Is pet insurance a good investment?

For most people the answer may just be no! There are more and more pet insurance polices out there, so look very closely at them before investing your money. And if you do sign your pet up, doing it when they are puppies and kittens is the ideal time.

Over the course of a pet’s life they can incur many health care costs along the way. A smart way to look at pet insurance is to use it only as a catastrophic policy. Let it pay for the big ticket items you can’t afford and you pay for the small normal pet costs like yearly exams, vaccinations, spays, neuters, dentals and ear infections. If your pet gets into an emergency situation, pet insurance may help. But don’t expect it to cover everything! As your pet gets older, the increased risk of long term health issues like cancer or other ongoing issues may be when the policy does come in handy. You just have to decide if waiting that long for a return on your investment is in yours and your pets’ best interest!

Here are a few guidelines: Read the fine print on exclusions, understand premiums may change over the lifetime of the policy, get as high a deductible as you can afford and realize that like human health insurance  – you don’t get the premiums back!

Perhaps a better way to help pay for your pets veterinary costs is start a savings plan for them. Put a little money aside each month just like you do for your own rainy day fund! Figure out what you would pay for that monthly pet insurance premium and put that amount aside each month. That way you still have the money and it’s there whenever you need it for whatever pet expense you decide you need it for!

 

For further information on this topic, please click the following link:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/august/money/pet-costs/pet-insurance-rarely-worth-the-price-in-our-analysis/index.htm