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By Lisa Brown
The name of the game is protection.
The object is to select the best insurance for your
needs.
The rules are:
Rule One: Determine whether you have any insurance
needs by carefully considering your needs and respon
sibilities to others. If you are a broke college student you
may not want to start a life insurance plan now if no one
depends on you for an income. But you may need to
increase your auto insurance.
Rule Two: Check with parents and employers to make
sure you are not already covered by another policy. Stu
dents under age 23 who are dependents of their parents
are often covered by parents' health or homeowners
insurance.
Rule Three: Study your needs and decide specifically
what you want in your policy and stick with it when
shopping. Students can find out more about different
types of insurance and what best serves their situations
from several sources.
Start by consulting Shopper's Guide to Insurance by
Herbert Denenberg, published in 1974 by Public Consum-
know your needs,
shop carefully
er News. Denenberg, the Ralph Nader of the insurance
business, provides comparative information about com
panies and kinds of insurance.
Another source is the State Insurance Department, 301
Centennial Mall South. It gives information on how to
shop for insurance, what to avoid and about which com
panies are financially solid and meeting state regulations.
The department regulates insurance companies and com
plaints about them.
You might also talk to Dave Rasmussen, attorney in
the UNL Student Legal Services Center. He can tell about
complaints he has received and what students should
avoid in insurance shopping.
Rule Four: Shop with as many companies as possible.
George Rejda, UNL economics professor, said the most
important things to do are to shop carefully, compare,
and buy what will meet the student's specific needs at the
best price.
Likewise, Rejda and Pat Strong, UNL finance instruc
tor, recommend selecting a responsible agent with an old,
well-established company. An agent who is a Chartered
Life Underwriter (CLU) must pass a series of 10 national
tests and should be knowledgeable about insurance.
To find out about a company's background you can
check with Best's Insurance Reports. It gives informa
tion about companies' service and quality, Strong said.
You better shop around
Also, when shopping, it is important to compare
similar policies for benefits and costs among several
companies.
The "interest adjusted method helps compare life in
surance policies. You can study the method and
get specific figures from reference books or from
agents.
Students buying auto, renters or health insurance
should consider a company with national branch offices
so they can get fast service while traveling or after gradu
ation, Rejda said.
Some do's
If you are not covered by a health or disability income
insurance plan with parents or employer, health coverage
should be a major medical policy covering large expenses
third dimension
yourpolicy
resulting from a serious illness or accident, rather than a
more expensive policy covering expenses like check-ups
ot shots.
Several professors and insurance agents said students
interested in health insurance should consider the Student
Accident and Sickness Insurance Plan offered through
Mutual of Omaha. You can get a pamphlet explaining it at
the Health Center.
Know the risks
"A major glaring deficiency in student insurance plans
is that many students who are working have assumed the
financial risk of becoming disabled, without realizing
there is a risk, Rejda said.
A disabled student loses his income and has to pay for
medical expenses and personal care, he said. And the
chance of long term disability is three times that of pre
mature death in the under 30 age group.
Disability income insurance usually provides a percen
tage of the insured's weekly salary while disabled, accord
ing to the terms of the policy.
To protect your property, whether it is a collection of
Superman comic books or a library of classics, consider a
renters policy including liability coverage.
A student without liability coverage can be sued or
made to pay medical bills resulting from injuries to guests
in his home.
Attorney Rasmussen regularly receives such complaints.
many don't realize
disability risk
Guard those wheels
Although auto insurance is usually the first insurance
students buy, too many times they underinsure them
selves, Rejda said. The State of Nebraska requires proof
of financial responsibility for damage from an accident.
State law requires that no Nebraska insurance agency
sell auto liability coverage for less than $15,000 for body
injury to any one person, $30,000 for all bodily injuries,
and $10,000 for all property damage.
Rejda suggested students buy more liability insurance
and suggested a basic coverage of $100,000 per person,
$300,000 per occurrence, and $25,000 for property
damage.
If you are driving an old clunker it would be cheaper
to assume the risk of damage to it rather than insuring
it with collision or comprehensive insurance.
For your new Porsche, though, Rejda suggested buying
collision or comprehensive insurance with a deductible of
at least $100 or more because the $50 deductible is
generally more expensive than it is worth.
Guard it with your life
Life insurance is probably the last insurance most stu
dents buy.
There are two types. Term insurance covers the person
for a specified period of time, and has no cash value.
Whole life cr permanent insurance lasts all your life and
builds a cash value that is similar to a savings account,
Strong siad.
Tuesday, February 8, 1977
y if in
Term insurance is cheap and can be bought with an op
tion to convert it to whole life at times specified in the
policy. Rejda recommended that some students buy term
insurance to have that option later when needs are
different.
Tom Brady, Northwestern Mutual Life, suggested
students buying term with the conversion option in mind
should carefully study the permanent policy.
Strong suggested students who can afford it might con
sider buying life insurance now to guarantee their insur
ability or to use as a savings plan if they have trouble
saving.
Jim Wagner, Massachusetts Mutual Life, said guarantee
ing a student's insurability might be even more important
than actual coverage. Guaranteed insurability provides
that you can still buy more insurance if your health fails
or you have a hazardous job.
Some agents and professors agreed students should
avoid bank financed life insurance. Bank financed life
life insurance often comes last
insurance means you sign a note for the first year's pre
mium, often with a loan company associated with the in
surance company. If you let the policy lapse, you are still
liable for the note.
Rejda also said to avoid endowment policies because
they are more expensive and it is hard to get returns;
hospital indemnity policies as often advertised in the Sun
day newspaper supplements, because they are not a good
buy for the money; and mail order insurance, because it is
often from new companies that might have trouble p?"5ig
off claims.
Fidelity Union
speaks out
By E. K. Casaccio
"We know there are strong reasons for beginning a life
insurance program at an early age. We've built virtually
our entire business around this one idea, and over the
years we ve met with remarkable success.
"Why? Because a lot of college seniors agree with us. "
-Fidelity Union Life Insurance pamphlet
Nationally based in Dallas, Fidelity Union has more
than 300,000 policyholders. 90 per cent start programs
while college seniors. The average age of Fidelity Union's
policyholders is 26. Its agents are also young; average
age is 28.
Fidelity Union has offices in Omaha, Lincoln and
Kearney. C.G. "Chuck' Severin and Associates repre
sent the company in Lincoln.
- Severin, manager of the agency for six years, employs
six agents who deal primarily with college students.
"We seriously try to look out for our clients. We work
a great deal with college students. If we don't do it right
we won't be here, Severin said.
College graduates and students within 12 months of
graduation qualify for Fidelity Union's CollegeMaster
plan.
CollegeMaster is a whole-life insurance policy, a type of
policy that can be cashed in at age 65 with a return of all
money paid in plus interest, Severin said.
The CollegeMaster policy permits payment of the first
year premium by promissory note, an interest-bearing
loan. The student can pay $10 the first year and give the
ni
