Florida couple saves $100,000 after deciding to 'go bare' by not purchasing wind and flood coverage 

The key action was them SAVING that $7000 every year and NOT TOUCHING THAT MONEY!!

A lot of people don’t realize they are going bare with insurance anyway. Insurance companies are professionals at not paying coverage.

Self insured is becoming less risky than dealing with the insurance companies.

We could not buy into the Florida insurance scam, went bare 5 years ago. We could replace our roof every 4 years with the money we save on artificially hiked rates.

It’s not being without insurance, it’s called being “self - insured”

listening to an insurance company guy on insurance is like taking advice from the mafia on paying protection money.

can you imagine that - paying an insurance company for 14 years with no claims?? basically you handed them $100K free and clear for absolutely nothing and no returns whatsoever.

We bought spring 2022 with a 5% rate (it had just started going up). Flash forward to today, a house on our street just went up for sale, same floor plan listed at $75k less than what we paid. Albeit with a higher rate, so a higher monthly payment nonetheless. That to say…yeah it always feels a little oof to see them coming down.

The bigger problem I see with insurance is not just the skyrocketing cost of premiums, it is when you make a claim and they take months to pay plus they only pay a fraction of the repairs. What is the point of insurance if the companies don't honor their obligations?

"It is the second best decision I've made" ... while glancing at wife. A very wise man, lol.

Great idea for someone who has the money! AND, IT SPEAKS volumes to insurance companies gouging people without lifting your middle finger!

I paid insurance on my boats for 28 years, never claimed a scratch. Hit something one day and needed a new outdrive. The insurance company (boat us) gave me the biggest hassle and wanted me to buy new parts and combine them with old parts in order to make me whole. I ended up paying the difference on top of my deductible to buy a complete new drive. 28 YEARS NO CLAIMS! Insurance companies are crooks, they love to take your premiums, but when its time to make a claim, then we have a problem.

Insurance is such a scam. They're happy to take your money, but when it comes time to pay, they decide to pull out and take off.

The insurance company making a case for him to continue being paid is the funniest part of this video, screw the bloated insurance system

My insurance company in Florida did a drive by inspection of my property and said they were going to refuse to renew my policy if I didn’t cut the trees back from over my house. So I did at a cost of 5000 dollars. At the end of the policy period they dropped me anyways 🤷🏽‍♂️ True story. I often wondered if I should have seen an attorney about that.

Should be titled, older generation finds out insurance is a scam

My house went through a direct hit by Ian. There was significant damage to my roof and the insurance company offered $1700 to repair it. Had to hire an attorney to fight them and came to a settlement the day before it was to go to trial. This took over a year to reach this point. I never had a claim in over 40 years of home ownership. I’m sure they will drop me at renewal. Going bare seems to be the way to go.

Very smart move, for people who actually own their homes and who can afford to do this

The amount of corporate greed is beyond out of control. It’s criminal to have kids today. They’re completely screwed

Why pay for the service when the service is designed to shirk all responsibility?

We've been doing this exact thing since 2011. Ian caused $35000 worth of damage, we paid it all in cash didn't need to wait for insurance money and have over $40K left and growing by $10K each year again. Our biggest fear is the dreaded multiple hurricanes in a year scenario. We know our risks and we are willing to gamble at our age rather than handing over $10K per year to an insurance company that will just give you nothing but hassles when you try to put in a claim.

Here in Northern California, due to the fires, my homeowner policy went from $2200 a year in 2016 to over $11,000 in 2020. My home is paid for, sits on 15 acres of well groomed land and I have cleared a substantial fire break around my home and outlying structures. In addition, I brought in two 20,000 water tanks with a 20hp gas pump and 1000’ of 3” fire hoses to fight back any perimeter fire if the case presented itself. Considering all of this work to safeguard my home, the insurance companies wouldn’t budge one dime on the premium. So, I self insured the entire property. I only carry liability insurance and minimal coverage for fire and theft. My premium is $1500 a year. I have done essentially what this couple has done, I take roughly $10,000 a year into a separate account for home losses. My CPA advises that any money I spend out of pocket to cover property loss is tax deductible, a bonus. I’ve accumulated $40,000+ so far and in short time that’ll grow into a fund well financed to cover most losses, as improbable as they might be given all of my safeguards. All of the work I’ve done adds to the property value which makes it a win win all around. Insurance companies do not lose money, just glance at their financials. Allstate insurance cried about the woes of fire losses, yet they post record profits and their reserve fund is higher today than ever before. Taking advice from an insurance company is like having a cigarette smoking oncologist advise you on the benefits of smoking. He makes money, you get crap advice and you empty your pockets.

Living on the NC coast and Progressive raised my homeowners/wind and hail from $1600 to $7100/yr. Ending ALL my insurance policies with Progessive.

The lesson I took from this is if you don’t want your house to get blown away from a hurricane don’t buy a house where such a thing is inevitable. The same goes for living in a house in the middle of the woods where the forest burns once in a while. These things you can’t prepare for but not prevent.

The insurance guy wants homeowners to keep paying continuously rising insurance rates? Go figure.

If you make a claim, your rates go up. If you don't make a claim, your rates go up. Many exclusions make a payout difficult to impossible for anything remotely "not covered". You "save money" by raising deductibles to obscene levels, further discouraging making a claim for a lesser amount. I get a better deal from casinos.

I live in Coastal Georgia, right on the marsh. No mortgage since 2007. Flood insurance was about $6000 per year. Flood insurance would not have covered lower level, anyway, so I canceled insurance. In 2017 we were flooded by hurricane Irma, at a cost of about $40k. We had saved about $60k on flood insurance, so we came out ahead in the end.

They didn't go bare, they switched to being 'self-insured'. Is it as risky as the insurance pros want you to believe? Yes, for the vast majority of Americans who don't have the discipline to budget and save.

When he said that was the second best decision he made, then look at his wife. Aww💕

Insurance companies are crooks and they need to be held more accountable with more transparency of loss ratios and premiums.

what is so disappointing...is that the more they squeeze out of the consumer...and deny claims...the more goes to the top tier of the executives & their associates pocket in entitlements and bonuses...many treat the consumers as sucker and losers to fleece...

My home was built in 1973 with no sink holes ever reported near it. I'm saving almost $2,000 a year by not having sink hole coverage.

That is a wonderful man, when he said it’s the second best decision he has ever made. Made me smile.

Fun Fact: USAA came into existence due to the fact that life insurance companies would not sell life insurance to military members. As a result, a group of military officers decided to pool their money and would pay a death benefit in the event one of their comrades lost their life due to enemy action. Today, USAA is one of the largest and most competitive insurance companies in the USA. Perhaps, it’s time for Florida homeowners to try something similar.

Do not renovate, and save the money for storm damages. Live there and be happy.

We have a stucco house and our insurance wanted us to cut down a pretty, leafy, healthy tree in front of our home because of “fire concern.” We’re on a busy street and it provides great privacy, it’s beautiful, and we don’t want to cut it down. And it would be incredibly expensive to do so. Also, our home is slathered with cement (stucco) and it only touches the lower story. WHERE IS THE FIRE HAZARD??? So we took a picture of it in winter when it’s leaves had fallen and told them we cut it down 😂 It worked. Jerks.

I have also saved about $100,00 by not insuring my Sarasota Florida home for the past 15 years. I sleep just fine at night.

The magic of self insuring is twofold: 1) have no mortgage - pay off your home, & 2) do not touch the $$$s you pay yourself annually which you would have spent on insurance except for emergency home repairs.

We self insure. Our insurance went from $4800 to $11,000. No thanks. We had $300,000 of coverage.

Exactly. I've paid cash for my homes through the years and have not purchased insurance from the thieves for 50 years. I made monthly insurance payments all through the years to myself through mutual funding. I've been lucky and have not had to draw from that fund. Now if something adverse happens I could rebuild my house 2Xs over. I got rich from my self invested insurance money, instead of making the insurance thieves rich. It's hilarious!

My 30 year mortgage was paid off almost 15 years ago in 17 years. I immediately cancelled by homeowners insurance.

This is simply called "self insuring." Some of the biggest companies in the world have the dough and self-insure their buildings, I used to work for one. They showed the numbers to shareholders what they were saving and that by setting aside all that cash they were coming out ahead. It works absolutely fine if a)you don't touch the money and b)you set aside *enough* and if you invest it in cash or cash equivalents, you might even come out ahead in the current interest rate environment Most people would blow the money though

They should consider investing some of that in storm mitigation, like storm shutters, a water inflatable flood barrier, storm resistant backup power to run a pump system, and/or possibly a storm resistant roof.

I lived in South Florida all my life. At 33 I bought a house with cash and 2 years into living there my insurance doubled. I dropped the insurance and lived there for 13 years with no insurance. Never an issue only had soffit damage 1 year and it cost me $50 to fix myself.

This is brilliant as long as you are disciplined enough to save the money needed for possible repairs.

The one pro-insurance factor I will note in this discussion, which I learned in Insurance Law class, is that insurance is often not about how much they will cover for you but it is how much their legal department will fight to avoid paying. If you don't have insurance your potential liability is unlimited but when you have a prepaid legal department going after the claimant, they will at least limit the payout to a nominal amount or not pay at all. I experience this personally with car insurance. My neighbor experienced this with her apartment which was flooded due to old pipes in the apartment above her. She asked the landlord company to ONLY pay for HALF of her new mattress that was destroyed. The building said no, it wasn't their fault that their pipes burst and flowed for 8 hours. First, I asked her why she wasn't asking for the landlord to cover everything rather than half the mattress. Furthermore, my neighbor didn't even think of calling her renters insco so I told her to enter a claim for everything. The next thing you know, the landlord is getting inundated with legal citations confirming that the landlord is 100% responsible and the landlord settled with the insurance company and re-plastered and painted her apartment. In these situations the insco must payout to the insured and THEN go after the other party (landlord) for reimbursement so you don't have to wait.

I bought an older home(cash), rebuilt it and lived there 25 years. Saved $ 120,000 on insurance. A few caveats: don’t leave house unoccupied. Keep up your yearly service on furnace, electric etc. Don’t buy in flood or hurricane areas.

We did the same. I live(d) on Fort Myers Beach. We had minimal damage but still aren't back into our home yet because of infrastructure issues. Our insurance, Flood, Windstorm, and Property still hasn't paid one single cent. When renewal came last month, we dropped all of the policies except liability. The building went through 50 years of hurricanes. This was the first time one took it out of service. We are just going to invest the money we would have spent and self insure.

We don't waste our money on home owners insurance. We live in tornado alley too. It's best to put that money into yourself and save it. We had our roof torn off during a tornado this year...we fixed it ourselves out of pocket. There are still people down the road who did have home owners insurance still waiting for their roofs and property to get fixed. Insurance is a HUGE SCAM!

My Dad did that for years with no issues. My sister got the house and insured it. 3 months later it got damaged by Hurricane Charlie. Not sure of the numbers but she managed to get everything restored and upgraded.

I stopped paying them 15 yrs ago after a dispute with them and also saved the money in a separate account which has grown nicely. Even if my home gets destroyed, I can still sell the land . I am by far ahead.

legalized extortion.

My flood insurance premium (TX) was up 81% this year compared to 2021. So I decided to bail (no pun intended!). Not going to pay those thieves for even one more year of coverage...I'm not in a flood plain, I will self insure and take my chances.

if you don't have a mortgage, this is the way to go. I remember homeowners who suffered losses during hurricane Sandy in NJ that still hadn't seen a dime of insurance money YEARS after the storm.

I’ll be going Bare in the next few years. My State Farm which we had for over 19 years denied every hurricane claim but was quick to raise my rates faithfully every year

I love this. You get insurance to prevent you from going bankrupt if there’s a disaster now insurance alone will bankrupt you.

The insurance company wants us ti replace the shingles on our house before they will reisssue the policy. The shingles have a 30 year guarantee and are 12 years old. So we don't have coverage. Paid insurance since we built the house in 1979. Insurance is the biggest scam industry in the world in my opinion. Avoid it at all costs.

Deductible for insurance is the BIGGEST scam to ever exist.

Makes a great argument for living in a travel trailer. We stay where ever we want without the exhorbitant property taxes, homeowners insurance and utilities .

As of one week ago, my wife and I made the decision to GO BARE on our Florida home. For us (when considering the rates, the deductibles, and the fact that our insurance company would not insure our house for full replacement value), it made sense.

I have an acquaintance with a second home in Florida. His insurance rates went up some ridiculous amount this year, something like $25k a year. He said screw it, I'll take my chances. Of course, he owns it outright, so no Bank/Mortgage involved.

I was in the mortgage industry for over 35 years and it never ceased to amaze me just how much insurance companies charged for mandatory flood & wind coverage (which are two separate policies outside of homeowners and in some cases (such as properties in Florida), a homeowner must carry all three policies for the life of their mortgage loan!! Combined, the homeowner could easily be paying $2,000-3,000+ a MONTH just in insurance over the cost of their mortgage, so we’re talking about a $4,000-$5,000 a month expense for an average (small) size home (under 2,400 sq. ft.) in certain locations (not including any mandatory HOA fees)! I can’t understand how people afford that, especially the retirees…no wonder people don’t wear much clothing and drive golf carts everywhere..because they can’t afford anything else!!!

For average American to survive,I think will all need to find alternative means, imagine working for 40yrs to have $1m in your retirement, while some people are putting just $10k in a meme coin for just few months and become multi millionaires. if you don't invest, you're missing out on opportunities to increase your financial worth.

That old guy was right on the mark when you said going bare was the second best decision he ever made, then looks at his wife!!! He is a gem!

Insurance companies are going to shoot themselves in the foot. It’s disgusting what they charge. Then they had the nerve to take money in premiums from people for years, and just pull out of Florida, leaving customers of twenty or more years with no coverage. What other business could take your money for years and years, give you absolutely nothing in return, and then up and leave the state, claiming bankruptcy? It’s down right fraudulent.

One of the best decisions I’ve made too! Paid off the house, dropped insurance very similar to these folks, put the insurance cost away along with the same amount the payments were. All I’d have to do is obtain my permit and get her fixed. And well before others who have to bend for the insurance companies. They can’t even do a thing except watch their home mold; four or more times the cost of the original damage.

A house is not an asset it’s an liability

I owned a ground floor condo in Las Vegas. The upstairs condo's water heater flooded and damaged my unit. I had never submitted a claim in all the years I owned the condo. After my claim was paid, the insurance company cancelled my policy because I had the nerve to submit a claim!

As long as you can afford to cover any losses, power to you.

Like a Health Savings Account (HSA), homeowners should have the option to have such a thing for home wind or flood repair. Why not?

I lost 18 years of money by deciding to “go bare” back when i was 17

I am seriously thinking of not renewing my wind and hail insurance because the prices go up every year because the housing market is so inflated. What gets me is when housing deflates, insurance never goes down, it continues to climb. We had hail damage and our insurance was not going to pay for a new roof when eight other homes on our block got new roofs for the same hail storm...we fought with them and won, but we will never forget!

I stopped in Jan. Screw the donations I was giving to the insurance companies.I live 5 miles from the beach in a 350k home with a new roof and impact resistant windows. My insurance went to $ 9,300. Everyone I know that lives in S.Fl has gone bare.They don't pay for anything anymore. If your roof is damaged, they have the right to repair instead of replace. Residents in Ft.Myers and Punta Gorda are still waiting for settlements. ENOUGH !!!

$6,000 a year is peanuts compared to what it costs to build a home these days. If you can't afford the insurance in a high risk state, you cant afford to live there, period.

i just bailed out of Naples late last year ... hoa fees jumped about $200 (%50)... fees just goes into a vacuum...

Many of us seniors, who own their homes outright, have no home owners insurance. This is nothing new. I haven't had any in 10 years, after I was dropped by my insurance, after 20 years of paying my insurance bill year after year and never ever having a claim.

Its like having your own insurance. Great idea for people that can afford to do it.

I worked for a major insurance company many years ago. I worked in the auto division but I had friends in the home-insurance department. They said that people in Florida were forced to pay for hurricane coverage, as in it was not optional. But get this; the 4 counties with the highest risk of hurricane damage had to pay higher rates while also being tempted by the offer to lower their cost if they dropped hurricanes coverage. That's right, the 4 counties with the highest rates and the highest risk of hurricane damage were the only ones with the option to decline hurricane coverage while the counties with the least odds of getting hit by a major hurricane had to pay for hurricane coverage.

Own our home in ormond-by-the sea, we too are self insured, save the insurance money, and its working OK so far.

Insurance companies make a TON of profit and spend a lot of that profit to lobby gov officials to pass laws that favor them. These companies have gotten too big and too greedy. Like the guy pointed out, the insurance is looking at the total value of the property, not the cost to replace the home in a total loss. Even if he was covered and needed a repair, they would send an adjuster that nitpicks items, like only repairing the damaged shingles/tiles when the whole roof is damaged, etc..

I stopped paying for homeowner's insurance 10 years ago. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice, but the house is only 15 years old and I maintain it to minimize fire risk, so I should be ok. I know several neighbors who are also "self insured", the trend is growing. Modern western society has conned people into wasting so much money on insurance schemes that are only there to benefit the insurance companies. The hardest part is overcoming the mindset that we have to have insurance on everything.

"Insurance: Money you pay someone so that, in an emergency, you can be told how THAT isn't covered."

More homeowners should do this… Insurance companies would change their rates

i own my house outright and i too save money instead of getting bent over by the insurance company's, hurricane Katrina was a big learning lesson for me about insurance company's and how they are not going to help you like they should. now i see more and more people forced to have insurance via mortgage and having to sell their houses because they cant afford the forced insurance payments

Hell, I paid State Farm homeowner insurance for 30 years without a single claim. In 2019 I had a minor flood claim (sump failure). I went through absolute hell with the adjuster/ trying to get my home repaired. I completely understand their decision as insurance companies are no longer your "friends" - just another shark in the soup........

I recently saw a homeowner in Florida interviewed by a reporter. The reason was that his homeowner’s insurance was canceled. Supposedly because he has solar on his roof. And the reporter said he wasn’t the only one. Solar panels can damage the roof. Especially when the installers do a bad job. I got the impression that if you want solar, mount it in your yard.

Extremely interesting and informative.

Yup! Working to pay off my home to eliminate the WASTE of money that insurance is. Pay yourself first.

Insurance is another criminal entity

I just spent a month in Steinhatchee, Fl. demolishing and rebuilding after Hurricane Idailia. The friend I did the work for didn't have flood insurance, and not having it paid him dividends in the end. If he would have been paying flood insurance since 2016, it would have cost him almost $30,000 more to repair everything. His gamble paid off, and it was well worth it. Insurance companies suck and they find any and every reason to not pay a claim. Insurance is and always will be a scam. Especially auto insurance where they have their businesses right next to the DMV.

Insurance is just a second mortage. You buy the insurance company a identical house and get nothing. If you ever have a serious claim, you have to sue them anyway...

A friend of my ex wife's just paid off their mortgage in Rogers, AR a few months ago. They promptly canceled their insurance. A tree blown over by a tornado caved in 3/4 of their house a couple of weeks ago. Knocked the whole thing off the foundation too. Total loss.

People are still fighting claims from Ian a year ago. FL is a sad state

We live at the top of a rise in the topography putting our home 150 ft above sea level and and almost 80 above the surrounding area. Insurance wants additional 5k a year for flood coverage. We decided to bank that money instead of watching it go into the insurance company's pocket. This tactic isn't for everyone but it's really paid off for us.

INSURANCE IS A SCAM AND THE SAD THING IS THAT THEY ARE BACKED UP BY LAWS.

Hats off to the Riley's!

They seem like smart and kind people.

We pay $6,000 a year in California too. Three years ago it was $1,200 a year. And we don’t have hurricanes. Plus, lived here all my life and never had earthquake damage. It’s ridiculous.

I’m actually thinking about this right now. 20 years of paying home insurance that has never been used and if I want to use it I have to a pay a deductible first. It looks like I’m not the only one who sees how ridiculous this is.

The inability to get insurance is going to be an issue with all coastal communities throughout the country soon.