Having a trusted insurance agent is essential to being satisfied with your insurance coverage, but as your life changes, your coverage needs to change to suit your new circumstances. While obvious life changes can prompt another look, if you've had a few calm years, you might forget to see if the insurance is still appropriate. Make a yearly appointment with yourself and your agent to go over your coverage because even subtle changes in your life can require policy adjustments.

Acquiring All the Things 

As life goes on, you get more clothes, donate books, inherit dishes, buy new computers, and so on. All of these changes in possessions mean that your homeowners or renters insurance coverage amounts need to change to ensure that everything is covered properly. If you acquire expensive jewelry, for example, when all you had previously was costume, you'll need to add a jewelry coverage rider to ensure the jewelry is fully covered. Regular policies usually do not provide enough coverage for those super expensive or irreplaceable items.

You could decide to change your deductible, instead. Even if nothing has really changed, you might feel like having a slightly higher deductible with a slightly lower premium is what's best for you at this time. However, if you don't re-evaluate your policy, you might continue to pay that higher premium because it might not occur to you to modify it otherwise.

Fun With Flood Plains

Another issue you might miss if you don't do yearly checkups on your insurance is that your situation can change without you knowing. For example, cities and counties sometimes redo their flood maps based on information they get from meteorologists and geologists. This is often announced on the news, but if you miss the story, you might not know about the change. Talk to your agent, though, and you'll find out quickly that you need to add a flood insurance policy. 

So Your Office Moved....

Another reason to redo your coverage regularly is because sometimes what seems like a minor change to you is really a major change for your policy. For example, if your office moved closer to where you live and you're now driving fewer  miles per day, that adds up to quite a bit of mileage savings. If your auto policy was based on driving a certain number of miles each year, you could see if you could reduce your premiums since you're now driving less.

Your agent can help you modify your coverage and give you insurance quotes if you need additional policies. Make it a habit to redo your insurance so you aren't caught short.