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The invitations have been sent, the hors d'oeuvres ordered, the house decorated, and the liquor cabinet replenished. You're ready to host a fabulous holiday party! Before you open the front door to a flurry of friends and family, however, make sure that you have the necessary insurance in place.

Insurance?

That's right. Just thinking about it may seem like a great big party pooper, but having the right homeowners' insurance coverage will protect you from an assortment of not-so-far-fetched holiday party mishaps. In addition, there are simple steps you can take to make sure your holiday party is one that will go down in history-for all the right reasons.

Serve Alcohol Sensibly:

Alcohol is typically the go-to social lubricant at parties. We even serve special drinks (eggnog, anyone?) exclusively during the holidays. As a party host, however, you may be declared responsible for injuries or accidents suffered or caused by guests who drink alcohol at your house. Keep this in mind when you're tending bar, and keep a close eye on your guests. Stop serving guests who have imbibed too much alcohol, and prevent those who have had too much to drink from driving home. Never serve alcohol to any minors, and put an immediate stop to illegal drinking in your home. (Keep an eye out for the neighbors' teenage son sneaking sips of peppermint schnapps behind the Christmas tree.) Have a homeowners' insurance policy in place that will protect you in the event that someone gets hurt on your property due to overconsumption of alcohol. That way, when your Uncle Charlie pulls a groin muscle while enthusiastically showing off his dance moves after one too many whiskeys, you won't have to pay out of pocket for his medical expenses.

Create a Safe Environment:

Be a Good Neighbor:

Be considerate of the neighbors who aren't attending your party. Ask your guests not to block their driveways with their cars or, worse, park on their lawns; a disgruntled neighbor can always ask you to pay the towing company's bill or to cover the cost of any damage to his landscaping. Keep your music at a reasonable volume, and try to quiet down any screamers. If your community has a "quiet hour," make sure to observe it and avoid a visit from the cops.

Keeping all of this in mind will not only save you from added stress, but also ensure your holiday shindig is a true success.

Most of us in New York have insurance for our homes, cars or businesses. We know life insurance is part of any good financial plan and health insurance can protect us from catastrophic medical bills. But there are a few other programs that we come in contact with - we don't usually think of these programs as insurance, but they are.

Social Security

Social Security is a form of social insurance that began when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. Its purpose was to improve poverty rates among senior citizens, which, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, exceeded 50 percent. Today, Social Security benefits people of all ages. In 2010, it functioned to lift over 20 million people out of poverty. Those people included: over 1 million children; over 5 million non-elderly adults; over 13 million adults over the age of 65. In that year, the poverty rate among senior citizens decreased from 44 percent to a mere 9 percent. If you haven't already benefitted from Social Security, chances are you will when you reach age 65.

Workers' Compensation

Workers' Compensation is another form of social insurance that serves to protect working people from losing money due to injuries sustained on the job, which may cause them to have to miss work, sometimes for lengthy periods. If a construction worker, who relies on his job to feed his family, gets hurt while building a house, workers' compensation keeps his wages coming and covers his medical expenses, so neither he nor his loved ones will suffer unduly. In 2010, workers' compensation helped 128,000 people stay out of poverty.

Unemployment Compensation

Unemployment compensation insurance works to assist those who have lost their jobs and are actively seeking new employment. This form of social insurance makes a big difference in the lives of those who have been unexpectedly laid off, often due to the fact that many corporations are scaling down in order to cut costs. Unemployment insurance makes it possible for those who have lost their jobs to continue to eat, pay rent, and cover other living expenses while trying to get back into the workforce. You may be a stellar employee who does everything right, but if your employer can no longer afford to pay your salary and you are let go, it can be comforting to know you'll still have some money coming in until you land a new position elsewhere.

For more information, call or contact HBE Group, Inc. today.

Even with Halloween looming on the horizon, the prospect of so many newly licensed New York teen drivers getting behind steering wheels is undoubtedly the most frightening thing about fall. The new school year is in full swing, and with the abundance of social and extracurricular activities taking place all over town, not to mention the need to get to and from campus, inexperienced teen drivers have every excuse to get on the road.

What can you do to ensure that your teen, and everyone else who happens to be on the road around her, stays safe? Teach, and preach, the following teen driving tips:

• When headed for school in the morning, watch-and stop-for school buses with flashing lights. There are likely to be children getting on or off the bus.
• Arrive at school five or ten minutes before the first bell rings to avoid the craziness that ensues when everyone is trying to race into the parking lot at the same time.
• When cruising around town, avoid making left-hand turns across intersections without turn signals. These are common sites for accidents, as inexperienced teen drivers have not yet mastered the art of gauging the amount and/or the speed of oncoming traffic.
• Remember that even though another driver has his or her right turn signal on, he or she may not turn right. Never make assumptions about what other drivers are going to do, even assumptions that seem logical. That driver may have left her turn signal on by mistake, and may keep driving straight ahead when you least expect it.
• Instead of competing with aggressive drivers, stay out of their way. Teens may be tempted to race or "get back at" drivers who cut them off or drive in an intimidating way. It's better for a teen driver to swallow his pride than get into a road rage-fueled battle.
• When driving in the country, be on the alert for deer and all kinds of other animals. Go slow, and in the evening or at night turn on the headlights. Hitting a deer can do serious damage to a car, and suddenly swerving to avoid wildlife can be deadly.
• Keep in mind that deer rarely walk alone. If one is standing near or on the road, chances are there are others nearby. Be aware.
• No matter where you're driving, always buckle up, and make sure everyone else in the car has done the same.
• Avoid filling the car with more passengers than there are seatbelts.
• Instead of driving like you own the road, always drive like you own the car (even if your parents do!).
• Don't distract yourself with loud music, cell phone use, texting, or intense conversations with passengers. Teens are less practiced at driving in the midst of distractions, and more likely to crash if their attention is pulled away from the road.
• Always keep your windshield clean. A windshield that looks sufficiently clean in the middle of the day can be virtually impossible to see through at sunrise or sunset.
• Needless do say, never drink or do drugs before driving.

For more information about teen driving safety and car insurance, contact HBE Group, Inc. today.

The law of large numbers is a statistical concept that relates to probability. It is one of the factors insurance companies use to determine their rates.

The Law of Large Numbers Defined

There are several ways to explain the law of large numbers. Unfortunately, they are all rather convoluted and confusing. Basically, the law of large numbers means that the larger the number of units that are individually exposed to an event, the greater the likelihood that the actual results of that exposure will equal the expected results.

In Layman's Terms

Let's try to understand the law of large numbers from a different angle, using eggs as an example. Say that for every three-dozen eggs sold by a grocer, an average of one of those eggs is cracked. Therefore, we expect that every time we buy three-dozen eggs, it is likely (though not guaranteed) we will find one cracked one. The more eggs we buy, the more likely this is. If we buy 12-dozen eggs, the likelihood that one for every three-dozen will be cracked increases. If we buy 18-dozen eggs, the likelihood that one for every three-dozen will be cracked increases even more. The more eggs we deal with, the more likely we are to find that one out of every three-dozen is cracked!

How the Law of Large Numbers Relates to Insurance

Insurance companies use the law of large numbers to lessen their own risk of loss by pooling a large enough number of people together in an insured group. The size of the pool corresponds to the predictability of the losses, just like the more eggs we deal with, the more likely we are to know how many will be cracked.

For example, an auto insurance company may record and study the number of accidents caused by a very large population of 18-year-old males. They will be able to predict how many 18-year-old males will cause an accident in a given year. They will know that in a given year there is a high probability that X number of 18-year-old males will cause an accident. Knowing this, they partially can determine how much an 18-year-old male should pay for auto insurance (excluding other factors, such as the type of vehicle, region where the driver resides, etc.) This is how the law of large numbers helps insurance providers determine their rates, and why the rates vary from one type of individual to another.

For more information about your insurance policy and how your rates are determined, contact HBE Group, Inc. today.

You may consider yourself well versed when it comes to the ins and outs of business insurance in New York, especially if you own a business in New York. But just how accurate and in-depth is your knowledge? In the spirit of fall, which is back to school time, take this quiz to test your awareness of business insurance myths and truths.

Business Insurance Questions:

1. True or False The "exclusions" section of your business insurance policy lists the types of claims that you will not have to pay for.
2. True or False Compared to health insurance, business insurance is generally rather affordable.
3. True or False Prices for business insurance have lately been at an all-time low.
4. True or False All businesses are required by law to have insurance.
5. True or False The premium is the amount of money you are required to pay immediately after a claim, before the insurance company will start paying.

Business Insurance Answers:

1. False - The exclusion section of your business insurance policy will outline all that is not covered by your insurance provider. Many business owners assume that once they are paying for insurance, every aspect of their business, and everything that could possibly go wrong is covered. This is a myth. Want to know a truth? Most people don't bother to carefully read their policies! Make sure to read yours, and be aware of just what isn't covered. Chances are, you can add coverage to your existing policy to protect those excluded aspects.
2. True - Business insurance is pretty affordable, so to use the "It's too expensive" excuse is to perpetuate a myth, and hold onto unnecessary risk factors.
3. True - As recently as 2011, prices for business insurance were at an all-time low. Things haven't changed much in the last year. Business insurance providers are finding themselves in the softest market ever in the history of their business. Too bad for them, but great for us!
4. False - Although not all businesses are required to have insurance, most smart business owners know that insurance allows them to spread their wings, take risks without undue anxiety, and help their businesses flourish. Without business insurance, a seemingly small calamity, such as a customer slipping on a flower shop's wet floor, can result in closed doors that never reopen.
5. False - The premium is the regular payment you make to your insurance provider to maintain coverage. The initial payment you make after a claim, before your coverage kicks in, is called the deductible.

For more information about insurance myths and truths, contact HBE Group, Inc. today.