related articles for them. Their service is free, handy, and delivers a monthly update of your credit score along with reasons on why it has changed, which it does frequently, as well as tips on keeping it in check.

There are multiple services such as banks, credit cards, and other financial institutions that show your credit score on a monthly basis, several of which I also receive. From my personal experience, the credit.com score aligns better with the most common score similar to getting a mortgage. The other institutions credit score is frequently far from the 300-850 FICO score most known.

How do I get a copy of my credit report?

After you get your score, you may want to get a detailed copy of your credit report. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com, which is a free service offered for your own protection by the three agencies. There are tons of sites out there that are not free and try to seduce you into paying an unnecessary monthly fee, this site has been checked and is safe.

You may request all three services or just use one and keep the other two available at a later time. This may be handy as you only get one free report per agency per year. If you stagger the reports you can inquire at different times, keep later dates open for inquiry.

If your report is good, there is likely no reason to get more than one agency report.  If your report has deficiencies you may protest from the site as it is reported.

Taking time to review your credit and credit score is easy and may save you angst and money!

Have a great “Safe Credit” day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
http://www.jkfinancialinc.com
http://www.street-cents.com

Q2 J.K. Financial, Inc. 2016 Audio Newsletter Review By John Kvale

We are happy to bring to you our Audio Review of the Q 2 2016 Newsletter.

Q 2 2016 Audio Newsletter Review

 

YouTube Direct Link

Newsletter Link

Have a Great Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

http://www.jkfinancialinc.com
http://www.street-cents.com
8222 Douglas Ave # 590
Dallas, TX 75225

 

 

 

41% of Meals are “Out of Home”

In a recent credit.com article that we were asked to write, during the research phase for the article, we stumbled on to some interesting facts from Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Spending Survey.

This from the article ….

What is not showing in the BLS graph is the breakdown of at home and away from home food. According to the same 2014 BLS report a whopping 41% of our TOTAL food costs are away from the home. This is a stunning number. Eating out is fun but rarely as healthy or as cost effective a way to spend your monthly income. Staying at home, planning in advance, eating healthy, and spending time with family or friends may be a great way to lower that bulging food budget.

YIKES !!!

BLS quartiles spending graph

We are including the full article in our Newsletter, which is in the works. My family hates this discovery  … the belts have been tightened .. financially and physically (for not eating out.) It’s not easy !

How much do you and your family eat out ? Might be more than you think !

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
www.jkfinancialinc.com
www.street-cents.com

Credit.com Article — Long Weekend … From the Road ….

Monday is a Bank and Capital Market Holiday in honor of Martin Luther King. Our office will be closed and I am on the road today !

Credit.com ArticleCredit

A new article on Credit.com is out, here is the link.  I cannot speak about it until several weeks have passed, but have some great statistics to discuss in due time !!

From the Road

I am out of town today, returning mid next week … talk to you then.

Have a great weekend!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

http://www.jkfinancialinc.com
http://www.street-cents.com
8222 Douglas Ave # 590
Dallas, TX 75225

 

 

Travels next week — Q4 2014 Newsletter Video Review

Most of next week I will be traveling to a water surrounded state for business. Tethered heavily with technology via planes and automobile as well as great coverage back home, we will not miss a beat.

The Newsletter is out – actually on its way to you now. If you do not have time to read the Newsletter or prefer my personal thoughts, take a look – well listen.

Click here for digital Newsletter!

Q 4 2014 Newsletter Video Review

 

 

Enjoy your Friday !

Have a Great Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

http://www.jkfinancialinc.com
http://www.street-cents.com
8222 Douglas Ave # 590
Dallas, TX 75225


 

Nice Quote On Markets – Big Apple Travels – Friday –

Earlier this week I was asked for a quote on the markets which appeared on ABCNews here “What the Pros are telling their clients“.

The gist was quick market movements are often shorter in time frame.

Honored to be quoted so frequently lately!

Big Apple Next Week

Late in next week, the travel schedule dials up the Big Apple for a business visit. New York’s pace is fun and it’s always great to visit with friends I have not seen in person in some time.  Big Apple

Ahhh…. but that it next week. This first week of school and crazy market movements are coming to a halt… more next week ? Maybe–

Have a great Friday and weekend!
John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

http://www.jkfinancialinc.com
http://www.street-cents.com
8222 Douglas Ave # 590
Dallas, TX 75225