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Good
Tuesday morning! Here's your weekly
Dose
of Dover
The
only reliable source for un-common
sense advice,
insights and
cover-your-hiney strategies you simply can't find
anywhere else.
Take
your best shot...try to put me out of a
job! How?
Forward
this week's newsletter to everyone
in
your Address Book and
with any luck,
make
'em a little smarter this year.
[C'mon!
Be a big shot!]
Spread
the word and share the wealth of
Tuesday,
March 4, 2003:
1.
Am I picking on State Farm? No, not really.
(You won't be in good hands with Allstate, either.) It's not
about one company being better or worse than another...it's
about an industry that knows they're one catastrophic
event-away from insolvency. Super-investor
Warren Buffet-quoted last
week after State Farm's revelation hit the news wires-said
that a nuke in New York could cost insurers $1 trillion in
losses. (By the way, I said Warren
Buffett...)
2.
Should you be worried? Should you start
looking for nuke-insurance coverage? Sure! Why not?!?
That'll make for a full day of frenetic wheel spinning:
a.
Start your morning pricing nuclear catastrophe insurance.
b.
Take a quick break to go hit your neighborhood Home Depot for
some duct tape and plastic sheeting.
c.
Then finish off your depression-filled day by being the
Doomsday Big Shot on your block and bankroll a round of
Smallpox vaccinations for everyone!
d.
Oh yeah: Don't forget to re-stock that
medicine cabinet with the appropriate potassium chloride and
anti-anthrax supplements being hawked on the Internet or at a
gun show/survivalist expo near you.
3. Ben's
Realistic Armageddon Bottom Line? State Farm's
announcement really spotlights what most of us don't really
know: What are you really paying for when you write a check to
your insurance company? Do you know what you're getting? Or
more importantly: Do you know what's not
being covered?
It doesn't matter
if it's a car accident, a home burglary or fire...or even a
health-related visit to the emergency room:
You need to know what your insurance coverage really
covers...and adjust accordingly. Read
more about it right here!
Don't
get buried by the funeral industry! Thousands of
emotionally-vulnerable consumers do every year, but you don't
need to be among the sheeple lining up for financial slaughter.
(And
you thought HBO's "Six Feet Under" was just fiction, huh?)
Maybe cremation's
not in your playbook...paying ridiculous prices for
caskets, headstones and unnecessary services like embalming aren't
in mine! Check
out the wealth of information about the Death Care industry
right here!
The Wall Street
Journal was off-base on some recent advice they doled out
about insuring your valuables! A recent
article contended you probably spend more for insuring
valuables (like jewelry and watches) than you really have to!
The writer suggested that instead of insuring these extra
valuables on what's referred to in the industry as a
"rider" or "floater" policy, just rent a
safe deposit box instead.
Hmmmmmm, it
sounds good and makes financial sense when you look at the
initial numbers: $10,000 in jewelry costs an
(average) $200 extra a year in insurance premiums, versus $40
a year to rent a small safe deposit box. But that's where the
good advice ends as far as I'm concerned. In fact, this is an
example of faulty logic. Here's why:
Safe deposit
boxes are pretty safe, but what's the point of owning
expensive jewelry if you're gonna leave it in a safe deposit
box? Will you wear it? Probably not...since
it's not easily available, you won't have the foresight (in
most cases) to make a special trip to the bank's vaults to
retrieve your valuables. But let's play along with their
suggestion-let's assume you do store your valuables in a safe
deposit box. What happens if you're mugged during your big
night out? Or you simply lose an expensive earring or bracelet
during your big night. Guess what, Rockefeller? Your thrifty
safe deposit box isn't going to pay off now.
If you're going
to own expensive items (of any type) and want to enjoy them,
then insure them or assume the risk. It's
simply the cost of responsible ownership. (Or don't insure
them and start whining if you do end up losing them to a thief
or otherwise!)
And speaking of
exposure, do you rent an off-site storage unit?
Many of us rent them to store personal possessions...but it's
no different than the safe deposit box scenario: The contents
are not insured. Make absolutely sure that
you're covered, either through your homeowner's/renter's
policy, or check into buying a policy from the company leasing
you your storage unit. It's not that expensive, and this
really is a necessary added expense in almost every case. If
it's valuable enough to rent a storage space, it's valuable
enough to insure.
By the way:
Here's a little 666-related
trivia world, thanks to an e-mail from KFI listener Ric: "President
& Mrs. Ronald Reagans sold their home in Pacific Palisades
when he became president in 1980. After leaving office, a
group of his supporters purchased and then sold a home in Bel
Air to them for $1.00. The original address of this house was 666
St. Cloud which Mrs. Reagan successfully petitioned the city
to change to 668. It's also worthy to note that the house sits
next door to the Kirkiby Estate, commonly known as The Beverly
Hillbillies Mansion,
used for the exterior shots of the TV show."
You'd
better know what the rules of the game are if you're gonna avoid
being taken to the cleaners by your dry cleaners! Didja
know that the dry cleaning industry is one of the most
consistent sources of complaints to the Better Business Bureau
every year? In 2002 they made it to
#21 on the worst offender list...so you'd
better know The Ten Things Your Dry Cleaner Won't Tell You"
and avoid getting steamed over their future actions. It's an
industry that will bait-and-switch you and ignore your
complaints if you let them get away with it...so know
what the rules of the game are before you're
victimized.
Because you
continue to ask about it, here's that website I'm
mentioned many times on the air. You know, the one
that'll help you locate attorneys specializing in
particular types of litigation: As a member of
the National
Association of Consumer Advocates,
I think their website's a pretty good starting point if you're
in the "suing mood;" one lady called in looking for an
attorney that specialized in elder care/nursing home
abuse...the NACA website's a great resource. Oh
yeah...here's where to find it: www.naca.net
Why don't you put
a "STEAL ME" or "PLEASE BREAK OUT MY WINDOW
BECAUSE I LOVE TO SIT IN BROKEN GLASS" sign on your car!
Here are the THREE
FOUR DUMB THINGS we do to make
ourselves unwitting targets for the car burglars and thieves:
1.
The type of car you drive already speaks volumes about your
wealth, and stickers tell an even bigger story:
From alumni to private schools (are you listening USC and UCLA
alums???) parking stickers (office building or apartment/condo
parking permits) tell the bad guys quite a bit about who you
are/where you live/work.
2.
Radar detector "anchors" give the bad guys a reason
to stop and examine your car...as does window tinting:
Even the way you park (for those drivers that like to
"back-in").
3.
Be careful what you leave on your seats in plain view:
a.
Documents laying on the seat in plain view tell an even bigger
story...as do receipts [with account numbers], and even
e-mails, etc.
b.
A DC-power cord for radar detectors or cell phones left in
plain view is another big invitation to break some glass...as
are CDs laying on the seat-or even worse-a CD wallet is
another potential enticement.
4. Perhaps even more obvious? A purse or a wallet-or something
that remotely looks like a purse or wallet-can
be just what you need to leave in plain view and trigger an
unscheduled phone call to your insurance agent and then a
glass replacement specialist the next morning.
Do NOT "hide"
your wallet or purse inside your car, you dope!
At the very least, put it in your trunk prior to parking!!! Ben's
Best Bet? Take only a credit card and some
cash...and that's it. Never take your wallet (with every
credit card ever issued to you) when you go out...and don't
leave it in your car. Period!
#1: Who were the 7 scumbags lawmakers that
were bought off by the telemarketing industry?
#2:
Getting your number on these "Do Not Call" lists
will not stop the flow of unwanted solicitation phone calls!
Gotta credit card? That means you have a "prior
relationship" with the bank which issued it and you can
expect to continue to receive calls from all of your credit
card companies and/or their affiliates.
Affiliates?
Sure...that's the travel and credit protection insurance and
other crappy, over-priced companies they strike
"affiliate" deals with. In other words, on many
levels, this Do Not Call list is worthless. Oh
yeah: Charities and non-profit groups are also
exempt from these lists, too.
By the way:
The bad guys probably won't care too much about these lists,
so expect to receive continued unauthorized phone calls from
the assorted scam artists of the world.
You can always
cut all of these technology-driven telemarketing nuisances off
at the knees, but it'll cost you: How about
some fun tele-marketing counter-measures that the entire
family can enjoy? Of course Ben's got some alternatives to
enduring tele-marketing calls...torture the clowns and use
them as the butt of your tele-jokes instead! Here's
some great ideas on turning the tables on these idiots...
Missed a recent
Benjamin Dover on KFI radio show? Oh sure...you've got
better things to do on a Sunday morning, huh?
Okay, no more brow-beating, here's your second chance: The
Benjamin Dover Radio Show Archive...
Just a friendly
reminder: When you sign-off on your tax
return, you're agreeing to abide by the tax law that holds you
responsible for paying your taxes, regardless of who prepares
your return. When it comes to collecting on mistakes-innocent
or otherwise-the Internal Revenue Service will come looking
for you, the taxpayer, to make good on monies owed...not
the person who filled out the forms.
Oops! Too
late to dodge the IRS-bullet? Already got 'em breathing
down your neck? Not to
worry...if the IRS has you in their cross-hairs, you'd better
get proper representation...and sooner's better than later.
Stop garnishments and seizures, ex-spouse heartburn, and even
file all of those back returns you've been putting off awhile.
Read
more...(and relax).....
Speaking of beer:
With the Oscars coming up soon, it's worth noting that the
Academy appears to be filled with snobs when it comes to
nominating movies and actors. Further proof of this will come
to light in February 2004 when one particular movie (and the
actors that starred in it) will be ignored.
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