...and I am out $1000. Or so it would seem.

I got my homeowners' insurance renewal policy this past week. (For those of you who have missed my history on this site, the only event of the last year that is pertinent to this post is that I moved to FL and closed on a house in February.) Hard to believe that we have almost been here a year and that it is time to renew such policies, but nevertheless, it is.

So I noticed that the policy was back to its original amount. Unlike what you would expect, I was not happy about this! Let me explain.

When we moved into our house, I spent several weeks and countless hours on the phone trying to nail down an insurer. As you might expect, insurance companies aren't that crazy about writing new policies in the state of FL, and so several times I was told NO! Even your most popular insurance companies - you know all those that advertise on TV - wouldnt write the policy. Anyhow, I finally got a quote from a company for $3500/yr. About $2k less than the only other option, for the same coverage, so I took it.

One good thing about FL is that you typically get a wind mitigation credit. If you catch your home inspector in time, you ask them to supply a wind mitigation report (for a nominal fee) and potentially save $100's. I did. Paid $40 to save $700. So that put my annual premium at about $2800.

So my renewal comes, and I find that the summary page shows:

Basic Policy: $3514
Current Changes: $328
Total Premium: $3842

Are you kidding me? A 10% increase in a year when FL had things fairly mild, and I didnt submit a single claim? What would happen in a bad year? Besides, it looks like they forgot the wind mit credit.

So I called them.

After some conversation, it seems that there was a rate change that actually took place in October. That premium was already NET OF my wind mit credit, so the real policy amount would have been $4534 per annum. It was not about a 10% change, but rather a 27% change!!

Wow. That's all that's left to say.

In other news, I found a new beer concoction this weekend: a Black and Blue. Hadnt heard of it before, but essentially, you start with a Blue Moon and then float Guiness on top. Not bad. The ending taste comes out something like a Red Ale.

Also, it's good to have hockey back.

Never knew before this morning that Jimmy Johnson was only the second coach in Dallas Cowboys history, which meant that Tom Landry was the first. Interesting tidbit, but nothing that a true Packer fan needs to know.

For anyone who loves to be entertained and who works in the world of business, Shark Tank is a great show. Starting to get a bid redundant, but I think with some tweaks, the show could go on for years.

SQUIRREL!

On that note, I'm out.

Admit it. You just finished that phrase with "...take me away." At least you did if you are over the age of 25. You remember the Calgon commercials showing a stressed-out woman just longing for a nice bath of Calgon-induced suds. They aired in the early 80s, but can probably be found on youtube someplace. (I am betting that someone who reads this will respond with a comment containing a link!)

In my case, today it is "SavingAdvice.com, take me away." Doesnt have quite the same ring to it, but oh well. I just finished the past two days work of reading 115 pages of an RFP response for a major project at work. I had to review all the details and then send out my 10+ pages of notes on it.

See it isnt about the difficulty of the task. I love what I do and am thoroughly enjoying the procurement process that we are knee-deep in. And its not that 115 pages is really that much. My wife would have read through that in about 4 hours. The problem is I read so cotton-pickin' slow!

(By the way, did you see that firestorm on the Internet about the Wheel of Fortune contestant who loast about $4k because she mis-enunciated "Seven Swans A-Swimming"? She left the "g" off swimming, so it came out Swimmin'. Pat Sajak (and whoever his off-screen judge is)said that she could not win because she didnt correctly give the answer.)

Anyway, I read horribly slow. Always have. Especially when I am reading for detail. I think part of it is the short attention span that I mentioned before. I think I read a paragraph or two, get distracted and have to start over again because I forget where I was. Not good.

And it is so exhausting for me. Like seriously, physically exhausting. I am a big-picture guy. I ask for details when I need them to better understand strategy or approach. It drains me when I am stuck in the details for too long, and I have been there all week. You would never guess I did my undergrad work in Accounting. (Of course, it IS why I left public accounting after a couple years and did my Master's in Strategic Management. There's that whole introspection thing again...)

So thank you SavingAdvice.com for re-charging my batteries. I think I need another extended holiday break. TGIF.