Want to Maximize Your Insurance Dollars in 2008?

Want to Maximize Your Insurance Dollars in 2008? Make ‘Conduct a Home Inventory’ One of Your New Year’s Resolutions

The I.I.I.’s Newest Version of a Popular Software Makes Creating and Storing a Home Inventory Easier than Ever

NEW YORK, December 27, 2023 – One of the best ways to make the most of your homeowners insurance is to have an up-to-date home inventory of your personal possessions. With so many people receiving expensive holiday gifts or taking advantage of the end-of-season sales on everything from home electronics to linens, dishes and other household items, there has never been a better time to create or update your home inventory, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.)

"Having an up-to-date home inventory is one of the best ways to make the most of your insurance dollars," said Jeanne M. Salvatore, senior vice president and consumer spokesperson for the I.I.I. "A home inventory lists all your personal possessions and their estimated value. This helps you to purchase the right amount of insurance and will make the claims process faster and easier if there is a fire, hurricane or other type of disaster. And, remember, there is virtually no part of the country that is immune from some sort of catastrophe."

To encourage consumers to create a home inventory, the I.I.I. has developed the popular software program, Know Your Stuff. The software has been updated and version 3 is now available, making it easier than ever to enter, edit, print and store a home inventory. The new version can store multiple photographs of rooms and objects, and makes handling large inventory files fast, stable and secure.

The I.I.I.’s Know Your Stuff – Home Inventory Software makes the task of creating an inventory simple. It allows you to organize your possessions room by room and provides lists of possessions that are typically found in certain rooms as a prompt. It also has the capacity to store digital photographs so that you can document your possessions visually.

It is easy to update and store a digital home inventory-it takes no more effort than the click of a mouse to add a new possession. And when it comes to storing your digital home inventory, there are many options: saving it on an internal or external hard drive or; using an online storage solution; burning it onto a CD; or printing out a room-by-room document. Try to make multiple copies, and be sure to keep at least one copy of your inventory outside of your home, in a safety deposit box or other secure location.

Both Windows and Mac OS versions of Know Your Stuff, version 3 are available as a free download at: http://www.knowyourstuff.org. The software and your personal home inventory files are all stored on your computer to safeguard your privacy; the I.I.I. does not have access to any of the information about your home or possessions that you input.

Vault 24™ Secure Inventory Storage

The I.I.I. now also provides an optional, easy-to-use, low cost inventory storage service integrated into version 3 of the Know Your Stuff software. Secure Swiss Databank, also known as Vault 24™, utilizes an intelligent back-up strategy that makes it virtually impossible to lose inventory data. The back-up servers are safely located in Switzerland, the world’s most secure banking zone. This way, if your home is destroyed, you can access this information remotely 24/7. Vault 24™ is ideal for long-term use and takes into account every aspect of a client’s privacy and security. You can register in less than five minutes. To find out more about Vault 24™ go to http://www.vault24.com/public/ .

"We’re proud of our software improvements, including incorporating Vault 24™ into this latest version," said Salvatore. "This easy-to-use service is ideally suited for storage and management of critical financial information."

"Emailing the link to family and friends is also a fun, free gift that they will really appreciate if they are ever the victim of a disaster," added Salvatore.

To view a video about taking a home inventory, go to: http://www.iii.org/static/video/mediaplayer/hinventory.wmv .

To download a related audio file, go to:
http://www.iii.org/media/radio/prkys3/ .

To download the new Know Your Stuff software, go to: http://www.knowyourstuff.org .

For more information about insurance and creating and keeping a home inventory, go to the I.I.I. Web site: http://www.iii.org.

INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE
Contact: Press Offices
New York: 212-346-5500; media@iii.org
Washington, D.C.: 202-833-1580

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