Although it can be quite a depressing subject to discuss, life insurance is something that everyone needs to consider. Life insurance is a necessary tool when it comes to financial planning.

Life insurance can be used for a variety of purposes, including paying for funeral expenses, paying off a mortgage, paying for a child’s college tuition, and providing a significant sum of money to your surviving spouse to help pay for everyday expenses for years to come.

There is no better time to consider it than now, especially since it is the start of a new year. We commonly make New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier, lose weight, exercise more, read more, improve our relationships, and a variety of other things.

Make reviewing your life insurance portfolio, if you have one, one of your New Year’s resolutions.

Is the amount sufficient, or do you need more? Have you bought a new house, sold a house, have a child, or become empty nesters in the last year? All of these factors will have an impact on your need for life insurance and the amount you need. If you don’t have a life insurance portfolio, you should ask yourself the same questions and make adjustments accordingly.

I remember not that long ago at Christmas time, we used to go shopping at the mall and we were always worried about someone breaking into our cars and stealing the gifts we just purchased.  We had to make sure that when we went back out to the car to put the gifts away so we could continue shopping, that we put the packages in the trunk or worse yet put them in the back seat and cover them up with a blanket or something else.  

Although I still think you have to be careful at the mall, most of us shop online and we have different types of worries, online and cyber threats.  Be careful when you’re shopping online, make sure you’re on a secure site when checking out, to who and when you provide your confidential information and be wary of bounceback emails advising you that your credit card was rejected or not recognized and you need to re-enter it. 

I know you have heard it a million times, BUT be careful with your confidential information.  The hustle and bustle is still a big part of the holidays, it is both online and at the shopping malls….be alert, don’t let someone steal your purchases from your car or your computer!

Do you have a real estate title agency or an arbitration mediation company? Did you know that these types of companies can be added to your legal malpractice insurance policy as an additional insured?

Adding them to your legal malpractice policy can be a cost effective method of ensuring that entity against malpractice insurance claims. All carriers have some requirements that the entity must satisfy, but usually those requirements are few.

One requirement that seems to be at the top of all the carrier’s lists is that the entity must be 100% owned by either the firm or the members in the firm. If it is not 100% owned by the firm or the members, the entity cannot be added as an additional insured.

So if you’re in this situation and looking for coverage for that separate entity, consider adding the entity as an additional insured to your legal malpractice policy. It is not a bad option. 

It seems like we are getting back to some kind of normalcy with more and more people going back to the office. However, there are still many people working from home.

If you’re in this situation and you have an employee working from home, don’t let your guard down. From a risk management perspective, that person still needs to be supervised, have adequate protection on the computer, printer and scanner that they are using from home.

If they’re remotely accessing your system, make sure their passwords are strong and are changed on a routine basis.

Regular meetings should be conducted by telephone and or zoom type calls. This helps keep everyone connected and on the same page when it comes to the firm’s workflow and processes.

These meetings don’t have to be hours long, nor do they have to be every day, but they should be completed on a consistent and routine basis. So no one gets left behind in the workflow.

Hopefully, this soon will all be a distant memory and we will be back in that office routine. But until then, again, don’t let your guard down when it comes to your offices and your clients’ protection.