Household Insurance Review Template

Insurance Review: [Household name] [Year]

A yearly check of every insurance policy your household has: what each one covers, what it costs, where the gaps and overlaps are, and what to change before the next renewal. Written in plain language for any country, using generic insurance concepts (sum insured, deductible or excess, replacement cost, waiting period) and the "document and insure your property" practice promoted by FEMA on Ready.gov. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example. Amounts are in [currency]; examples use USD. This is a document format for organising your own information, not insurance, financial, tax or legal advice. Read each policy's own wording, and ask a licensed adviser or the insurer when you are unsure.

Document control

Approvals

Revision history

Contents

1. Household profile and main risks
2. Policy inventory
3. Health cover
4. Life insurance
5. Income protection and disability
6. Home and contents
7. Personal liability
8. Vehicles
9. Travel and other cover
10. Gaps, overlaps and cost
11. Claims log
12. Actions and renewal calendar
13. Glossary and references

1. Household profile and main risks

Describe who depends on whom and what you own. This decides which risks matter.

Risk ranking. Rate each risk by how likely it is and how much it would cost. Insure the high-cost risks first, even if they are unlikely; pay small, frequent losses from savings.

2. Policy inventory

Total annual premium (Example): USD 420 + 380 + 1,380 + 1,560 + 3,220 + 900 + 160 = USD 8,020, about USD 668 a month. Group life (POL-003 and POL-009) is paid by the employers and is not in the total.

How the premiums map to the household Budget (personal/budget) and Financial Plan (personal/financial-plan) (Example): life, health and disability premiums (POL-001, POL-002, POL-006, POL-007) are 420 + 380 + 3,220 + 900 = USD 4,920 a year, exactly the USD 410 a month "insurance premiums" line. Home insurance (POL-004) is collected by the mortgage lender inside the USD 450 a month for property tax and home insurance. The car policy (POL-005) is paid yearly from money set aside in the transport line (about USD 130 a month), and travel cover (POL-008) from flexible spending. Mapping each premium to one budget line stops a renewal from arriving as a surprise and shows which line to cut if a policy is dropped.

The Financial Plan's life cover estimate (section 7) counts employer cover only, to show how large the gap would be without personal policies; this review lists the term policies POL-001 and POL-002 that the household already holds and tests whether they close that gap (section 4.2).

3. Health cover

Worst-case cost this year (Example): deductible USD 1,500 plus co-insurance up to the plan's out-of-pocket maximum. Check that the emergency fund can cover this amount.

4. Life insurance

4.1 How much cover is needed

A simple needs estimate adds what the family would need and subtracts what it already has:

Income replacement is the present value of the yearly income the family would need for a number of years:

where $A$ is the yearly amount the family would need, $r$ is an assumed yearly return after inflation (a "real" return), and $n$ is the number of years. The result is illustrative: it depends heavily on the assumptions.

4.2 Worked example for Sam

The USD 30,000 yearly need is the household's spending after the mortgage is cleared, less Jordan's own take-home pay. Reading the example: the shortfall of USD 838 is negligible, so Sam's cover is about right today; review it if the mortgage, the education goal or Jordan's pay changes. The Financial Plan reaches a different gap (USD 305,500) because it uses a simpler need (five years of USD 40,000 support) and counts cash as well; neither number is wrong, but use one method consistently from year to year. Repeat the calculation for Jordan, with group life POL-009 (USD 120,000) and term life POL-002 (USD 250,000). Note that group life cover usually ends when the person leaves the employer, so do not rely on it alone.

4.3 Policy checks

5. Income protection and disability

Possible gap (Example): Jordan has no cover beyond the statutory minimum. Get quotes for a policy that pays 50% to 60% of gross pay with a waiting period that matches the emergency fund.

6. Home and contents

6.1 Building

Flood and earthquake cover are often sold separately and a new flood policy may only start after a waiting period. Check the rules in your area well before the risky season (in the United States, see floodsmart.gov for the National Flood Insurance Program).

6.2 Contents

Keep a home inventory: a room-by-room list with photos or a video, purchase receipts and serial numbers. Store a copy away from home (for example in the encrypted folder named in the Emergency Document File).

Contents sum insured USD 60,000 covers the USD 53,000 estimate with USD 7,000 margin (Example). Check the single-item limit for jewellery, bikes or electronics: items above it may need to be listed separately.

7. Personal liability

Ask: would the current limit cover a serious injury claim where you live? Do children, pets, a home business, a rental property or volunteering create extra exposure?

8. Vehicles

A lender usually requires comprehensive cover while a car loan is outstanding, so check the loan agreement before reducing cover on car 1. Car 2 is the candidate for a lower level of cover. Declare mileage honestly: understating it can reduce a claim. When the yearly premium for damage to your own car approaches a large share of the car's value, compare it with keeping that risk yourself and keeping only the required third-party cover.

9. Travel and other cover

10. Gaps, overlaps and cost

Deductible test (Example). If two deductibles hit in the same year (home USD 1,000 and health USD 1,500), the household pays USD 2,500. The emergency fund of USD 18,000 covers this, so raising the home deductible to USD 2,500 could lower the premium without real strain. Ask for a quote before deciding.

Cost share. Total premiums of USD 8,020 compare with gross household income of USD 142,000 (82,000 + 60,000): about 5.6% (Example). There is no correct percentage; use it to see the trend over the years.

11. Claims log

Making a claim, in short: report it quickly, take photos before cleaning up, keep damaged items until the insurer says otherwise, keep receipts for emergency repairs, and write down every call (date, name, what was said). If you disagree with a decision, use the insurer's complaint process first, then the independent complaint or ombudsman scheme where you live.

12. Actions and renewal calendar

12.1 Actions

12.2 Renewal calendar

12.3 Running the review well

Before you start. Collect every policy schedule, the latest premium notices, the employer benefits summary for each adult and the last 12 months of bank and card statements. The statements matter because they show policies you have forgotten: add-ons on phone bills, cover bundled with a bank account, or a pet policy paid by card. Put everything in one folder and work through section 2 first, one row per policy, before forming any opinion about what to keep.

Order of work. Rank the risks in section 1 before you look at prices. The most important questions are about events you could not pay for yourselves: the death or long illness of an earner, the loss of the home, and a serious liability claim. Small, frequent losses (a broken phone, a scratched car) are usually cheaper to pay from savings than to insure, because premiums include the insurer's costs and profit. Then check each large risk in sections 3 to 8, and only at the end look for savings in section 10.

Review points for each policy.

• Does the sum insured still match today's value or need? Rebuild costs, contents and the mortgage balance all change from year to year.
• Is the deductible or excess one the emergency fund could pay twice in the same year?
• Are the named people (drivers, beneficiaries, insured persons) correct after any life event?
• Does the policy wording exclude something you assumed was covered, such as flood, wear and tear, business use or a second home?
• Will the cover still exist if the policyholder changes job, moves or retires? Employer cover usually stops when employment ends.

Common errors to avoid. Cancelling an old policy before the new one is confirmed in writing, leaving a day without cover. Choosing the cheapest quote without comparing exclusions and limits. Forgetting to tell the insurer about a change that affects the risk (a home business, a new driver, higher mileage), which can reduce or void a claim. Counting employer life cover as permanent. And treating the premium total as the measure of success: a review that lowers premiums but leaves the household underinsured has made things worse.

Using the result. Copy the agreed actions into section 12.1 with an owner and a date before the relevant renewal, put a short summary of each policy into the Emergency Document File (personal/emergency-document-file), and update the insurance line of the Budget (personal/budget) if premiums change. In the example the review changes no premiums yet: each action first needs quotes, and the household decides once those arrive.

13. Glossary and references

13.1 Glossary

13.2 Local equivalents (names only)

Examples only, not exhaustive, not advice. Names as of 2026-10; check local rules.

13.3 References

Standard and licence note

Based on general insurance concepts and on the property-documentation practice promoted by FEMA on Ready.gov, a US federal government source in the public domain; FEMA and NAIC are named only to identify the sources, and this template is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. The text, tables, formulas and examples are original and written for this collection; the household "Sam and Jordan Ellison" and every amount are fictional and illustrative. Insurance products and rules differ by country and by policy: check the current official guidance, your policy wording and local law before acting. Template licence: MIT.