Ensure That You Insure Wisely
You have to make every penny count but, especially in the very physical ´¼üeld of personal training, don’t want to skimp on insurance. Quicken.com’s Karen Cheney says that, although rising insurance premiums are practically unavoidable, you can avoid paying more than is absolutely necessary.
Property/Liability Insurance. According to Cheney, not all insurance policies are equal or equally expensive. A carrier’s premiums for personal training businesses can depend considerably on its experience with claims against such businesses. Instead of assuming that what your insurance agent recommends is necessarily best for you, search for a carrier that hasn’t experienced excessive claims from establishments like yours; it can pay off.
Increasing your deductible can also decrease your premiums, but it must be significantly larger to be worth the trouble. Whereas increasing your deductible from $500 to $1,000 won’t do much good, increasing it from $500 to $2,500 can make a huge difference. Just be sure to keep the amount of the larger deductible in a reliable savings vehicle in case you need it.
Health Insurance. If you read “Tricks of the Trade” in last month’s issue of IDEA Personal Trainer, you realize that not all personal training businesses can provide full, if any, health coverage for their employees. One option is to implement a defined-contribution plan, in which you give your employees a specific amount of money toward purchasing their own coverage. Gary Claxton, vice president and director of the health care marketplace project for the Kaiser Family Foundation, says that some employers offer both a health savings account and health insurance with a high deductible.
Business owner Ed Maxwell devised a particularly creative solution. “If an employee has health insurance through a spouse, we encourage [the employee] to keep it and reimburse [the employee] for the copayment cost 100 percent,” he said. Maxwell also deducts the cost of copayments from his employees’ paychecks so they don’t pay taxes on those out-of-pocket expenses.
Worker’s Compensation. In the case of personal training, creating policies to protect your employees from possible harm can help minimize your premium. Further-more, these premiums depend on occupations’ relative risk of work-related injury; updating your employees’ classification codes helps ensure that you pay exactly what you ought to pay.
Discuss your business and financial situation candidly with your insurance agent to determine the best package for you. One of the premier insurance providers for the fitness industry is Fitness and Wellness Insurance (formerly Murria and Frick), which you can contact by calling (800) 395-8075 or clicking here
Need Insurance? Choose from the Following Fitness Insurance Categories:
Group Fitness Instructor Insurance
Other categories: martial arts insurance, dance instructor insurance, life coach insurance and Reiki practitioner insurance
Lenita Anthony, MA
Lenita Anthony, MA, is an exercise physiologist, Reebok master trainer and national coach for the Reebok WomenÔÇÖs Triathlon Series. She is also a contributing editor for IDEA publications.
Certification: ACSM
