It has been an incredibly challenging year, but with everything organized and in its place, one last thing you’ll have to worry about at the end of this year and the beginning of next year are your insurance plans!

Hello readers, and welcome back to the blog! Can we all just sit back and relax and acknowledge that we did it? We made it through this year, we made it through another open enrollment period, and we are just about to step into a bright and fresh new year! We did it! We have so much to be thankful for, and we are so grateful for all of your support. We are happy to have helped so many of our returning customers find insurance plans that fit them perfectly for yet another year, and we are excited to have helped our new customers find the perfect insurance plans for their needs! Welcome to the Abri family! We are honored to help you, be here to support you, and keep you and your family safe and protected!

While our last blog was all about rushing to use up your benefits now that you may or may not have hit your deductible, this blog is going to be a little extra holiday gift from us you. There is so much to wrap up at the end of the year, and so much to prepare for when the ball drops at midnight and we all step into the new year. To really make the last few days of 2020 count and to get the best foot forward for 2021, we wanted to give you a checklist of sorts. In this blog, we are going to be talking about important end of the year things to do and not forget about when it comes to your insurance plans. We are also going to be talking about some of the best things to think about and do with your brand new insurance plans for your brand new year!

You’ve purchased all your gifts, sent out your holiday cards, decorated, baked, cooked, and planned. Your holidays are ready to go, but what about the rest of your end of the year affairs? Have you wrapped up everything you needed to with your insurance for 2020? Well, let’s go through this list together, and let’s see if your hard work has paid off or if there are a few last minute things to do with your insurance plans before we start toasting to 2021!

• We already covered a lot of this first checklist item in our last blog, but it is still worth mentioning again! Please remember to spend your HSA funds if your money and benefits don’t roll over into next year! Also, take advantage of hitting your deductible. If you need any medical treatments, procedures, or even just your contacts or prescriptions filled, get all of that done now!
• Don’t forget that tax season will be here in no time. Have all of your 2020 health insurance documents organized and ready to provide for all of your tax purposes.
• For all small business owners, make sure to check your insurance policies to make sure that your insurance is meeting all requirements for your state. This is also very important for tax season.
• For your car insurance, now is the time to review your policy too! Are you or an insured family member going to be continuing working from home in 2020? If so, you might want to change your policy to reflect this. Are you adding a child who just received their permit, or removing one who is getting their own car insurance? Also, double-check that you and all of your vehicles (motorcycles, motor homes, extra cars) are all insured properly! Have you been unhappy with your current insurance provider? We can help you with that, and we might even be able to find you a better auto insurance plan so you can get exactly what you want and need for much less. Also, don’t forget to look for discounts, research if you’ve earned any rewards, or can work towards some for 2021!
• It’s also time to review your home insurance plan. We all spent a lot of time at home this year, and a lot of us took advantage of that time to build extensions on our homes, built new patios, built new sidewalks, outdoor kitchens, new storage spaces, and garages! Make sure that with all of these new changes that you’ve made, that your current policy covers and protects everything! Also, for those who were unable to fix up or put money into their homes this year due to unemployment and other difficulties due to the pandemic, double-check that your insurance policy will help and cover any future repairs that will be needed. Also, for all of our readers here in SC and the southeast, the hurricane season was very mild for many of us. Who knows what that means for 2021. Are your home and your current homeowner’s insurance policy ready for the possibility of some very big storms? What about flooding?
• 2020 was strange for a laundry list of reasons, and there is just so much we can’t explain. Some of those things might be inheriting some amazing pieces of art, jewelry, a car, or other precious items from family members or friends. These might be the first items of their kind that you’ve owned that you want to protect with an insurance policy. Do you have an existing policy that will give these precious objects protection, or do you need to be speaking with us at Abri to get better insurance coverage?
• After all the gifts have been unwrapped and the decorations put away, make sure to take some time to update your inventory list of all of your valuables and belongings in your home that you want to keep track of and covered if anything were to happen to them. You’d be surprised how many items you can add to this list in just one year. Keeping up with this list every year can make sure that you don’t get overwhelmed and prevents you from leaving anything out. Also, you never know when a disaster might hit. During the changing seasons, your home is in potential danger for what might be coming your way. Be prepared now before it’s too late.
• Is this the year that you want to bundle your insurance policies? If you haven’t yet or you haven’t made time to, why not do it now before the new year starts to get ahead of you?
• While it might not get cold enough here in Charleston for our pipes to freeze or for it to snow, it’s still a great time to do a once over and check in with all of your appliances and home systems. This is a great way to catch any big issues ahead of time so you don’t have pipes bursting, refrigerators leaking, and exposed wires causing water or potential fire damage to your home when you may or may not be covered properly. We hope seeing potential accidents will lead you to update your policies and get you covered for these kinds of accidents in your home.
• If you have made any improvements to your home this year, please also make sure to share them with your agent!
• Life brings changes when we least expect or plan for it. Make sure to know all of your insurance plans inside and out so you know exactly what will be covered, even if you can’t plan for what life might bring next.
• Has there been a change in your income? If so, see if this applies to your plans (like auto insurance) to see if you can negotiate your monthly premiums. This can keep you safe and help you not break the bank. Sometimes in these situations, it causes insurance holders to sacrifice the quality of their plans to save money. Double-check and work with your providers to see if there is something that can be done instead!
• Have you had any big life changes this year? Get married? Have a baby? Retire? If you have a life insurance plan, it’s time to go back and check-in with your plan to make sure it reflects these changes. If you don’t have a life insurance plan, then these big changes are the perfect examples of reasons for getting one!

There you have it! What a list, and what an impressive amount of things to think about and get done before January 1st! We know that it might be difficult to make time to go through a checklist like this, but we promise that each of these bullet points is extremely important. If you are unsure about your insurance policies, have questions concerning life changes 2020 has brought you, or you are interested in upgrading your plans or finding a new provider, Abri is here for you! From all of us at Abri, we wish you and yours a very safe holiday and an even safer new year!