Fewer than 1 in 10 people insure their jewelry and other valuables

Insurance to protect against the loss of a piece of jewelry valued at $5,000 can cost as little as $50 per year. Most people would agree that that is pretty inexpensive given how frequently people seem to lose things such as rings and earrings.

However, the Allstate Insurance Company reports that only 7 to 8 percent of the company's 7.4 million home insurance policyholders buy the additional insurance to cover expensive jewelry (or art, or silverware, etc). Allstate thinks that most people simply assume that coverage is provided under a regular homeowner's policy. However, many policies have a $1,000 limit on stolen items, no matter how expensive the item was. Also, some people probably intend to get the coverage but forget to compile a list of the jewelry they want to insure and then getting appraisals is something they never get around to doing.

If you own some expensive jewelry that you probably couldn't afford to replace if it were lost or stolen, you should talk to your agent about adding a rider to cover the items. For more information on this topic, check out this recent NY Times article.