Here are five immediate steps you should take after a property loss:
1. Contact your insurance company and start your claim
The first step a property owner should take after experiencing a loss to their property is to contact their insurance company.
Insurance policies require prompt reporting of your claim and to notify your insurance company, so you mustn't wait too long to inform them of the situation.
It is important to remember that it is your responsibility to make the right decisions and move your claim forward. Claimly can help you navigate each step of the insurance claim process to ensure you receive a fair and speedy settlement.
2. Document, document, document!
It seems millennials are leaning on their parents much more than previous generations did. Nearly one in three millennials are living with mom and dad – it’s become the most common living situation among this age group, according to the US Census Bureau. Not only that, but millennials are also three times more likely to get financial help from their parents than in the past, according to USA Today.
There are a combination of factors contributing to this trend: the 2008 recession, increasing debt, the rise of helicopter parenting, and rising housing costs, among others.
These rising socioeconomic trends lead not only to a change in lifestyle, but also a change in mindset.
If your parents cook, clean, or run errands for you – or pay for you to do so – it’s difficult to feel like a completely independent adult, and to learn how to budget effectively.
In fact, 40% of millennials say financial independence is their first priority when defining adulthood (@TIME)
A changing mindset
In short, millennials are delaying traditional milestones of adulthood more and more. This does more than just alter their lifestyle – it impacts the way they see the world, according to our Chief Behavioral Officer Dan Ariely.
“When you’re a kid, your mind is trained to think only one day at a time. As you get older, you have to change your mindset and think more long term. It’s becoming more difficult for young adults to think about prioritizing their future selves, since they’re not reaching the milestones that typically force them to do so, such as getting married and having kids. Now, we have teenage years, take 2.”
There we have it. Due to these societal shifts, people in their 20s don’t feel like real adults because they haven’t reached traditional milestones. Therefore, they don’t often associate themselves with the noun ‘adult’ just yet. But sometimes, they’re forced to behave as adults – that’s where the verb ‘adulting’ comes in.
People in their 20s have to do adult-like actions sometimes, but aren’t used to doing them all the time. According to a topic model analysis by Megan Risdal, when people tweet about ‘adulting’ on Twitter, they most often refer to temporary actions that make them feel like adults, such as paying down loans, signing a lease for their first apartment, and figuring out taxes. When they temporarily do these adult activities, they often feel younger than their actions.
The bottom line
So why is adulting trending? Because so many millennials relate to this feeling of temporarily acting as adults, but not feeling like a complete adult.
But it’s pretty clear that the rise of the word ‘adulting’ is more than just a temporary fad – this phenomenon doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. The average age of marriage is still on the rise, and it’s becoming more socially acceptable to stay in your parents’ home past college.
