One of the last things that I'm doing to prepare for my departure is deciding about insurance. Sure I've been mulling it over for a few months now, but the time to make a decision is upon me. The questions at hand are:
1. Should I sign up for the Peace Corps endorsed life insurance policy?
2. Should I get personal-property insurance for my laptop and camera?
If I had a lot of money, I'm sure it would be an easy decision to pay for both lines of insurance. But I'm a recent college grad and I don't have a lot of money to mess around with. So, at this point, I'm leaning towards declining both:
1. I don't plan on dying- but who does? Why not keep the $60 that it would cost to buy the policy?
2. My laptop is getting old now and I'm probably going to need to get a new one in a couple years any way. I'm also backing up all my data before I go, as well as bringing a few memory sticks with me. Point being that I won't be devastated if my laptop gets stolen or broken. I have a pretty cheap digital camera and I wouldn't be too heartbroken if something happens to it too. I'm not planning on taking anything else of any real worth.
Personal property insurance isn't necessarily cheap, especially compared to what the PC pays us. The insurance company that the PC recommends (Clements International) charges a premium of $50 for $1000 of coverage. At this point, I'm not sure how much I'd need to get covered, but it would probably be more than $1000.
It seems that not every PCV in Honduras gets their laptop and camera stolen. Will insurance give me true "peace of mind" or will I feel ripped off if I've paid $50+ month after month for coverage that I didn't end up needing? To be honest, I think that if I pay for the insurance, I'd almost hope that my laptop gets stolen just to have made it worthwhile.
**Correction: I was mistaken; the Clements policy charges its premium annually, not monthly, so that makes a huge difference. Thanks for the comments.
