It is a good idea to take an inventory of your personal possessions, at least annually. Keeping a current inventory benefits you in three ways:
- An inventory helps you establish a replacement cost value for all your possessions. Home, condo and renters insurance provides broad protection for your your personal property. But there is is a dollar limit, both for amounts payable for all your property as well as for specific kinds of property (business property, for instance). Some insurance companies have estimated that consumers are not carrying the levels of protection necessary to cover all their possessions nearly one-third of the time.
- Trying to recall what you owned after a fire or theft increases the chances you will not be compensated for loss of some items simply because you forgot you had them. An inventory will help avoid this.
- Having an inventory can make a difficult situation a little easier to deal with. An inventory is something you will have to provide the insurance company after a loss. Far easier to have it done in advance than to try to create one when you are dealing with emotional stress after a loss.
Keep you inventory somewhere besides in your home.
