Which insurance to buy, which to skip

You can get insurance on almost anything — computers, phones, trips, your identity, your credit, your pets, and even home warranties! But should you?

I saw a Marketwatch story about which policies you need to have and which you can skip.

The “skips” include extended warranties, home warranties, mobile phone insurance, identity theft insurance, credit monitoring, and pet insurance. (Boy, it sounds like they just took a segment from The Clark Howard Show for that one!)

The article goes on to identify one “maybe” that’s a gray area: Trip insurance policies. But I say if you’re buying a cruise or a tour — anything where you lay out big money where you’ll lose the dough if you can’t go regardless of the reason — then you need to buy that policy.

The “buys” include no-brainers like auto insurance, medical insurance, renter’s insurance, and an umbrella policy if you have a lot of assets.