Unusual Insurance You Might Need

We're all familiar with the usual suspects in the insurance business. Companies like Allstate (NYSE: ALL  ) and Travelers (NYSE: TRV  ) offer wide varieties of insurance. And there are all sorts of policies you can choose from: life insurance, auto insurance, home insurance, renter's insurance, health insurance, disability insurance, long-term care insurance, and even pet health insurance.

I've recently run across some other kinds of insurance, though, some of which you might want to know about. So please read on.

• For starters, there's business life insurance, which can help protect your company (if you're an entrepreneur) in the event that you die. Without it, your family assets might be at risk, or your business might end up folding when it doesn't have to, putting your employees out of work. Sometimes called "key person" insurance, you might also consider covering your most valuable employees, protecting you if you lose someone who's critical to your success. In The Baltimore Sun, Stephen L. Rosenstein explained, "If a business has multiple owners, each partner could have a life insurance policy to trigger an automatic buyout of the deceased partner's interest."

• Antiques insurance protects you against the loss of a valuable treasure. Your regular homeowner's insurance might not cover it or might not pay for it to be fully restored, so look into just how much coverage you have for it and whether you might need a special policy for that Louis XV armoire.

• Don't laugh, but you might also need ... body part insurance. It's not just for star athletes any more. Think about it: If you make your living playing the trombone, you might want to insure that elbow of yours. Losing it might mean the end of your livelihood, after all. Remember that episode of Seinfeld where George Costanza becomes a successful hand model, only to lose that gig when he accidentally burns his hand? Body part insurance would have been helpful then.

Keep learning
Learn more in our Insurance Center. You can also learn a lot at your insurers' websites. Websites of insurers such as Safeco (NYSE: SAF  ) , Hartford Financial (NYSE: HIG  ) , and Nationwide (NYSE: NFS  ) have good information for both policy-holders and the general public.

• These articles may also be of interest:
• Health Insurance for Young Retirees
• Keep Life Insurance Simple
• When to Buy Long-Term Care Insurance