Standard business property insurance policies only cover the potential loss of physical assets experienced in the case of a natural disaster. Traditional policies do not cover any potential loss in profits, temporary relocation expenses, continued operating costs or other additional expenses that the business may incur while repairs are being made. This is where business interruption insurance comes in. Added as a rider onto an already existing property insurance policy, it helps businesses continue to operate optimally during the unforeseen whims of nature.

Good For Any Business

Any business that has the possibility of being stuck by a disaster can benefit from interruption insurance. Obviously those businesses based in areas more prone to nature’s influence, such as coastal areas, will be more likely to find this type of insurance necessary. Just because the business isn’t located in hurricane alley however, doesn’t mean that interruption insurance is useless. It can be used to mitigate the financial impact of severe snowstorms, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes or any other disasters that causes property damage. Obviously, the greater risk the business is at, the higher the policy costs will be.

Acquiring Interruption Insurance

The step when considering business interruption insurance is to determine what level of coverage the business requires. Generate a list of all disaster related expenses including:

• Regular operating costs: This all includes items the business will still have to pay during the repair period, including payroll, rent, loan payments, etc. Utility expenses such as electricity are often not included as part of standard interruption insurance, so it may be necessary to ask about those provisions specifically.
• Projections of lost profits: Gather a history of profits to make accurate projections, and if the business is growing be sure to include potential growth in these figures. Keeping hard copies of these records in another location is wise; not much would be worse than being unable to file a claim because financial records are unavailable.
• Relocation expenses: It is likely that any disaster shutting down a business will render facilities at least temporarily unusable. Include costs for finding, outfitting, and moving equipment and personnel to a new location.

Ensuring the policy lasts enough to ensure a return to normal business is essential. Repairs oftentimes take longer than expected, and having cash-flow run out in the middle of them can potentially ruin a business. A good baseline to start from is six months, though that figure should be adjusted based on how much infrastructure the business has that may need repairing. Most policies don’t kick in until 48 hours after a disaster, so it is also important to have enough cash on hand to survive those first two days.

All About Stability

Business interruption insurance is intended to allow business to maintain financial stability as though a disaster had never occurred. These disasters are becoming more common, with a 50 percent increase in disaster frequency being reported by some insurance companies over the past few years. This increase makes it worth at least exploring the idea of business interruption insurance, whether it is a small local business or a large corporation.

Sarah works for Aor Insurances and writes all thier marketing material.

Whether playing an online game or investing your money in real life, there are a number of ways in which individuals can build themselves a winning investment strategy. We have to say that, when it comes to investing, there is no specific right way or wrong way, and no one way that will always guarantee to make you successful.

Building a winning investment strategy takes into account a whole range of factors with one overall aim: getting out with a positive return. We looked at some of the things to consider when building your own personal investment strategy.

Specific or General?

Depending on how you plan to invest, you will either want to invest generally with a view to making a return, or look at specific sectors. When it comes to specific sector investing, try to stick to those that you have a little knowledge about and will be able to make educated decisions around. It is often too easy to be drawn into investing in a particular area just because “the returns are great.”

High returns potential generally means high risk, and if you adopt a cavalier attitude you will find that out the hard way!

Learn to Read

Reading investment charts is a little bit like checking out form for horseracing. You know the information is important, but tend to look at it blankly without ever really understanding what it means.

If you can teach yourself how to read financial charts and information, you will find it much easier to get on board with winning investments. Learn how to read a chart to understand the best times to buy and, even more crucially, the best times to sell, so that you can maximise all of your investment returns.

Know Your Limits

Before doing anything involving finances, you should know what you are looking to spend. If you are committing money to a private equity fund, then put in what you want initially, and then leave it there. If you use an online trading platform, ensure you have it set up so that you can automatically sell or stop if you lose a certain amount.

It is easy to be drawn in by attractive looking, high numbers, but very difficult to deal with the repercussions of being financially irresponsible. Ensure this doesn’t happen to you.

Find Resources

Although you will understandably want to build your own investment patterns, it is always worth picking up top tips from those who have been successful in the industry. If you are using a private equity fund then you will have a wealth of experience to help you, while if you are going it alone, for example online, you should make use of blogs, infographics, social media and emailing lists in order to glean as much advice as you possibly can.

Rob is a writer on the private equity marketiplace and has specialised in raising funds for entrepreneurs over a series of years, ranging from local investments to mulit-million pund funding.