Intereting article

Most people insure normal things. We insure houses, cars, maybe a boat.

Lloyd's of London has helped celebrities insure many not-so-normal things for hundreds of years. In the 1940s, 20th Century Fox had the legs of Betty Grable insured for $1 million each. Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Rod Stewart have insured their ability to sing. The world-famous food critic Egon Ronay insured his taste buds in 1957 for $400,000.

As families build and grow their wealth, insurance needs will change. You may find you have accumulated articles of value that are not covered by your normal insurance policies. Do you have fine jewelry, antiques, art or even a wine collection that would be expensive to replace? If so, these items need special insurance.

Most people don't have a full accounting of all their valuables but would like to have personal insurance to replace them if something happens to them. A basic homeowner's, condo or renters policy may not provide sufficient coverage for your valuables. A typical homeowner's policy will have strict limits on coverage. For example, a standard policy will provide $1,000 of coverage for jewelry, watches and furs. That is $1,000 for the entire claim; not $1,000 per item. The standard coverage for silverware is $2,500. You may have silverware tucked away in boxes to avoid the hassle of keeping it polished. But inside those boxes you can easily have more than $2,500 of silverware.

There are two ways to obtain additional coverage for your valuables. One is to insure the valuable items individually with its own additional rider to your home insurance policy. This is sometimes referred to as "scheduling" because you need to schedule, or list, each item individually. Despite the higher price of scheduling and the fact that it usually requires appraisals of the items, scheduling has several advantages.

First, the coverage is for all risks meaning nearly all causes of loss are covered. In contrast, the basic homeowner's policy covers only specific causes of loss such as fire and theft. Even in the case of loss due to fire, if items are scheduled, you might be able to avoid arguments with your insurance company over what was in your house. Another advantage is you are covered if you lose an item — for example, if a diamond falls out of your engagement ring and is lost. Most often, there is no deductible on scheduled items. If the valuable item is damaged, lost, stolen or destroyed, the insurance company will give you a full payout.

Another way to obtain additional coverage is to buy broader blanket coverage for each category of valuables covered by your basic homeowner's policy. This approach will be less expensive . With an enhanced homeowner's policy, you can tailor the coverage amount for each category.

Regardless of what type of homeowner's insurance you have, you should have an inventory of what is in your house along with proof of those items' values, which may or may not include your legs, or your taste buds!

Phoebe Venable, chartered financial analyst, is president & COO of CapWealth Advisors LLC. Her column on women, families and building wealth appears each Saturday in The Tennessean.