Private Advisory Group

To schedule or Not to Schedule? Protecting Your Valuables

Posted by Steve

It’s likely you know that if your wedding ring is stolen, most homeowner’s insurance policies will cover the replacement, but what you may not know is that homeowner’s policies include sub-limits of coverage for certain items and may entirely exclude other items. For example, your homeowner’s policy may limit jewelry coverage to $5,000 if stolen, and most policies do not cover mysterious disappearance, or just plain losing the item.

The best way to make sure your investment in jewelry, art, or any other valuable possession is protected is to designate a specific amount of insurance on that item. When that is done, the item is considered “scheduled” and it is protected.

Chris Ballard of the Ballard Agency in Bellevue has years of experience scheduling many types of unique, high-value items including—Chiluly Art, masterpiece paintings, Native American baskets and rugs, and varied collections including wine, coins, stamps, and even baseball cards.

Chris writes:

There are many advantages to adding special coverage for your jewelry.  One advantage is a greatly reduced or waived deductible.  Many people carry high deductibles on their homes, because they will never turn in a small claim.  However, when people lose, damage or have jewelry stolen the high deductible is far less appealing.  Scheduling an item provides greatly enhanced coverage, such as mysterious disappearance or loss of a stone from the setting.  It also presets the value, (called AGREED VALUE) so there is no debate over the amount you will receive should you need to replace something.

Another solution to avoid scheduling each item used by many insurance companies is the “Blanket Limit of Insurance” which allows you to buy a lump dollar amount for Jewelry or other items.  One way this can be used, is to “schedule” your high value pieces and buy a blanket limit of $20,000 for the remaining part of the collection.

While the additional cost of scheduling an item is not high, some companies offer a reduced rate when jewelry is kept in a vault, or if the stone has been “Gem printed” (marked with an identifiable number) to prevent stolen items from being easily sold.  Additionally, central station alarms also help with the rates on both your home and jewelry collections.

In order to schedule your jewelry, collectibles, or other expensive items, you should contact your insurance advisor.  Working with them and your advisory team, you can determine what items should be scheduled.  It should not be a cumbersome process.  If, however, you have a unique collection or item, you will be wise to work with your advisory team to have at least one other insurance specialist provide a quote because while most firms cover jewelry, not all insurance companies have experience with all types of collectibles.

Managing insurance and related risk management issues is an extremely important part of your integrated wealth management plan, which is why we advise reviewing insurance coverage at least every five years to ensure your types and levels of insurance are in line with your long-term objectives.