Each year, your homeowner's insurance policy renews. Do you review it each year or do you simply sign the premium check and send it off in the mail? Reviewing your coverage each year may be a bit of a chore, but it's a necessary one. After all, you may be paying for coverage that you don't need or underinsuring your valuables. Wouldn't you rather find out now instead of after a catastrophe?

Insurance Coverages You Need: If you haven't updated your insurance coverage in some time, your home may be vastly underinsured. For example, if your home is worth $150,000 on the real estate market, how much insurance should you carry? $150,000? $75,000? $300,000? While your mortgage broker may require a specific amount of insurance (usually the value of the mortgage), the real answer depends on how much it would cost to rebuild the home. If it will cost $200,000 to rebuild your home, then you will need at least that much coverage; otherwise, you'll come up short.

In general, you will need enough insurance to cover: rebuilding your home, replacing your personal property, paying for temporary living expenses during repairs, and covering your liability to others.

When it comes to covering your rebuilding your home, multiply the square footage of your home by local "per square foot" construction costs. Contact the local building association, a realtor, or your insurance agent to obtain the local construction cost figure. Insuring your possessions is trickier than simply saying, "I'll take $50,000 in coverage." First, go room through room and document your belongings. Include dollar figures of how much it would cost to replace each item. Make sure that your policy uses "replacement cost" rather than "actual cash value." In addition, be aware of the limitations of your policy. For example, fine jewelry, fur, silverware, artwork, coin collections, electronics, cash, and guns (as well as other items) often have maximum limits. If you have valuables exceeding these limits, you will need to obtain an endorsement or rider.

Buy enough liability to cover your assets. For example, if you have $1 million in savings and other assets, yet only have $300,000 in liability insurance and are involved in a liability lawsuit, the plaintiff may pursue your additional assets above and beyond your liability limits.

If you live in an area where the risk of floods or earthquakes is of concern, you may want to consider optional flood or earthquake insurance as these perils are excluded from typical insurance policies. In addition, if you have a swimming pool or a dog, you might need additional coverage addressing these increased risks.

Insurance Coverages You Don't Need: Reviewing your policy each year helps ensure that you aren't paying for coverages you do not need. For example, if you had purchased a rider adding coverage because you owned a pit bull and the dog has since died, you can drop coverage. Likewise, if you've sold your jewelry or art collection, why continue to insure it with an expensive rider? Look at your coverages, endorsements, riders, and limits with an eye for whether that coverage is still necessary. In addition, look at the dollar figures. A few years ago, it may have made sense to pay an extra $100 per year to add a rider protecting your computer from household mishaps, but now that you can buy a comparable computer for a few hundred dollars as opposed to thousands, the coverage may no longer be worth the price.

Finally, while examining your insurance policy, schedule a consultation with your insurance company or agent and ask how you can reduce your costs while maintaining adequate coverage. For example, by installing deadbolt locks or a security system, you may reap a large discount.