Insurance

[laurab]

I was wondering.....does anyone here have their birds insured????

[Strawblady2000]

You know, my husband and I were discussing this very thing.

We do have insurance for all of our property...$100,000 I believe. $500 deductible and about just under $50 a month. BUT, it does not cover animals, such as pets. I dont think this company offers biz insurance either, as it is strictly insurance for military officers and their dependants.

As a business, I would need biz insurance, so the premium would probably be a bit higher. With insurance, it would cover unexpected catastrophes...weather, illness of the entire flock etc. I couldnt see making any claims for losing a bird or two...unless they would be very expensive. Otherwise rates would far outweigh the benefit of having it.

Unfortunatley, here, shopping for insurance can be detrimental to your crediut score (not sure if you have the same system for obtaining credit cars, loans, etc), as each insurance company pulls your report, which lowers your score each time it is pulled. BUT...that's a whole other issue, lol. (I used to mderate a board that dealt with these issues, lol...old habits die hard!)

It would certainly be worth it...we can have violent weather here that can destroy your whole house in a single storm...and there are all types of illnesses that can strike your flock. The catastrophes can come in all shapes and sizes...so it's a great point, Laura.

Are you considering it?

[Waxbillman]

nope i don't have insurance, extra money, and would they even insure small birds?

Nikki

why run your set up as a business, surely you'll just be paying extra money and taxes, class them as pets as i'm, sure they are rather than a business then you don't get charge allot.

Matthew

[laurab]

I am thinking about it. I learnt today that one of my pairs of birds are currently being listed at £200 a pair!!

Problem is with the current climate would I ever be able to replace them if I had to? :-?

Some years ago I lost near on 40 birds in one night, possibly due to night fright. It took me a long time to recover from that and build my stock back up again and they were fairly common finches and nothing as expensive as I have now.

[kenny]

hi laura
i suppose the recopense from a bird death would be useless as you say because you probably would not be able to replace them.but maybe you would be able to get something else with the money where as if you lost them you would have no birds ,and no money to replace them

ken

[kenny]

hi laura
just a small point on that,if you are thinking about insurance make sure it is like for like otherwise you may not get back what they are worth if you get index linked it will go up with the cost of living


ken

[Strawblady2000]

Hi Matthew,

Well, it's tricky. Yes, as a biz, you DO have taxes...IF you list a profit. I list as a business because of the tax deductions. Last year, we had an increase of about 1500 in our tax refund because of this. I can subtract all things bird related (including mileage to and from stores, shows, etc as well (.48 a mile)

Listed as pets, I cannot deduct from our gross income the cost of birds, food, cages, supplies, etc. As a business I can. As I dont mass-produce them, my profit would be very little, if any, and I get the increase in tax benefits because of this. Requirements are to show profit in 3 of 5 years.

My goal is to make just enough to break even. No biz taxes on a state or city level...we dont live within city limits, and I dont retail as of yet, so there's no sales tax. Also, if I do end up having to pay any state tax, it is biz deductible on our federal taxes as well.

I'm not sure how it works there...but owning a biz is a strategic way to reduce federal income taxes.

This, coupled with the lower pricing I pay as a breeder more than makes up for the taxes on any profit I'd have to pay.

Maybe as a tax accountant, I'm pre-programmed to do this, lol...but it certainly has benefited us, the amount of taxes we pay,

And...another benefit...it helps our family income out. We took a 100k per year pay cut when we almost lost 2 of our kids a couple years ago...which is why I'm at home with them now. So...it beats working nights when hubby gets home (kids cannot go to daycare).

It may not make much sense...but it really pays off. And, lol...I get to say I'm self-employed, lol!

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello all,

I believe that insurance regarding Bird collections including certain expensive Parrot, Softbill and Waterfowl collections would benefit, but it is looking likely that even collections of once common Birds will become worthy of insurance.
The problem that I see is that Bird insurance companies accepting the genuine price increases in replacing losses of a Bird that cost you £20 to buy a year ago that may well cost you £100 to replace under the present climate (if it is available)??:roll:

In the Motor Trade there exists a steady price guide, but in the Bird World circumstances have changed a great deal in a very short period of time.

Despite the major change in the expected prices of Birds, I can see many an argument regarding payouts over losses of Birds that were insured before the recent import bans.

Paul.:-|