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Ed Leefeldt

Contributor Advisor
  • The Midwesterners’ Fault: Do They Need Earthquake Insurance?

    Lurking near the Mississippi River is a crack in the earth’s crust. Geologists say it could shift, propel dirt 60 feet into the air, kill nearly 1,000 people and topple Elvis’s Graceland mansion in Memphis. It’s already burst, and more...
  • Injured In A Car Accident? Your Legal Adversary Is Artificial Intelligence

    Attorney Jack Cohen knows both sides of the blame and claim game. He’s spent nearly 40 years practicing law, much of it trying injury suits for insurance companies. But he’s also written a novel called “Bad Faith,” which tells the...
  • The “Ups And Downs” Of Elevating A Flood-Prone Home . . . And Getting Insurance

    Beach Haven West is a New Jersey neighborhood on steroids. Once a quiet community of one-story bungalows, a third of these homes have been “elevated” into McMansions. They loom almost 50 feet above the surrounding marshes. Two things made this...
  • Is There No Fix For No-Fault Insurance? Florida Faces A Tough Choice

    Update: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed Senate Bill 54 on June 29, 2021. No-fault car insurance, which requires drivers to file car accident injury claims with their own insurance company regardless of who’s at fault, seemed like a good idea...
  • Florida Cracks Down On Skyrocketing Home Insurance Costs

    The once humble roofing contractors who nail up the shingles that protect your home from wind and weather are now some of the most important—and controversial—people in Florida. But that will change if Gov. Ron DeSantis signs Senate Bill 76,...
  • Dog Breeds Banned By Home Insurance Companies

    Aside from natural disasters and water, the three things that give home insurance companies agita are dogs, pools and trampolines. Basically anything fun. The problem with dogs is the expensive liability claims against the dog owners. Homeowners insurance pays out...
  • FEMA Promises Lower Flood Insurance Rates For Many Homeowners

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) unveiled its new “Risk Rating 2.0” pricing strategy for its 5 million flood insurance policyholders today, with a promise that two-thirds of older homes would see a decrease in premiums and most residents and...
  • FEMA’S Upcoming Changes Could Cause Flood Insurance To Soar At The Shore

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been preparing to drop a seismic climate-change bomb. Flood insurance premiums for millions of at-risk homes and businesses could surge as much as four times what they currently pay over the next few...
  • Senior Drivers Are Safer Than Previously Thought

    For many drivers growing older comes with a cost: Car insurance becomes more expensive. When I turned 66 and complained about the imposed surcharge an agent told me, “You’re not a bad driver, it’s just your age.” It’s no secret...
  • The Witness Against You: Your Car

    Doug Heller has a problem. And it’s the same one confronting millions of American drivers. Who should have access to your car’s data from the computers that harness and help drive today’s cars? Your insurance company, pushy advertisers . ....
  • “Hardening” Homes Against Wildfires In California Has Been An Uphill Battle

    Hardening your home against wildfires is a necessity if you live in a state like California. Over the past four years, dark clouds of ash and smoke from hundreds of out-of-control blazes have blanketed the Golden State. “Every year we...
  • Why You Want Home Insurance With Extended Or Guaranteed Replacement Cost

    It’s been a tough year for most of us, but not for building contractors and the companies that supply them. They can’t keep up with the demand for new and rebuilt housing. And that’s not good news for homeowners. Surges...
  • Homeowners And Insurance Companies Will Grapple With Climate Change In 2021

    After a 2020 filled with hurricanes and wildfires, this year could be the moment when the U.S. insurance industry finally grapples with climate change. Who will win that wrestling match? Insurers? Homeowners? Or the increasingly challenging environment? “The alarm bells...
  • Living On The Edge: Turn Age 100 And Your Life Insurance Could Die Before You

    World War II veteran Dr. Walter Scott, who risked his life landing on Omaha Beach in 1944, could have another major battle to fight, or at least his heirs will. As Scott nears the 100-year age mark, he wants to...
  • Additional Living Expenses Coverage In Homeowners Insurance

    There’s a battle raging over “ALE” and it has nothing to do with beer. ALE is the acronym for additional living expenses coverage. It’s the money you’ll need to live elsewhere if forced from your home due to fire or...
  • No Sunshine State: Many Florida Drivers Don’t Have Valid Licenses . . . Or Insurance

    If you drive in Florida, don’t have an accident. One in four vehicles that speed past you or run a red light isn’t covered by insurance. If your car is damaged, the odds of recouping your losses from someone else...
  • The Tricky Business Of Determining Fault After A Car Accident

    Let’s start with a bang: One vehicle hits another. But who’s at fault? The result will be decided in different places. It could be decided on the road where it happened, in a police report, by the auto insurance companies,...
  • Are You Blind To Your Flooded Future?

    In this very active hurricane season, the first named hurricanes in June now seem like a distant memory. Worse weather always seems to be on the horizon. And it raises an ominous question: Are you blind to your flooded future? Hurricanes...
  • Sounding The Alarm On Indexed Universal Life Insurance

    For the past 10 years, indexed universal life insurance (IUL) has been one of the life insurance industry’s most profitable businesses. Growth in annualized premiums of IUL quintupled during the decade ended last December, worth more than $3 billion in...
  • How To Choose A Life Insurance Beneficiary

    If you’re buying life insurance, you’re doing so because you have a goal for the payout. Maybe you want to provide funds for your family to pay bills if you’re gone, or to pay for children’s college education. Many life...
  • Life Insurance Companies Tackle Today’s Challenges

    Times may be getting tough for the life insurance industry. It’s grappling with slow sales and the pandemic, and low interest rates are giving a punch in the gut to company investments. “The U.S. life insurance industry is still feeling...
  • How To Prepare For DIY Hurricane Season 2020

    The day of the Do-It-Yourselfer is here. Since many of us are staying home to avoid the pandemic—and either already jobless or fearful of losing a job—we don’t want or can’t afford to hire a contractor for home improvements. But...
  • When To Drop Collision & Comprehensive Insurance

    If you own a car, you don’t have a choice about buying certain auto insurance coverage types. Depending on your state, you’ll be buying some combination of liability auto insurance, uninsured motorist coverage and/or PIP insurance. No state requires collision and...
  • Why Is Homeowners Insurance In Florida Such A Disaster?

    In 2007, then Florida Gov. Charlie Crist placed a note in the historic “Wailing Wall” in Jerusalem where Jews and Christians go to offer up prayers. Crist's note read: "Dear God, please protect our Florida from storms and other difficulties." No...
  • How To Make A Life Insurance Claim

    There might be a time in your life when someone you know pulls you aside at a family gathering and says that you’re the designated beneficiary of their life insurance policy. This situation has many—almost infinite—variations. It might happen on...
  • Detective Story: Finding A Lost Life Insurance Policy

    One of the most traumatic aspects of losing a relative or close friend is handling their estate. Probating the will is usually the first step. Then you need to find out whether or not there was a life insurance policy....
  • How To Make A Claim Against Someone Else’s Car Insurance

    Christin Walker of Burlington, New Jersey, is a safe driver. She proved it by navigating a school bus full of noisy and, occasionally, boisterous children on country roads and city streets for 22 years. But even good drivers can have...
  • The Right Life Insurance For A Business Partner’s Death

    Owning a small business is often the dream of any employee who toils behind a desk or stacks boxes at a megacompany. Millions of Americans sprint for that goal, often by partnering with someone they know and think can help...
The Midwesterners’ Fault: Do They Need Earthquake Insurance?
Injured In A Car Accident? Your Legal Adversary Is Artificial Intelligence
The “Ups And Downs” Of Elevating A Flood-Prone Home . . . And Getting Insurance
Is There No Fix For No-Fault Insurance? Florida Faces A Tough Choice
Florida Cracks Down On Skyrocketing Home Insurance Costs
Dog Breeds Banned By Home Insurance Companies FEMA Promises Lower Flood Insurance Rates For Many Homeowners
FEMA’S Upcoming Changes Could Cause Flood Insurance To Soar At The Shore Senior Drivers Are Safer Than Previously Thought
The Witness Against You: Your Car “Hardening” Homes Against Wildfires In California Has Been An Uphill Battle
Why You Want Home Insurance With Extended Or Guaranteed Replacement Cost Homeowners And Insurance Companies Will Grapple With Climate Change In 2021 Living On The Edge: Turn Age 100 And Your Life Insurance Could Die Before You
Additional Living Expenses Coverage In Homeowners Insurance No Sunshine State: Many Florida Drivers Don’t Have Valid Licenses . . . Or Insurance
The Tricky Business Of Determining Fault After A Car Accident Are You Blind To Your Flooded Future?
Sounding The Alarm On Indexed Universal Life Insurance How To Choose A Life Insurance Beneficiary Life Insurance Companies Tackle Today’s Challenges
How To Prepare For DIY Hurricane Season 2020 When To Drop Collision & Comprehensive Insurance
Why Is Homeowners Insurance In Florida Such A Disaster?
How To Make A Life Insurance Claim Detective Story: Finding A Lost Life Insurance Policy
How To Make A Claim Against Someone Else’s Car Insurance The Right Life Insurance For A Business Partner’s Death
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