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Why Are Telematic Insurance Policies Among the Most Popular Options for Drivers?

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There’s no denying that insurance policies are hardly the most popular topic for most people, , especially businesses trying to make their mark on the industry. As a result, insurance can sometimes feel like it’s more trouble than it’s worth, but it’s much more crucial than most people think.

That said, with regard to insurance, one of the most vital policies involves commercial vehicles, as most business owners have a fleet of company cars to manage different tasks. Therefore, in most cases, telematics insurance has the distinction of having the most popular insurance policies among drivers.

The rise of telematics insurance

Telematics is a combination of informatics and telecommunications, and the process of telematics through insurance utilizes a device that can keep track of vehicle behavior. For example, an insurance policy involving telematics will use trackers to help identify driver behavior that needs improving. It might seem unnecessary until you realize that driver behavior directly impacts the price of the insurance policy. Telematics is one of the most groundbreaking aspects of car insurance, as it allows you to pay less depending on best-practice methods when on the road.

Not only will you save more on fuel costs through safe and optimal driving, but you’ll also pay less as far as insurance goes. It’s the foundation for the usage-based insurance model, which many people figured was impossible for insurance policies. Instead, you have telematics paving the road for insurance policies that offer fair and reasonable packages that can be improved based on how you drive.

A far cry from most other types of insurance

The trouble with insurance is you often have to deal with the whole package, as flexibility is rarely part of an insurance policy. While the usage-based pricing model has been around for a long time, the subscription model and other usage-based tactics do not translate very well to insurance. There isn’t much of a means to track your progress, making it a challenge to figure out how best to apply usage-based pricing to insurance.

At best, you can pick and choose what you want and leave it at that. It’s only through telematics that UBI was made possible, as it uses trackers to help figure out the best way to price insurance for vehicles. While it might not necessarily be widespread just yet, the popularity of UBI has steadily grown over time.

The best way to deal with commercial car insurance

The reason why telematics insurance is so popular with drivers in this day and age is it puts the power in their hands. It offers a means of success in a way that you won’t see anywhere else, as you likely won’t find insurance policies as flexible as the one offered by telematics. It’s undoubtedly one of the most groundbreaking forms of insurance policies, and it has irreversibly changed the direction of future policies.

We live in an age where people demand more flexible products. Whether it’s through software, physical products, or insurance, services that take personal preferences into account are the ideal methods moving forward. So it’s only a matter of time before UBI grows to the point where it becomes the norm.

The idea of Bigtime Daily landed this engineer cum journalist from a multi-national company to the digital avenue. Matthew brought life to this idea and rendered all that was necessary to create an interactive and attractive platform for the readers. Apart from managing the platform, he also contributes his expertise in business niche.

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Business

The Perfect Investment: RAD Diversified and Income-Producing Farms

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Amidst the global lockdown of 2020, Dutch Mendenhall, founder of RADD America, began looking for an alternative to standard residential real-estate investments. So, he turned his analysis to farms and was blown away by the immense potential he saw. After going public in late 2019, RADD America purchased US farmland and made slices of the real estate available at minimum investments of $10,000.

Income-producing farms vs. other real estate asset classes

According to Mendenhall, an apartment complex in today’s US real estate market commands approximately a 4% or 5% cap rate. Farms offer somewhere around a 15% to 20% cap rate.

“When I first began looking at investing in farms, I compared each acre to an apartment or housing unit,” Mendenhall recalls. “The variety that income-producing farms provide is what I really love about them as an opportunity. With one season producing wheat and corn the next, you can double tap — you can raise livestock on top of agriculture. Putting money into the farm only pays off in time. Everything from improving soil to increasing irrigation makes a major impact on potential income, and so much of America’s farmland has fallen into disrepair during the last 20 years.”

When Mendenhall began investing during the early days of the pandemic, sustainable acres of producing farmland sold anywhere from $3,500 to $5,000. Today, he finds that income-producing acres of farmland easily sell for $9,500 to $10,000.

“I’ve seen farmland values almost double during the last couple of years,” Mendenhall says. “Currently, we’re in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Idaho, but we are analyzing land all over America. What reports don’t show is the difference between a properly maintained acre of farmland and an acre that is in disarray. There’s only so much workable farmland on the market today. We’ve hit the tipping point, and now, there’s a scarcity of land for people to buy. If you have the opportunity to purchase amazing agricultural land, you have to pull the trigger quickly.”

Income-producing farms as an asset class

Mendenhall is no stranger to investors. Since 2006, he’s connected them to deals in short sales, wholesaling, residential properties, and storage units, though he admits that every asset class has caused the same excitement as farmland. “At this point, we can’t find enough bargains for our investors,” he says. “They take real pride in their investments and keep asking us for more.”

RADD America takes a true grassroots approach when connecting its investors to farmland. “The farming world is different from any other in real estate,” explains Mendenhall. “We start by having our acquisitions and agricultural teams meet with farmers. When we get ready to brand cattle or plant, all the local farmers come and help. In the same spirit, our teams go out and help the local farmers when it’s their turn to brand and plant. To do it right, you have to build a relationship and a connection that’s quite different than other types of investing.”

RADD America is composed of expert investors and expert farmers. The company offers its investments through fractionalized ownership. In other words, the company purchases one farm and then allows a joint pool of investors to own it together. 

“If you don’t have a team that knows how to farm and maximize income, you’re not going to get the best possible return for investors,” warns Mendenhall. “Thankfully, our team isn’t so big for this type of investing that we forget who we are, and we have the economy to scale at a great pace.”

The impact of global competition on income-producing farm investments

RADD America closely monitors global trends. In Mendenhall’s experience, investors win when they move before the market. However, when they move after the market, they lose.

“When Russian first invaded and sparked its war with Ukraine, for example, we kept a close eye on its global impact,” he says. “As one of the largest producers of wheat in the world, we knew that Ukraine — now in the midst of a war — wasn’t going to be able to produce wheat at the same scale, so someone else needs to step in and fill the gap. We’re constantly monitoring what’s happening in the world to stay on top of evolving trends.”

In terms of global competition, Mendenhall is frustrated by foreign entities staking ownership of American farmland and agriculture. In this area, China has positioned itself as the number one threat to the sovereignty of the United States.

“When foreign powers have ownership of agricultural land in the US, it puts us all at risk as Americans,” remarks Mendenhall. “Over the past few years, we’ve seen soil quality erode, closures of meatpacking plants, and numerous fires. The likelihood of nuclear war in this age is very small. The quiet war of buying American agriculture and unsettling the American dollar is the threat we face today.”

Clearly, RADD America has a lot to pay attention to at home and abroad. “We’re monitoring weather patterns and making one-year, three-year, and five-year predictions,” Mendenhall explains. “We’re also paying close attention to interest rates to see where this shifting economy is headed. The up-and-down cycles are faster than they’ve ever been. Monitoring the industry is critical. With expert investors and agricultural specialists from RADD America on your team, farmland can be one of your most promising and rewarding investment opportunities.”

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