As part of the financial de-cluttering of my life, I have recently been reviewing my insurance requirements.

Why do I need insurance? I need insurance because I have a mortgage, it is a requirement the lender insists on. So because I have this property debt I have insurance. Once I have the house paid of, in six years or less, I will still require insurance. At nearly 57 years old, I probably won’t have enough time left on this sweet earth, to recover financially if the house gets wiped out.

So mortgage insurance is a need. I have not reviewed it yet, but it is there, waiting to be reviewed.

I have debt, so I need insurance. If I had no debt, I will have nothing to insure. Insuring the debt, is one of the less obvious costs of carrying debt.

Property Insurance. Yesterday I changed my property insurance on my house in southern Ontario. During that process, it was discovered that the insurance corporation was insuring my house as if it was 1800 sq. ft., instead of the actual 1300 sq. ft. So for the past 5 years I have been paying more because somebody misread or miswrote 1300 vs. 1800. Ouch!

The other significant factor regarding the insurance is that I do not live there anymore, (property is rented to good tenants). Since I no longer have to insure contents, the reduction was quite noticable. The deductible was raised from $500.00 to $1000.00 and the insurance was reduced to it’s basic form. All the bells & whistles were jettisoned.

Bottom line is the insurance was reduced from $132.00 per month for one property to $65.00 per month for two properties.

A $25,000.00 emergency fund should protect against property mishaps.

Still to review sick insurance, mortgage insurance.

How has minimalism affected your insurance needs/costs?