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I always recommend looking into having laptops covered through your insurance company. I have state farm, and my wife and I have our laptops under personal art

I always recommend looking into having laptops covered through your insurance company. I have state farm, and my wife and I have our laptops under personal article policies. The coverage is better, broader, and cheaper that anything else I've seen. My wife recently got a surface pro 3 to use during her forest soils PhD, and I was adamant we get nice insurance if she was going to be using it in the field. Two years of no deductible spill, drop, and malfunction coverage through squarespace is 280$. I get the same coverage plus theft and loss for 40 a year through my insurer. And it is a 3 block walk to the office where I can eat pastries and drink coffee while I file a claim. I have only had to file one claim, but it was for a head crash and they covered a new hard drive w/out question. I'm not saying it is a good fit for everyone, but it works out well for me. I do recommend squarespace for individual parts of a self-built tower pc. I spent 120 on a motherboard and on the third replacement spquarespace upgraded me because it turned out that model had an almost 50% failure rate in the first year.

ics 12y ago
Surely you mean SquareTrade, right?
- ortusdux 12y ago
  Man those squarespace ads on podcasts have done their job...
Nitramp 12y ago
Don't buy insurance for things that won't ruin you. The insurer will calculate the risk of whatever happening, and obviously charge more than likelihood * cost. So unless your risk is higher than average, you're losing money. And keep in mind that the average insurance taker probably has higher risk than the overall population.
- eli 12y ago
  Even if it won't ruin you, unexpectedly having to shell out over a thousand dollars for a new laptop might be so much of a hassle that it's worth "wasting" a few bucks each month to not have to worry about it.
  - tzakrajs 12y ago
    Put those few bucks each month into some interest bearing account and then it can be used for many purposes instead of just a new laptop?
    - snuxoll 12y ago
      $40 a year in a savings account isn't going to net you much.
      - WalterBright 12y ago
        I don't have comprehensive insurance on my car, and the premiums have over time added up to more than its value.
      - singlow 12y ago
        No, but consider all of the things that you might insure - appliances and electronics. Now take the total cost of insuring them and put it in a bank account. In the case that one of them breaks, the savings will likely cover that replacement. Chance are none of them will break. Do the same thing next year. Not only to you make a little interest, you have all of last year's left-over premiums.
        snuxoll 12y ago
        Almost everything I would want to insure as far as appliances and electronics go are already covered by my renters policy, if you do not have a renters policy go get one, right now, mine is only $10/mo with state farm (including an additional addendum to cover up to $10K in personal electronics). Of course, there's a $500 deductible on that, but the things I expect to happen that would cause me to file a claim on my policy are likely to end up with a lot more damage than that. My laptop and personal assets I carry when I travel are an entirely different story, a $500 deductible if my duplex burned down or an electrical storm fried every device in my house is pretty acceptable, but that's over 1/3 of the value of the things that go into my laptop bag. Considering I've already had a car broken into and only recovered $200 after my $500 renters deductible a personal assets policy would be well worth it to me if it cost $10/mo.
- matthewmacleod 12y ago
  This is awful advice! Losing a smartphone isn't going to ruin me, but it sure would piss me off to have to fork out £500 or whatever because it gets jacked. Similarly, someone could break into my house and clean it out. Not going to ruin me, but I'd rather not have to replace everything. The whole point of insurance is collective risk-spreading. Yes, this means that the majority (by value) of people with insurance will have 'wasted' money, in the sense that they purchase insurance without claiming. But that's not what they're purchasing – they're trading off a small, certain cost for the elimination of a large, uncertain cost. That's a purchase of 'certainty' or 'stability' – and it's what they get. In other words, since you have no reliable way to understand risk and likelihood of a particular event happening, it's not possible to decide if you are at a higher risk than average.
  - WalterBright 12y ago
    Over time, you're probably paying 2x or 3x in insurance premiums compared with what the loss would be. Consider also the overall effect if you invested the premiums instead of paying them.
    - YuriNiyazov 12y ago
      This is also nutty. The guy is clearly risk-averse, which means if he did invest he would go for a risk-free rate, which is.... 0.90% right now?
      - jamiepenney 12y ago
        I've had this conversation with friends before. Some people can't see outside their own risk profile.
    - korzun 12y ago
      You can't guarantee 100% expense coverage during random events. Not everybody has thousands of dollars laying around in emergency fund for 12+ months. Committing to an insurance policy is simply a semi-guaranteed safety net. Have tons of cash? You should still probably look at a cheaper plan with a super high deductible.
- rconti 12y ago
  I generally agree. However: If you are risk pooling with much lower-risk devices and people, then you can still come out ahead. For example, maybe most people buying that kind of coverage are buying it for devices that rarely break or are lost/damaged -- they might be simply insuring against theft while you're using the damage coverage.
  - cheepin 12y ago
    Reminds me of this clip from Seinfeld: http://youtu.be/-Jy5R0XjKC8?t=1m30s http://youtu.be/-Jy5R0XjKC8?t=1m30s
- Omniusaspirer 12y ago
  Except healthcare! You're required to buy it in the US now, but regardless...the hospitals would negotiate with insurance companies to <50% of the bill (and I've seen >90% reduction)- you can't do that as an individual and will generally be stuck with the full price.
  - Nitramp 12y ago
    Health cost can very easily ruin you, even if you are quite well off. Even the possibly better prices negotiated by insurances for a serious illness are ruinous, and keep in mind you most likely won't have an income while you're seriously ill. Reduced cost in the US is just icing on top. So everyone definitely needs insurance for healthcare.
    - Omniusaspirer 12y ago
      Ah, I think you misunderstood my point. I was specifically saying that getting health insurance was important- even if you have enough money to cover the cost generally. I mentioned insurance negotiation to emphasis that there were outside factors contributing to making it must-have.

ics 12y ago

Surely you mean SquareTrade, right?

ortusdux 12y ago
Man those squarespace ads on podcasts have done their job...

Nitramp 12y ago

Don't buy insurance for things that won't ruin you. The insurer will calculate the risk of whatever happening, and obviously charge more than likelihood * cost. So unless your risk is higher than average, you're losing money. And keep in mind that the average insurance taker probably has higher risk than the overall population.

eli 12y ago
Even if it won't ruin you, unexpectedly having to shell out over a thousand dollars for a new laptop might be so much of a hassle that it's worth "wasting" a few bucks each month to not have to worry about it.
- tzakrajs 12y ago
  Put those few bucks each month into some interest bearing account and then it can be used for many purposes instead of just a new laptop?
  - snuxoll 12y ago
    $40 a year in a savings account isn't going to net you much.
    - WalterBright 12y ago
      I don't have comprehensive insurance on my car, and the premiums have over time added up to more than its value.
    - singlow 12y ago
      No, but consider all of the things that you might insure - appliances and electronics. Now take the total cost of insuring them and put it in a bank account. In the case that one of them breaks, the savings will likely cover that replacement. Chance are none of them will break. Do the same thing next year. Not only to you make a little interest, you have all of last year's left-over premiums.
      - snuxoll 12y ago
        Almost everything I would want to insure as far as appliances and electronics go are already covered by my renters policy, if you do not have a renters policy go get one, right now, mine is only $10/mo with state farm (including an additional addendum to cover up to $10K in personal electronics). Of course, there's a $500 deductible on that, but the things I expect to happen that would cause me to file a claim on my policy are likely to end up with a lot more damage than that. My laptop and personal assets I carry when I travel are an entirely different story, a $500 deductible if my duplex burned down or an electrical storm fried every device in my house is pretty acceptable, but that's over 1/3 of the value of the things that go into my laptop bag. Considering I've already had a car broken into and only recovered $200 after my $500 renters deductible a personal assets policy would be well worth it to me if it cost $10/mo.
matthewmacleod 12y ago
This is awful advice! Losing a smartphone isn't going to ruin me, but it sure would piss me off to have to fork out £500 or whatever because it gets jacked. Similarly, someone could break into my house and clean it out. Not going to ruin me, but I'd rather not have to replace everything. The whole point of insurance is collective risk-spreading. Yes, this means that the majority (by value) of people with insurance will have 'wasted' money, in the sense that they purchase insurance without claiming. But that's not what they're purchasing – they're trading off a small, certain cost for the elimination of a large, uncertain cost. That's a purchase of 'certainty' or 'stability' – and it's what they get. In other words, since you have no reliable way to understand risk and likelihood of a particular event happening, it's not possible to decide if you are at a higher risk than average.
- WalterBright 12y ago
  Over time, you're probably paying 2x or 3x in insurance premiums compared with what the loss would be. Consider also the overall effect if you invested the premiums instead of paying them.
  - YuriNiyazov 12y ago
    This is also nutty. The guy is clearly risk-averse, which means if he did invest he would go for a risk-free rate, which is.... 0.90% right now?
    - jamiepenney 12y ago
      I've had this conversation with friends before. Some people can't see outside their own risk profile.
  - korzun 12y ago
    You can't guarantee 100% expense coverage during random events. Not everybody has thousands of dollars laying around in emergency fund for 12+ months. Committing to an insurance policy is simply a semi-guaranteed safety net. Have tons of cash? You should still probably look at a cheaper plan with a super high deductible.
rconti 12y ago
I generally agree. However: If you are risk pooling with much lower-risk devices and people, then you can still come out ahead. For example, maybe most people buying that kind of coverage are buying it for devices that rarely break or are lost/damaged -- they might be simply insuring against theft while you're using the damage coverage.
- cheepin 12y ago
  Reminds me of this clip from Seinfeld: http://youtu.be/-Jy5R0XjKC8?t=1m30s http://youtu.be/-Jy5R0XjKC8?t=1m30s
Omniusaspirer 12y ago
Except healthcare! You're required to buy it in the US now, but regardless...the hospitals would negotiate with insurance companies to <50% of the bill (and I've seen >90% reduction)- you can't do that as an individual and will generally be stuck with the full price.
- Nitramp 12y ago
  Health cost can very easily ruin you, even if you are quite well off. Even the possibly better prices negotiated by insurances for a serious illness are ruinous, and keep in mind you most likely won't have an income while you're seriously ill. Reduced cost in the US is just icing on top. So everyone definitely needs insurance for healthcare.
  - Omniusaspirer 12y ago
    Ah, I think you misunderstood my point. I was specifically saying that getting health insurance was important- even if you have enough money to cover the cost generally. I mentioned insurance negotiation to emphasis that there were outside factors contributing to making it must-have.