Now that I have reached my forties and am considered to be "middle aged," I find myself reflecting on those things that are most important in my life. I have good health, a successful career, financial independence, and wonderful friends - in short, I'm very fortunate. My family, however, is my highest priority. They are more important to me than anything else in the world, and I will fiercely protect them and their futures. If tragedy strikes, I want to make sure my family will be taken care of. One way I ensure my family is protected is to purchase underinsured motorist insurance.

In California, the law requires that all drivers carry liability insurance in order to drive a motor vehicle. Though, in reality, there are still many people who drive without any insurance coverage at all. In the unfortunate event you are injured in an accident by an uninsured motorist, your uninsured motorist insurance would pay you for your injuries, up to your policy limits. So having an uninsured motorist policy is exceedingly important.

However, what happens when the at-fault driver has some liability insurance, but not enough to pay for all of your losses? When this happens, your family can relax because they are protected by the underinsured motorist insurance.

Underinsured motorist insurance offers your family additional insurance coverage above and beyond the at-fault driver’s liability insurance. (There is no extra charge for underinsured motorist coverage - it is included in your uninsured motorist coverage!) In the above injury scenario, once you have exhausted the at-fault driver's liability insurance, your insurance company pays for your losses. With this coverage there are two catches you must keep in mind.

First, the amount of your uninsured motorist coverage must be more than the at-fault driver's liability insurance coverage. Let’s take an example where the fault driver carries liability insurance of up to $15,000 and you carry $15,000 of uninsured motorist insurance. In this case, the most you can receive is $15,000 irrespective of the severity of you injuries. So essentially, you are not covered for underinsured motorists. But if the at-fault driver has $15,000 of liability insurance and you carry $100,000 of uninsured motorist, then you can receive up to $100,000 in benefits. Thus, you should have a high limit on your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage to make sure your family has the best protection.

Second, generally carriers do not allow you to get more uninsured motorist coverage than your liability insurance. That means you may end up buying more liability insurance than you need.

Shockingly, you will not have to pay a lot more for both liability insurance and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Most of your premium goes toward the purchase of the lower policy limit. By purchasing more insurance, you will notice that the price actually goes down!

A critical device for your family's protection is a substantial uninsured/underinsured motorist policy. Not having uninsured motorist insurance is pretty much like having a house with no roof. And if you are a normal person like me, you always insure that your family has a safe and sturdy roof over their heads.