Ask Tim

I'm told that today, July 18, is national Insurance Nerd Day​. I had no idea. The Hallmark people must have forgotten to print cards for the occasion this year. I will take that matter up with them later. In the meantime, because it is a slow news day Insurance Nerd​ Day, I have been begged bribed threatened asked to pen a few words about this revered date on the calendar.What is an insurance nerd? How do you know if you are one? Well, if you didn't figure it out when you entered kindergarten, here are some signs. With apologies credit to that famous American philosopher Jeff Foxworthy​,…

​Monday February 20 is Presidents Day, when the country celebrates the 46 men (they've all been men so far) who have held the land's highest office. You may not have known this, but your resident Insurance Geek is also a History Geek. In honor of the holiday, I've assembled some information about our former chief executives that many of you may not know.Five presidents were born in the Empire State:Martin Van Buren (Kinderhook, Columbia County 1782)Millard Fillmore (Moravia, Cayuga County 1800Theodore Roosevelt (New York, New York County, 1858)Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Hyde Park, Dutchess County 1882)Donald Trump, (Queens, Queens County 1946)Ten others lived in New York before or…

​Nearly eight years after New York’s certificates of insurance law​ took effect, there appears to still be some misunderstanding of what the law allows and prohibits. Big I New York members regularly call or email us about whether it’s permissible to use certain forms, certain wording, show certificate holders in a certain way, what limits to display, and so on. Other members will receive a certificate form from a client’s subcontractor or vendor and wonder if the form is legal.The fact of the matter is that most of these questions way over-complicate what the law says. When it comes to an insurance agency or brokerage…