As a business owner you are looking to attract, hire, and retain the best employees you can. One key way to do this is to offer group benefits. However, if you have never offered group benefits before, it can be confusing, messy, and honestly hard to understand sometimes. In today’s world there are so many different benefits you can offer to your employees, but not only that, there are so many regulations and laws regarding these benefits.   To try to tackle it on your own may be overwhelming! Let’s start by discussing a [...]

There is a misconception that all of your personal property is insured under your homeowners, renters, condo, or dwelling insurance policies. The truth of the matter is that most valuables have limits on coverage that the policy will actually cover. Your standard policy will only protect your valuables against losses listed in your policy such as fire, smoke, vandalism, etc. It will also only cover the items for the limit specified. These limits and exclusions often leave individuals underinsured. A personal article floater is a separate policy, or sometimes a rider on your [...]

Many businesses, big and small, like to consider themselves as a family. This is why many employers could never consider that they could be sued by an employee, past, present, or future. However, a study conducted by Trusted Choice shows that over the last 20 years, employee lawsuits have risen 400%, with wrongful termination suits rising 260%. Employee lawsuits are a common form of business-related claims and employment practices liability insurance can help to provide financial protection form a variety of employee claims. Employment practices liability insurance can also aid in defense costs [...]

Nobody likes to buy insurance.  It’s the one item that we buy that there is not a guarantee on a certain return.   We hear the tragic stories of others on our newsfeed or on the news.  We think for a moment, what if something unfortunate happens to myself or one of my family members? These morbid thoughts would enter into my head and then I’d dismiss it and tell myself, “I am not going to be like one of those people that I see on the funny insurance commercials.  Do squirrels really high [...]

We don’t know, what we don’t know… about insurance gaps. Do you have insurance? If you own a car, you are required by law to have auto insurance. You may have homeowners or renter’s insurance depending on your living situation. You may have even taken the steps to get life insurance or disability insurance, or, your employer may provide those benefits. No matter who you are or what your life choices have led to, you most likely have some sort of insurance. However, the real question is, do you have enough insurance coverage [...]

The 7th Annual Athens Street Fair takes place on Friday, July 20th (12 PM – 8 PM) and Saturday the 21st (9 AM – 2 PM) on S Main Street in downtown Athens. The Street Fair will have over 65 different vendors, delicious food, fun games for the kids and live music performances by Devin Franks and the Ampersand Project. We will be teaming up with the Animal Care Sanctuary to try to find some pets their “forever homes”. The Animal Care Sanctuary will be bringing adoptable dogs and if the weather [...]

As an Insurance Educator, it’s my job to ask questions. When was the last time your agent sat down with you and did a comprehensive policy review? Does your current agent shop your policy for you to make sure it’s the most competitive price? Connecting back to my post on LinkedIn a few weeks ago, a good agent is proactive; not reactive. The time for your agent to react is not when you come back to them with a proposal from the competition. Here’s what normally happens: You don’t hear from your [...]

Every community, organization and holiday event seems to have its own Santa Claus— a jolly volunteer behind the flowing white beard and garbed in that familiar red and white suit. Such is the case with Jeff Ruddell, a member of the Gannon Associates family working out of its Tunkhannock office. Jeff has been playing Santa for “15 years at least” and was again the main attraction (for kids anxious to get on Santa’s good side anyway) at Tunkhannock’s recent Christmas in Our Hometown event. Gannon was the corporate sponsor, along with Travelers, [...]

Gannon Associates Insurance retains its Best Practices status, once again becoming a part of an elite group of independent insurance agencies around the United States. This status comes by participating in the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I”) Best Practices Study group. The annual survey and Study of leading independent insurance agencies documents the business practices of the “best” agencies and urges others to adopt similar practices. Since 1993, IIABA and Reagan Consulting, an Atlanta-based management consulting firm, have join forces to study the country’s leading [...]