Covered Ground: Building Financial Security Through Smarter Insurance
Episode 4 - Most people don't think about their insurance until something goes wrong. In this episode of GenRelational Wealth, Gordon Haas sits down with Mike Blumenfeld, owner of Mile Square Insurance Agency, to change that. They cover what independent agents actually do differently, how to evaluate whether your current coverage has dangerous gaps, and why periodic reviews matter more than most people realize. From home and auto to renters insurance and natural disaster preparedness, Mike brings decades of expertise and the kind of financial wisdom that tends to get passed down for good reason.
GUEST INFORMATION:
Mike Blumenfeld of Mile Square Insurance Agency
Michael Blumenfeld is the principal and founder of Mile Square Insurance Agency in Hoboken, NJ. Mike is a highly experienced insurance executive and has a deep knowledge of property and casualty insurance acquired over 25 plus years working with top insurance companies. Mike doesn't just sell policies, he helps people understand them.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to Mile Square Insurance Agency
03:00 Growth and Team Structure
06:08 Understanding Independent vs. Captive Insurance Agents
09:02 Client Needs and Personalized Insurance Solutions
11:47 Evaluating Home Insurance Coverage
15:09 Natural Disasters and Insurance Implications
18:11 Flood Insurance and Coverage Options
20:50 Additional Riders and Umbrella Insurance
24:13 Renters Insurance Explained
26:08 Auto Insurance Insights
28:57 Teenage Drivers and Insurance Costs
31:54 Discounts and Bundling Insurance Policies
35:01 Periodic Insurance Reviews
38:01 Final Thoughts on Financial Wisdom
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TRANSCRIPT:
Gordon Haas (00:00)
Today, I'm joined by Michael Blumenfeld, the principal of Mile Square Insurance Agency. Mike is a highly experienced insurance executive and has a deep knowledge of property and casualty insurance acquired over 25 plus years working with top insurance companies. What I appreciate about Mike is that he doesn't just sell policies, he helps people understand them. And in this region, especially where real estate can represent a huge portion of net worth, insurance isn't just a checkbox. It's a core part of financial planning.
Today we're going to talk about how homeowners, renters, and families should really think about property and casualty insurance. What matters? What's often missed? How to read confusing policies and some simple rules of thumb that can save people a lot of money and stress down the road. Mike, welcome to Gen-Relational Wealth.
Michael Blumenfeld (00:56)
Thank you, Gordon.
Gordon Haas (00:58)
Pleasure to have you here, Mike. And I just want to start by asking you to tell me a little bit more about Mile Square Insurance Agency.
Michael Blumenfeld (01:06)
Oh, sure, we're a property casualty independent insurance agency. We were founded in 2012 and what we do is we help people and small businesses with their property casualty needs. So we write homeowners policies, auto policies, umbrella policies, small business policies. ‚Åì I started the agency in 2012 after having worked over 25 years in the insurance industry, working for large insurance companies.
Gordon Haas (01:37)
Yeah, explain to me a little bit about the growth since 2012. I know that you probably started off with just a sign and a shingle and I know you've grown into a pretty impressive organization.
Michael Blumenfeld (01:48)
We started in 2012 by myself in my house, and now we're up to nine employees and we help almost 3000 families with their insurance needs.
Gordon Haas (02:02)
That's great. That's quite a book of business and a lot to keep track of.
And why don't you touch a little bit on your professional background before you started Mile Square.
Michael Blumenfeld (02:12)
Oh, sure. I went to school in New Jersey. I graduated Rutgers back in 1987. I went to work that year working for Travelers Insurance as a commercial underwriting trainee. I learned a lot. Then I wanted to go work in New York and I took a job with Chubb Insurance. After that, I worked in the reinsurance field and worked finally, my last corporate job was with Zurich Insurance, primarily working with large companies to optimize their insurance programs. So I started Mile Square Insurance in 2012 with the idea of taking everything that I knew from the corporate world and just helping people protect their homes and their businesses. And I find this to be really meaningful.
Gordon Haas (03:06)
That's great. And you mentioned, you put an emphasis before on independence, that your agency is independent. So does that mean that you...
Michael Blumenfeld (03:13)
Sure. It's obvious to me what that means. Sorry if it's not obvious to everybody.
Gordon Haas (03:17)
Well, I'd love to hear you explain it in your own words.
Michael Blumenfeld (3:19)
Yeah. Well, not there's different kinds of insurance agents, agencies, and some are what you call independent agents like Mile Square Insurance, and some are captive agents. And so, if you ever walk into a State Farm or an All State office, those are examples of captive agents and they can be perfectly fine if what they offer fits your needs. However, if their products and underwriting don't serve you well, then you have no other option.
They're not gonna go and check the remaining 80 % of the insurance world where there's thousands of companies that potentially have a better solution for you. And that's the main advantage of working with an independent agent is that we have access to markets, many of them you've heard of because of their direct-to-consumer advertising, but there's so many insurance companies that can be great partners that you've never heard of because they distribute solely through independent agents.
Gordon Haas (04:27)
And so a little bit more about how you work as an independent agent, you're able to place clients with the best match and how does that work? Is it usually just a couple of certain insurance companies are the go-to or is it really a personalized situation?
Michael Blumenfeld (04:43)
Wow, a great question. It really does vary by the client, their needs in the situation. I mean, the first thing you have to do is speak with the client, ask a lot of questions, and really try to find out what their needs are. Because if you watch a TV commercial and it says, take 10 minutes and we're gonna save you a bunch of money. It's easy to just run off and start trying to get quotes for different policies without really understanding if that policy is truly what the client needs.
And so trying to figure out first and nail down precisely what your needs are. And I say that because some people maybe are very risk adverse. And so they probably have greater needs than somebody who is far more risk tolerant. And they're just looking to have insurance to prevent them from the big, the catastrophic things that can happen. Some people live very simply and have very few physical assets that need protection, while others have a whole lifetime's worth of stuff that means a lot to them and they want to make sure it's all covered. Some people have modest means and they don't need lots and lots of liability limits. And then we have clients that are very wealthy and they need to protect what they've worked really hard for.
So, getting down to what the needs of the client are first, that's, I think that's paramount. Once you have a good sense of that, then sure, there's, already start having opinions as to which companies are better suited given that situation. But that's where having an experienced agent with knowledge of the marketplace, is really gonna save you time and it's gonna ultimately help you get the best coverage at the best pricing.
Gordon Haas (06:43)
Excellent. And that's, that's exactly why I wanted you here today. And, and full disclosure for everybody listening, I do work with Mike for our personal homeowners and auto insurance. And he does just that. Mike asked the questions and pushes back and makes sure that he understands the situation implicitly before he makes any recommendations. And that's what I love about them. And there've been many instances where that has come into play and literally saved us money.
So let's dive into some of the details. Let's move on to takeaways that people listening can really look at their own situation. In dealing with financial planning, I do a lot of plans and especially in the tri-state area, but really throughout the country, there are a lot of people whose home is the single largest asset on their balance sheet. And quite often they're focused so much on retirement planning and their portfolio for retirement. And sometimes they don't look close enough at protection for their home. Again, their biggest largest asset, whether it be for retirement for their living or even just for passing on to their children and to their heirs. So I've taken a look at a declaration page, for example. What is the first thing that you recommend people look for? Because it can get complex.
Michael Blumenfeld (07:58)
Sure, I mean the complication is, you know, the biggest mistake we see people not ensuring their home for the right amount. And the most important concept, or one of the first things we usually speak with a client is, well, what is the right amount? And the answer to that question is a difficult one to answer because it's assumed the worst and what would it actually cost to rebuild your home? And then people will say, well, know, my house is worth $800,000. My neighbor just sold for $795,000, and so I have a good idea. And that's fine, but that really doesn't have a lot to do with, well, how much would a contractor charge to clear away the debris and then construct a new structure on the spot? Because really that's the amount that you ought to be insuring for. And sometimes your house might be worth $800,000, but it could cost a million four to replace that home with like kind and quality. And that's hard for people to get their head around it. And I understand it.
Gordon Haas (09:05)
Hmm.So it's not as simple as just taking a look at Zillow like most people, a lot of people do that every day, look at Zillow to see what their house is valued at. There's more to it.
Michael Blumenfeld (09:17)
Yeah, right. Sure. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, what the insurance companies are going to do is they're going to look and say what, how large was the house, what shape was it, what materials was it constructed with. And that's what they're going to go by in terms of settling the claim. And, what I what often seems to work with clients is I'll say, well, let's take your house where it exists now and let's magically, because we're magic, of course, and we can transport your house to somewhere on, somewhere desirable in Manhattan, let's say on the Upper East Side. And now your house that was in the suburbs, now you have a 2,500 square foot house. Well, if it's on the Upper East Side, it's probably worth $10 million market value.
But if it had to be rebuilt, wouldn't cost, I mean, sure, construction Manhattan's a little higher than it would be in the suburbs, but it's not gonna cost that much more to build. It's still gonna need X amount of plywood and X amount of tile and this many hours of labor. Now, on the other hand, let's take your house and let's put it in an industrial area or someplace with very, a rural area further from the metropolitan area. Now that house,2500 square feet, it might only be worth $300,000, but it still would cost the same to rebuild. So that seems to cement in clients' minds that, we're really looking at protecting the house itself. The second thing I'd say when you're looking at the declarations page and that value is when was the last time you really considered what that value is? In other words, you might have bought that policy when you bought the house 10 years ago, 20 years ago.
And sure, every year the insurance company raises it 2 %, 3 %, or what have you. But especially over time, what we see is sometimes you get a situation where the value is nowhere near what the reality is in 2026 to rebuild the house. So that's something to consider and it's a great idea. Take a fresh look at it and.
Gordon Haas (11:34)
Well, how do you consider it? How do you actually value the rebuilding of a house?
Michael Blumenfeld (11:38)
Well, that's great because - fair question, because I know a lot about insurance, but I don't know a ton about construction costs and how they vary from week to week or month to month and what the price of copper is. So we have, there's a few different tools. One of them is that most carriers will have some software that they rely on that are up to date and will base, you put attributes of the home in. And it gives some suggestions as to what a likely rebuild cost is. Another thing, because we have so many clients is we're able to benchmark and compare you to other similar types of houses so that if somebody comes in, let's say with that 2,500 square foot house and they think the replacement cost is $300,000, that would not benchmark well against the majority of of our clients where we're seeing an average, let's say closer to $300 a square foot for similar structures. Again, you're dealing with an experienced agent. And, um, what I like to say is, sure, you can go online and you can call an 800 number, but you're almost better off talking to somebody who understands this, who understands your area and what makes your home unique and you will be better off. You'll be mostly better served. So somebody can come to me and they'll say, hey Mike, can you insure my house in Kansas? And I'll say, sure, theoretically, but guess what? You're much better off getting an agent who's local there, who understands the similar types houses, who knows that local marketplace better, and will refer you to somebody that way. So.
Gordon Haas (13:29)
Yeah, makes sense. So again, it comes down to experience and the importance of speaking with somebody who, who knows and has been there through thick and thin. Let's talk a little bit about some of the additional riders or some things that you could add to insurance. For example, again, we live in Hoboken and we've seen our share of floods. You know, if you're listening in California, as we have some clients out there and they have wildfires. So, you know, address some of the concerns that come into play there.
Michael Blumenfeld (13:45)
Sure. Oh my, well. natural disasters obviously are a huge concern and, the effects on insurance are not necessarily obvious. So one of the effects here that you have for when you have the potential of a widespread catastrophe is let's say your home was damaged at the same time 10,000 other homes were also damaged. And this is something that we're seeing very clearly in California is that people don't have enough money to rebuild their homes. There was just an article I was reading last week in the “New York Times”, it was comparing two different developments in California and what the difficulty people have been having rebuilding. But essentially, if thousands of structures are affected at once, it's going to cost a lot more to rebuild your home because now you're competing with everybody else for labor and materials and the price is going to go up. That can be compounded because people haven't really considered what the right rebuild value is. And so it was really a sad story that there's people that aren't being able to rebuild their homes.
I never want our clients to be in that situation. And so,the same thing can be said for other types of scenarios. It's not just wildfires. It could be something like we experienced here locally. It was Super Storm Sandy in 2012 where there were thousands of people who lost their homes, unfortunately. And we saw the same sort of phenomenon. Now, when you brought up a point about flooding and
That's a great point because the vast majority of homeowners policies do not cover flooding. And you'll say, well, wait a second, Mike, if a pipe breaks in my house, that covered? And it floods my bathroom. Sure, that's covered, but in insurance speak, that's not a flood. That's water damage claim.
Flood has a very specific definition in the insurance world, which is an inundation of water.
either covering more than two acres or affecting more than two structures and that becomes a flood. And so the best way to protect yourself is to buy flood insurance. And what's really interesting about flood insurance recently is that you used to be that you could only get it from the federal government through the National Flood Insurance Program. And it had a very specific, it has very specific coverages and limitations.
And what we've seen over the past 5 to 10 years is the private market has gotten into the flood insurance market. And not only, most oftentimes they can be more price competitive than a national flood insurance program, but they can also sometimes offer better coverages. And so that's something that people I find are not aware of. We try to educate our clients and offer them things so that they're getting the best coverage for the best price.
Gordon Haas (17:07)
That's very helpful. And before we move on to some other types of insurance, there any things that you would say people sometimes forget about as far as insurance is concerned or coverage that they should think about?
Michael Blumenfeld (17:18)
Yeah, well, let's just get back to you said are there riders or endorsements that are available that make one set of coverage better than the other. And there's another one that goes back to my first points about how much did you insure your house for. And that is a better insurance policy will have a provision that will either A) rebuild your home without regard to what the cost to rebuild it is that's called so called guaranteed replacement cost. And that's really the gold standard and very few carriers offer that. But if that's something that's available, that's something that can be incredibly valuable and is worth considering, if if available. What most companies do is if they don't offer a guaranteed rebuild, they'll offer an endorsement that will give you an additional amount of coverage if needed and they will typically express that as a percentage like 25 % or 50 % or 100 % and it's for exactly what I was mentioning before. The scenario where all of a sudden because of a widespread catastrophe there's a huge inflationary spike and now it costs a lot more to rebuild your home and so it's kind of insurance in case for that scenario.
And so that's a very valuable coverage enhancement. It typically doesn't cost a lot. And oftentimes, we'll see people will bring us their policies and they don't have it. And we're scratching our heads because we're going to almost always offer that when it's available from the carriers. It's important coverage. It's valuable.
Gordon Haas (19:01)
Is that different from umbrella insurance?
Michael Blumenfeld (19:03)
Oh, sure, sure. So, umbrella insurance, people again, that's a great question because people don't fully comprehend what that means. And umbrella insurance has nothing to do with how much it would cost to rebuild your house. Umbrella insurance is protection in case you're liable or held negligent for somebody else's injury or property damage and the limits on your homeowner's policy or your automobile policy or your snowmobile policy are inadequate. So umbrella insurance is probably, frankly, the best value in the insurance industry because you get millions of dollars of coverage typically for hundreds or thousands of dollars of premium. And it's really protecting the big thing, your wealth, your estate. And so we highly recommend umbrella coverages to most clients.
Gordon Haas (20:01)
So that's important and some people might overlook that. So it's important for them to remember all these various coverages.
Michael Blumenfeld (20:05)
Well, know, it's it's really funny to me because we have really intelligent clients and really bright people and they'll say stuff to us like, “you know, I only drive that car on the weekends and you just drive it to the store and back and barely drive it. So I really don't need a lot of coverage.” And we're often shaking our heads and saying, well, that could be but if you're. If something happens, you want to make sure that you have the right liability limits. It's not, in other words, it's not the value of the car or the frequency of how much you drive. It's really, you know, what could happen if there's some sort of accident and you're involved in it and you're held culpable or partially culpable and now you're the one who the plaintiff's attorney is coming after for everything you got. You don't want to, don't want to, nobody wants to be in that situation.
Gordon Haas (21:00)
Yeah, exactly. It's protecting your other assets. People don't realize that. you're right. Right. Right. And we're going to talk about auto insurance in a minute.
But first I want to jump on because I read a statistic that 69%, that’s six nine percent or more of people in New York City rent their home. So the large majority of people, at least in New York City and possibly in other areas in this area, rent their homes instead of buying their homes outright. So talk to me just quickly about renter’s insurance.
Michael Blumenfeld (21:30)
Sure, renter’s insurance is very, it's like homeowners coverage, but obviously you're not insuring the structure. So you're insuring your possessions, you get some liability coverage if somebody ever sues you, but perhaps one of the most important things is that it gives you money to go live somewhere while your apartment is being rebuilt or being repaired.
And people often overlook that. And in fact, we'll see situations where people will say, well, you know, I get renters policy from my landlord. They have something built in. And those typically what we find are really not good deals because they don't give you a lot of coverage and they're expensive for what they are. They are convenient. They just bundle it right in with your rent payment. But you can get a good renter's policy for a few hundred bucks. They're not expensive at all.
Gordon Haas (22:30)
Excellent. Okay. Well, we're going to talk a little bit about auto insurance because that's important as well for anybody who drives a car. Again, people in New York City may not have a car, but a lot of people in Hoboken can do. And myself, just, again, a personal story of working with Mike is. It's hard to imagine what can go wrong. It's hard to imagine all the possible things that can happen. But we had great insurance through Mike on our car to protect against all the liability and I think that could happen to the car. And something happened that we never could have imagined would happen is we had some leak in the car and all of a sudden it started smelling like mold. And over the course of a few months, we finally brought it into the dealer and they took a look at everything under the hood and realized that there were some rodents, some rats getting in under the hood.
And chewing into some of the cables and there wasn't even that much damage but enough that they'd have to take out a big part of the car in order to replace all the cables and the gaskets and things like that. our insurance company, we had great coverage thanks to Mike. They just said it's a complete replacement. So I had never heard of that before and once I started telling that story other people said it has happened to them. But again a perfect example on you might not be able to even imagine all the things that could happen and that's why you're being protected. So talk to me about it.
Michael Blumenfeld (23:49)
That one. That one that one goes into the Hall of Fame for sure. You know that one belongs in one of those commercials‚ where you can't believe you know, and and sure stuff happens and and frankly If you you know, and I'm glad it worked out and you got a new car and that was a good policy in the carrier didn't quibble and I was happy about that. What really concerns me though is when people are driving especially we're in a very crowded, busy area, and there's lots of, you know, there's lots of children and there's e-bikes and there's pedestrians and what have you.
And if, you know, I'm just worried somebody runs in front of the car, you don't have enough time to react and something happens. That really, that concerns me.
And I've seen situations where people get involved in stuff and oftentimes they're like, listen, this was not my fault. The person cut me off or the e-bike literally ran a stop sign or, or, or, whatever it is. But now at the end of the day, you're the driver. Somebody else was injured. And, unfortunately, we're really litigious here and you can almost count on getting involved in some sort of suit. And it's really very disconcerting and very upsetting, especially when you don't think you did anything wrong. And now it's not just the cost of a car that you're worried about. It's the cost of, I mean, it can be astronomical. Just, when, the ambulance arrives and somebody needs treatment, you know right away that that's $50,000 at least right there. So it's, this is why we preach to people to have them. The most important thing is to have adequate liability limits on your auto policy and definitely consider that umbrella policy.
Gordon Haas (25:54)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, and are there any certain rules of thumb when you're again, it can get confusing with all the options. So from a car insurance perspective, is there anything you recommend?
Michael Blumenfeld (26:04)
Well, sure. mean, when you get to the liability limits, our typical policy would have $250,000 of bodily injury liability coverage. We, we often the, the most, the carrier will go for, go up to is half a million. And it doesn't really cost a lot to go from $250 to $500, but a lot of the times when people bring their policies in here, we'll see they might have $100,000 or $50,000 or the state minimum, which used to be $15 and now I think it's $25, which is really, the same as having almost no coverage.
Gordon Haas (26:45)
Yeah. So once again, I think the recurring topic in this conversation is it should be specific based upon your situation because for somebody who has a higher amount of assets and has to protect more, it might be more important to get a higher level of liability and people might not even realize that.
Michael Blumenfeld (27:00)
No, they don't. You know, unfortunately, the industry has done a terrible job with this, right? Because if you watch, there's so much money they spend on advertisements. And it's all about customizing your coverage to get something that fits your that fits your price range. And oftentimes the the easiest way if if you called me and you said, I just want a cheaper policy. Well, you're going to get less. You're just gonna get less liability limits or you won't get that from me because we'll politely say, hey, why don't you, you know, that's not a really good idea. We don't think you ought to do that. And if the person persists, we'll suggest maybe they call one of those 800 numbers and deal that way. But the focus on the advertising is saving money, saving money, saving money. And sure, like we don't want our clients to spend a dime more than they should or have to, no question. But it goes back to get what you need, figure out what you need and get that. So, I'll see people stress about, what's the right deductible? Should I have a $1,000 deductible or a $750 deductible or $500 deductible? And what I'll suggest to them is that it doesn't really matter because if something happens for most people, the difference between $500 and $750 isn't gonna have any meaningful impact on their balance sheet, on their savings. Whereas not having the right amount of liability coverage when you're involved in some kind of accident, that can be catastrophic. So we're almost trying to look at the big picture, and that's what I think insurance is for.
Gordon Haas (28:50)
Yeah, so another question I also have about auto insurance, you know, it comes into play quite a bit for people who have families is ensuring the teenage drivers and college age kids.
Michael Blumenfeld (29:02)
Wow, yeah, that's something, know, firsthand, I can relate my experiences. I'm the father of two and when we added a child to the policy, I mean, I was ready for it. I was braced for it. But until you get that bill and it's an extra $1,500 a year, really, you know, that's when it hits home, right? And so you got to keep in mind a 17-year-old inexperienced driver is typically the insurance company's worst nightmare. There are some statistics, I think that one in three new drivers are involved in an incident in the first couple of years. And so the reality is, boy, I'm sure your parents were thrilled with you right after.
Gordon Haas (29:48)
I was one of those one in threes. Luckily my kids weren't.
Michael Blumenfeld (29:59)
I mean, it's even worse where I grew up in Florida here in New Jersey at 17, where when I was growing up, you got your full license at 16. And of course, now that I'm a little older, I think the minimum driving age ought to be at least 25. But go try that. I don't think we're going to see that anytime soon. That's that's just me being a curmudgeon, I suppose. But nonetheless, it costs a lot of money when you have a younger and experienced driver.
Gordon Haas (30:07)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah.
Michael Blumenfeld (30:29)
And after people, you know, they definitely have some shock and when they see how much it is, they realize and they say they understand that the risk is there. I mean, you're transferring this risk to a third party. And so the third party is going to get compensated for it. And that's just the reality.
The good thing is though that they do offer things like good student discounts. And they do offer discounts if the child or anybody, by the way, it's a great tip. Is you can take a driver safety course and you can typically save 10 % of the liability premium. And you can do them online. You don't have to go to a school. That's something, that's one way to, to economize on that. So that's, that's something we've suggested.
But then when the child's old enough and is off to school, people are like, well, I don't need them on the policy anymore. And I really empathize with them because, they're away. And they're very unlikely to drive the family car. Unfortunately, the insurance companies don't see it that way. They see that the child is still part of your household and is possibly still a driver. The child comes home for the holidays and wants to use the car. Or sure there's a possibility that the child operates a vehicle at school. Somebody hands him the keys for they borrow a car for whatever reason. You should make sure if it's more than 100 miles away and your child does not have a car on campus, then there are discounts that apply and you want to make sure that those have been taken into account. But yes, it's expensive. The good news is as the child gets older, more driving experience, the rates go down.
There's also another way to help deal with that is that it's getting very popular to have. It's essentially a monitoring of your driving and if you play it right you can get a good discount on your insurance. And the discounts in enduring so they measure, I know it sounds very big brother-ish and we we can talk a long time about that, but essentially vehicles have things. New vehicles have things built right in, there's no device needed, or with some carriers you use just your cell phone. And what it's really looking for, you use it for a certain amount of time, typically a month or two months or something like that. And they're watching for hard stops and sudden acceleration. And they're looking at potentially how much you drive between midnight and 4am because a lot of bad things happen in those hours. And they're also looking at situations of excessive speeding. So, if you go for one of these programs, I'll just tell you, my wife and I, I wanted to take a bit of my own medicine and see what it's like. So we both installed the app.And to this day, it's been four years. She'll remind me that I got Very Good and she got Excellent.
Gordon Haas (34:02)
Well, at least you're both on the right side there. Yeah.
Michael Blumenfeld (34:03)
So yeah, so they've gamified it and we've locked in a discount with our carrier with it it wasn't so bad. And if you got into an Uber and the Uber was not driving well, the app was smart enough to know that you were not the driver or you could point back to that particular situation. And you what I would tell you is that people are really, concerned about privacy and you just gotta keep in mind if you have a toll monitoring, like we have EZPass here, or you have a cell phone, there's lots of different ways you're being monitored already.
Gordon Haas (34:42)
Sure, yeah. Let me ask you, since you're talking about ways to get discounts on premiums, are there any other, for example, I've heard about bundling or any other recommendations you have on ways you might be able to reduce?
Michael Blumenfeld (34:44)
Yeah, sure.
Yeah, bundling often can make sense. again, everything sort of has to line up. So if you have a carrier who has good auto rates and good home rates, and you're able to put it together, yes, you can see savings 20%, 25%, something like that often. But oftentimes what we'll see is that one carrier may not have a great auto rates, but they have really good home rates. And so at end of the day, you have a bundle, but you're getting a discount on something that's already inflated. So it's really not a great value. And again, this is why you need a good agent who can help you piece these things together. We represent certain companies that don't even write car insurance, but they recognize that they like customers that bundled with the same agency. So what they'll do is they'll give you a discount on the homeowners policy if you have your auto policy with our agency.
Gordon Haas (35:53)
As far as sometimes I've also heard of if you install various sensors like you know safety alarms and you know certain types of fire alarms if you don't have it in place you know or water leaks it could is there?
Michael Blumenfeld (36:05)
Sure. Yeah, the big thing you'll see coming and I recently did with my house is we installed a water shutoff device. And those are becoming much more the norm. And so if there's any sort of pipe burst or any sudden irregular water thing, I get an alert on my phone or if it's severe enough, the app will instantly close the water off to my house. And
Gordon Haas (36:12)
Okay. And that can actually reduce your premium sometimes?
Michael Blumenfeld (36:31)
Oh my, yeah, not only can it reduce your premium, but it might make you eligible for coverage with a company that you otherwise wouldn't have been eligible for because it's part of their criteria. So that's something that's, that's definitely gaining traction. The devices are relatively inexpensive and we encourage people if they can have those installed and they can afford that, that that that's something that'll pay for itself. If for no other reason that peace of mind. The biggest thing we see happen to houses is water damage. And it's just always amazing to me the amount of damage that water can cause.
Gordon Haas (37:12)
Yeah. Yeah, that's important. and just in general, for people who are listening, a lot of times people will review all kinds of insurance, whether it's life insurance or property and casualty. When there's a pain point, you know, when either the price goes up exorbitantly or, you know, something happens that they need to review it. But do you recommend reviewing it more periodically with a third party?
Michael Blumenfeld (37:35)
Yes, I would tell you that it typically doesn't make sense to shop every time you get a renewal, every single policy. That's inefficient. But every three or four years, take a good look and make sure that your policy has kept up with you. I mean, you might have a situation where somebody puts an addition on their house and frankly, they forget to tell the insurance company. And now they've created a situation where they might not have enough coverage. Or you get valuable items and you forget to add them to your policy. Or you have a new resident in your house and that has impacts on your car insurance. Absolutely.
I mean sure, do I want to wake up on Saturday morning and the first thing I want to do is hey I'm really excited I'm gonna go review all my insurance needs? No, course, hopefully not. In all seriousness, something that a professional, you should look at with your agent every three or four years and make sure that you have the right policies in place. And not only that, frankly, the market changes as well. And so you want to make sure that you're getting a good value. Carriers come and go, their appetites change, and a good agent is aware of that and can help you figure out what makes sense. Does it make sense to stay with this company or perhaps something better is out there now that is worthy of consideration?
Gordon Haas (39:08)
That's great. You know, I think this has been a really educational discussion and I appreciate everything that you've said. And obviously it's really just to explore at a high level and just encourage people to reach out to do a more personal one-on-one. If any of our listeners want to reach out to you, what's the best way to contact you?
Michael Blumenfeld (39:29)
My email is easy. you can contact me at Mike@msqia.com You can look us up online.
Gordon Haas (39:29)
Okay.
Michael Blumenfeld (39:37)
The thing is, having an insurance agent doesn't cost you anything more. There's something else people don't realize. Most of the time, there's no fee for consultations. I only make money or in a commission if I find something that makes sense to you.
Gordon Haas (39:53)
Right. And they get educated in the meantime. Yep.
Michael Blumenfeld (39:53)
And you end up buying up and you buy a policy. And the cost of that is the same whether you buy it directly from the company if they have that option or you have somebody like an agent helping advise you as to what's important, what's not. And another value, another benefit is that if something does happen, if you have an agent, now have somebody on your side looking over your shoulder, making sure that the insurance companies live in up to their end of the deal. And that doesn't cost any more.
Gordon Haas (40:26)
Yeah. Yeah. And I've again, seen personally that you, you are there when, when you get that call and we do have an issue, you are right on top of it. And you and your whole team has been so responsive in many ways. And, I did want to like to wrap things up with a, with a question since this is, this is called Gen-Relational Wealth and it's a podcast on, on finance and retirement and thinking about money. So I always like to ask our guests what you've learned from the previous generation about money and in turn what you teach the next generation about money?
Michael Blumenfeld (41:00)
That's a very deep question.
Gordon Haas (41:02)
I like to end on a deep question.
Michael Blumenfeld (41:05)
Deep thoughts. I certainly have learned from the previous generation the importance of starting to save. I think it's starting to save some money when you're younger and really understanding how compound interest works and how you can create wealth with equities. How ordinary middle class people like my parents how they fared with their finances. And, I think starting, they would have agreed, know, starting younger would have been helpful for them.
Gordon Haas (41:45)
Sure.
Michael Blumenfeld (41:46)
So I guess that would be it. Start early, be smart, pay yourself first. But, you know, please have fun. You know, life's great. Enjoy it. Go out with your friends. Do fun things. Go learn how to ski. Play guitar. All the things you know, those are the things I like to do.
Gordon Haas (41:56)
Hmm. Yeah.
Excellent words to live by and it's been a pleasure. This has been a great conversation, I think with a lot of good takeaways and I just really enjoyed speaking with you, Mike.
Michael Blumenfeld (42:16)
Likewise, Gordy. Thanks so much for having me and you take care.
Gordon Haas (42:21)
Take care.
DISCLOSURE: (42:24)
Gordon Haas is a financial planner with and offers securities and investment advisory services through LPL Enterprise, a registered investment advisor, member FINRA / S.I.P.C. and an affiliate of LPL Financial. LPLE and LPL Financial are not affiliated with Gen-Relational Wealth. The opinions voiced in this podcast are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.
To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision.
Michael Blumenfeld and Mile Square Insurance Agency are not affiliated with or endorsed by LPL Financial or Gen-Relational Wealth.
Individual tax and legal matters should be discussed with your tax or legal professional. Prudential advisors and Gen-Relational Wealth are not registered as a broker-dealer or investment advisor. There is no assurance that the techniques and strategies discussed are suitable for all investors or will yield positive outcomes. The purchase of certain securities may be required to affect some of the strategies. Investing involves risks, including possible loss of principal.