The Four Pillars

One may wonder how Assets and Protection might work together. Let’s take for example we want to issue an umbrella policy for your business. If you have 5 million in assets, then it might not make sense to have a 1-million-dollar umbrella.  With business financial planning, we make it all work together. How does a business pay for premiums? What if we could make the same dollar do multiple things? These are the strategies we use to help with cash flow, and long-term wealth creation. Does a tax-deductible account make sense?  Is there a better way to finance equipment? Having an overall picture so that a business owner can make smart decisions that affect the well-being of their company allows us to do that. The Four Pillars of Business.

The first section of the four pillars is our protection pillar. We take a deep dive into coverages to ensure the property protection for the best value. We have risk management strategies to help lower cost along with financing option with the best rates. What happens to palace if this pillar is not build well? the whole palace could fall. The strategies would include general liability, worker’s compensation, Property, commercial umbrella, errors and omissions, commercial auto, business interruption, and executive lines. This can be very complicated for a business owner. Our job is to provide peace of mind to know you are giving your business the best chance for success. Our team will do a no cost complete policy review to ensure your current policies are set up the way that they should be. You do not have to give up coverage to save money, and our team will show you how.

Commercial General Liability:

Commercial general liability (CGL) is a type of insurance policy that provides coverage to a business for bodily injury, personal injury, and property damage caused by the business’s operations, products, or injuries that occur on the business’s premises. Commercial general liability is considered comprehensive business insurance, though it does not cover all risks a business may face. Other factors will need to be considered.

Commercial general liability (CGL) is a form of comprehensive insurance that offers coverage in case of damage or injury caused by a business’s operations or products, or on its premises.
There are two types of CGL policies: 1.a claims-made policy that covers claims regardless of when the event took place, and 2. an occurrence policy where the event must take place during a set period.
Companies can add other companies or individuals they contract with to their commercial liability insurance policy as an “additional insured.”
Understanding Commercial General Liability (CGL)
Commercial general liability policies have different levels of coverage. A policy may include premises coverage, which protects the business from claims that occur on the business’s physical location during regular business operations. It may also include coverage for bodily injury and property damage that is the result of a finished product or service done on another location.

Excess liability coverage can be purchased in order to cover claims that exceed the limit of the CGL policy. Some commercial general liability policies may have exclusions to what actions are covered. For example, a policy may not cover the costs associated with a product recall.

When purchasing commercial general liability insurance, it is important for the business to differentiate between a claims-made policy and an occurrence policy. A claims-made policy provides coverage for whenever a claim is made, regardless of when the claim event happened. An occurrence policy is different in that it covers claims where the claim event occurred during the time of the policy even if the policy is now expired. This is all part of the process that we do as a team for business owners.

Special Considerations
Depending on its business needs, a company may need to name other companies or persons as “additional insured” under their commercial liability insurance policy. This is common when businesses enter into a contract with another entity. For example, if an automobile repair garage enters into a contract with ABC Co. to provide cleaning services for their facility, ABC Co. may require the garage owners to add ABC Co. as “additional insured” on their commercial general liability coverage.

Example of Commercial General Liability (CGL)
Some examples that would require CGL include the following:

A customer enters your place of business where the floors have recently been cleaned and polished, and as a result are very slippery. The customer slips on the floor and breaks their leg.
One of the employees of your electrical company visits a home for an electrical wiring job and accidentally causes a fire in the customer’s home.
An advertisement you placed results in an individual claiming libel or slander.

• Worker’s Comp Insurance: No matter what type of business you have, your employees can get hurt. Luckily, workers’ compensation insurance, also known as workers’ comp, can help give your employees the benefits they need if they suffer a work-related injury or illness.Workers’ comp can protect your business and your employees by helping cover:Missed wages if your injured or ill worker needs time off from work while they recover.
  Medical expenses to treat your injured or ill employee.
  Vocational rehabilitation if your worker needs ongoing care to help them get back to work.
  Death benefits, like funeral costs, if a worker passes away in a work-related incident.
  Workers’ Compensation Laws by State
  Each state is in charge of their own workers’ compensation program. This means state laws for workers’ comp can be different depending on the location of your business.Each state sets their premium amounts and benefits based on their economy and the risks their businesses face. For example, Alaska has one of the highest average premiums in the country because they have so many lumberjacking businesses, and lumberjacking is a high-risk occupation.Your state will also decide who sells and handles workers’ comp policies. This can be:

  State-run agencies
  Private insurance companies
  The state itself
  Some states also have secondary injury funds that help cover disabled workers if they’re injured on the job again. This makes it easier for employers to hire workers who have been injured before.

  For example, you run a shipping yard and hire a former nurse who hurt his back on the job years ago and had a workers’ comp claim. Their injury might make him more susceptible to reinjury, and if that happens, a secondary injury fund can help pay the costs. Without this fund, businesses may be hesitant to hire a worker like this.

  What Do Workers’ Compensation Insurance Laws Look Like for Different States?
  what is workers’ comp. Each state has its own respective workers’ compensation insurance laws. Although there may be some similarities, it’s a good idea to make sure you know what your state requires for workers’ comp.

• Cyber: Cyber-insurance is a specialty insurance product intended to protect businesses from Internet-based risks, and more generally from risks relating to information technology infrastructure and activities. Risks of this nature are typically excluded from traditional commercial general liability policies or at least are not specifically defined in traditional insurance products. Coverage provided by cyber-insurance policies may include first-party coverage against losses such as data destruction, extortion, theft, hacking, and denial of service attacks; liability coverage indemnifying companies for losses to others caused, for example, by errors and omissions, failure to safeguard data, or defamation; and other benefits including regular security-audit, post-incident public relations and investigative expenses, and criminal reward funds.

• Property: Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, or boiler insurance. Property is insured in two main ways—open perils and named perils.

• Commercial Umbrella: Umbrella insurance refers to liability insurance that is in excess of specified other policies and also potentially primary insurance for losses not covered by the other policies. When an insured person is liable to someone, the insured’s primary insurance policies pay up to their limits, and any additional amount is paid by the umbrella policy (up to the limit of the umbrella policy).

• Errors & Omissions:Errors and omissions insurance is a form of liability insurance. It protects companies against the full costs of a claim made by a client against a professional who provides advice or a service such as a consultant, financial advisor, insurance agent, or lawyer.Errors and omissions insurance often covers both court costs and any settlements up to the amount specified by the insurance contract. This kind of liability insurance is generally required for professional advice-giving or service-providing businesses. Without E&O insurance, a company can be held liable for up to millions in damages plus the fees associated with a legal team. E&O insurance helps mitigate or eliminate these potential liabilities.

• Commercial Auto: Commercial auto insurance helps cover the costs of an auto accident while you or an employee uses a company-owned car for business. This coverage can help pay for property damage and medical expenses – even in the event of a fatal accident.Commercial auto insurance can help protect your business if, for example:An employee hits a pedestrian while driving a vehicle for business. The pedestrian requires medical treatment that results in costly medical expenses.
  You swerve off the road while driving to work in a company car and take out a residential mailbox.
  An employee drives to work in a company vehicle, hits another car and totals it.
  Get a commercial car insurance quote today to learn how you can protect your business while on the road.What Does Commercial Auto Insurance Cover?
  Although coverage availability and requirements vary by state, these are some of the common types of commercial auto coverages available to business owners.Bodily Injury Liability Coverage helps pay for the other driver’s medical expenses.
  Property Damage Liability Coverage pays for damage that you or your employees cause to someone else’s property.
  Collision Coverage helps pay to fix or replace your business car if you hit something, like another car or pole.
  Comprehensive Coverage can help pay for car damages caused by theft, fire or natural disasters.
  Medical payments coverage can help pay for medical expenses for your employees and their passengers in the event of an accident, such as medical treatments and rehabilitations, dental care or funerals.
  Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage helps pay for you or your employees’ medical expenses or to fix your car if the other driver lacks enough liability coverage.
  Rental Car Coverage offers liability coverage while you or your employees are driving a rental vehicle for business. Many rental companies have loss damage waivers or a collision damage waiver that you can sign to avoid paying for property damage to a rental car.
  Personal Injury Protection (PIP), also known as no-fault insurance, can help cover medical expenses, lost wages or funeral costs after an accident, no matter who is at fault.
  Hired and non-owned auto insurance offers lawsuit liability coverage if you or your employees are involved in an accident with a personal, rented or leased car that was used for business errands. However, this type of commercial vehicle insurance coverage will not pay for damages to your car.
  Who Needs Commercial Auto Insurance?
  Consider commercial auto insurance if your business:

  Owns, leases or rents vehicles, such as cars and trucks
  Has employees who drive their own vehicles for business
  Has employees who operate leased, rented or owned company vehicles

• Business interruption:Business interruption insurance (also known as business income insurance) is a type of insurance that covers the loss of income that a business suffers after a disaster. The income loss covered may be due to disaster-related closing of the business facility or due to the rebuilding process after a disaster.It differs from property insurance in that a property insurance policy only covers the physical damage to the business, while the additional coverage allotted by the business interruption policy covers the profits that would have been earned. This extra policy provision is applicable to all types of businesses, as it is designed to put a business in the same financial position it would have been in if no loss had occurred.[1]This type of coverage can be added onto the business’ property insurance policy or comprehensive package policy such as a business owner’s policy (BOP) or as part of a standalone policy in some jurisdictions. Since business interruption is included as part of the business’ primary policy, it only pays out if the cause of the loss is covered by the overarching policy or a defined event in the case of a standalone.
• Executive Lines:The directors’ and officers’ insurance policy (D&O) was originally designed to protect the directors and officers from allegations of mismanagement and bad decisions. Over the last twenty years, the policy has evolved to include a wide range of exposures, from fiduciary and entity coverage to employment practices liability insurance. It is really much more accurate to call these policies “executive risk insurance,” for they actually protect organizations and executives from a wide range of decision-based exposures.There are no standard D&O insurance policies. Coverage provided varies widely by insurer. Each policy and proposal of coverage must be reviewed and analyzed carefully to determine the best offering based upon the needs of the financial institution.