What's a good amount for renters insurance, what is the "average"....?

Question

I currantly have a 40k policy. My policy is up for renewal in a couple months, I'm debating on whether or not to raise it or if 40 is good. (I live in an apt complex.)

I have a family of 5, that's 5 beds, 5 bureaus, kids toys, other furniture, computers, etc.....

Is 40k sufficient? Or would raising it be in my family's best interest?

All these disaters everywhere kinda creep me out, I keep thinking "what if we get a storm like that? what if our complex burns down like that?" etc... Is 40k realistic to replace a family's belongings if disaster ever struck?

(we do have sufficient savings as well, so we wouldn't exactly be out on our butts with nothing either way)

Answer 1

If something happened-- how much would it cost to replace every thing you own? Socks, plates, forks, cosmetics, undies, clothing, tools......every thing you  have.  Ideally, that's how much you want insurance for.

40K is a pretty good renters policy. Even if it did not replace every thing you owned...you would have a real good start.

When I had a renters policy-- I had 10K in coverage. It was less than the cost to replace everything I owned - and I knew that. But I figured it would be good seed money. I may have to buy a used couch instead of a new one....but it would give me a good start to rebuild.  Since you are a family of 5 - applying that same principle -- you could increase by 10K to 50K and that would be about 10K per person.

Answer 2

You may want to raise it, at least a little.

My question to you is:  how high is the liability coverage on your policy?  That is the most important part--it protects you if one of your kids does something stupid.  Your limits are probably $100,000.  It doesn't cost much to raise it to $250,000, which is a much more comfortable level.  

Check out both aspects.