Money Fix: Avoiding the disaster

In a year noted so far for natural disasters, from earthquakes to floods to tornadoes, area homeowners may look with an uneasy eye at the start of the 2011 hurricane season.

Still, those storms don't often make their way this far north until a little later in the season, which gives homeowners time to tend to some basics now.

INSURANCE: Now's a good time to review homeowners' policies to see what's covered, what's not, and if the coverage is enough for today's replacement costs. (You can calculate your home's estimated replacement cost at Accucoverage.com.) If you're in a flood zone and own your home, consider buying flood insurance, which is required of mortgage holders, says Howard Guttman, a public insurance adjuster with Paul Guttman & Co. Inc., Valley Stream. If you find you have a wind deductible, check on how that's different from a hurricane deductible.

TREES: Walk around your yard to identify trees and branches that in a hurricane wind could be in peril of falling and swiping your home or other structures, he says. If that were to happen, insurance would cover damage to your house, but most policies offer more limited coverage for tree removal, says Guttman. Better to invest now in tree removal and avoid damage down the road.

POSSESSIONS: The Internal Revenue Service advises taxpayers to have duplicates of financial records. Though many are electronic, you can scan paper documents and save them on an external hard drive, to be stored with an accountant or attorney. Also video or photograph the contents of your home. And check out the IRS' disaster-loss workbook by searching for Publication 584 at IRS.gov.