Protect Your Possessions

You have homeowners insurance, and you've made sure that the contents of your house are covered in case of an disaster.

Or have you? If you lose all the possessions in your home due to a fire or other incident, the insurance company will not simply reimburse you on your word.

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when insuring the items in their homes is simply failing to document all of them. Without documentation, one of two things will usually happen when you file a claim; both are to your disadvantage:

1. You simply can't remember all of your possessions and file a claim based on what you can remember at that time. Since this is a time of high stress, you will most likely forget a large number of the items you owned and won't receive the full amount you are due. (This can become even more frustrating as time goes by and you remember more things you owned but forgot to claim.)

2. You try to claim everything that you owned, but because you have no documented proof, some of your claims are denied by the insurer. This could happen to you even if you are covered by the largest insurers, such as The Travelers Companies(TRV Quote) and Allstate(ALL Quote).

With today's technology, taking a careful inventory of possessions is relatively easy. One of the biggest reasons people delay documenting all their possessions is that they believe that it's going to take a lot of time and effort. While the more detailed the documentation the better, having something is better than having nothing.