June 28 is National Insurance Awareness Day — a date most people have never heard of, and yet one of the most useful 24 hours on the calendar. It exists for one simple reason: to remind us that the insurance policies sitting in a drawer or a forgotten email inbox are quietly aging while our lives keep changing. Homes get remodeled. Kids get driver’s licenses. Businesses hire their tenth employee. Retirement accounts grow. Boats get bigger. And somewhere in the background, the policies that were “perfect” three, five, or ten years ago slowly drift out of alignment with the lives they were designed to protect.

At Comegys Insurance Agency, we’ve been helping Florida families and business owners navigate exactly this kind of drift since 1939. As a family-owned, third-generation independent agency headquartered in downtown St. Petersburg, we’ve sat with three generations of some of our clients’ families. One thing we’ve learned in 85+ years: the households with the fewest surprises when something goes wrong are the ones who take thirty minutes once a year to actually look at what they have.

That is all National Insurance Awareness Day is really asking. Thirty minutes. One annual insurance review. A handful of honest questions. This article walks you through exactly what those questions are, what the research says about how most Florida families are falling short, and how a conversation with an independent agent can turn that annual review into one of the most financially valuable decisions of the year.

National Insurance Awareness Day is observed every year on June 28. The reason it stuck is that it answers a real problem: most people never think about their insurance until they need it, and by then the decisions that matter have already been made.

The National Day Calendar puts it plainly: the day “encourages us to review our insurance policies to ensure our property is protected in the case of an emergency or natural disaster.” But an annual insurance review covers far more than property. It covers your income if you become disabled. It covers your family if something happens to you. It covers your business if a key employee is out for six months. It covers the liability exposure from the teenager who just got a driver’s license, the pool you installed last summer, and the short-term rental you started listing in the fall.

Insurance is a system that only works when all the parts are in alignment. National Insurance Awareness Day is the annual prompt to check that alignment — and in Florida, where weather, rebuilding costs, and the insurance market itself change frequently, that check may be more important than it is in most other states.

Before we talk about what to review, consider what the research has found. According to CoreLogic’s Residential Cost Handbook, an estimated 64% of U.S. homes are underinsured — meaning the dwelling coverage on the policy would not actually be enough to rebuild after a total loss. A separate analysis cited in a January 2026 Financial Sense report found that approximately 60 percent of homeowners are underinsured and that residential structural replacement costs have climbed nearly 30 percent over the past five years.

The problem isn’t irresponsibility. The problem is that homes don’t come with a dashboard light that turns on when coverage falls out of alignment with rebuilding costs. You can have the same policy you’ve always had, paying the same premium you’ve always paid, and be tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars short of what you’d need to rebuild — and never know it until the worst day of your life.

A 2026 study from the University of Colorado, “Coverage Neglect in Homeowners Insurance,” analyzed insurance contracts from nearly 5,000 homeowners who filed claims after a major wildfire. The findings: 74% were underinsured, and 36% were severely underinsured — meaning their coverage was less than 75% of what it would actually cost to rebuild. As the study’s co-author put it: “If it costs $1 million to rebuild, that’s $250,000 people have to come up with.”

A nationwide insurance survey found that 55% of homeowners who completed a major renovation in the past two years did not report it to their insurance company — meaning the new kitchen, finished basement, or added pool that materially changed their home’s value was never reflected in their coverage. This is the real case for an annual insurance review in Florida. These gaps are quietly widening, and thirty minutes a year with an experienced agent is often the only thing that catches them.

You don’t need to wait until June 28 every year. Certain life events should automatically prompt a conversation with your agent — ideally within 30 days of the change.

Changes to your home

• Major renovations or additions — kitchen remodels, new bathrooms, added square footage
• New roof, HVAC, updated electrical or plumbing (these may earn premium credits)
• Adding a pool, hot tub, deck, trampoline, or outdoor kitchen
• Installing solar panels, a generator, or a new security system
• Starting a short-term rental — this may affect standard homeowners coverage if not disclosed
• Running a business out of your home

Changes to your family

• Marriage, divorce, or a change in domestic partnership
• Birth or adoption of a child
• A child getting a learner’s permit or driver’s license
• A child leaving for college or moving back home
• Aging parents moving in
• Death of a spouse or dependent listed on any policy

Changes to your assets

• Buying or selling a vehicle, boat, motorcycle, or RV
• Inheriting valuable items — jewelry, art, antiques, collectibles
• A significant increase in retirement accounts, investments, or savings
• Purchasing a second home, vacation property, or investment property

Changes to your work or business

• Starting a new business or hiring your first employee
• Moving to a larger commercial space or adding commercial vehicles
• Taking on a new line of business with different liability exposure
• Retiring — which changes everything from auto to life insurance needs

If you do one thing for National Insurance Awareness Day this year, schedule thirty minutes with your agent and walk through these questions.

• Is my dwelling coverage enough to actually rebuild my home today? Ask for a current replacement cost estimate based on today’s construction costs in your area — not the purchase price or market value. In Florida, rebuilding costs have risen sharply in recent years.
• What’s my hurricane or named-storm deductible in actual dollars? A 5% deductible on a $500,000 home is $25,000 out of pocket. Know the number.
• Do I have replacement cost coverage on my belongings, or actual cash value? Replacement cost pays to replace your ten-year-old sofa with a new one. Actual cash value subtracts depreciation. The premium difference is usually small; the claim difference can be enormous.
• Am I carrying enough liability coverage given my current net worth? This is the question that most often leads to a recommendation for a personal umbrella policy.
• Does my auto policy reflect everyone who drives my cars? New teen drivers, college students, adult children who moved back home — all of these matter in Florida.
• If I’m a business owner, does my commercial policy still match what I actually do? A business that started as a one-person consulting operation and now has five employees and a storefront has very different insurance needs.
• Do I have life insurance, and is it still the right amount? Life insurance needs change dramatically with marriage, children, mortgages, and business ownership.
• What discounts am I currently getting — and what am I missing? Multi-policy, claims-free, wind mitigation credits, alarm system, new roof, and good student discounts can add up to meaningful annual savings.
• Are there gaps between my policies I should know about? Flood, sewer backup, jewelry and valuables, short-term rental activity, and business use of personal vehicles are common blind spots in Florida.
• If I had a claim today, what is the step-by-step process? A good agent can walk you through exactly who to call, what to document, and how long resolution typically takes.

If there is one product we wish more Florida households understood, it’s the personal umbrella policy. An umbrella policy adds an extra layer of liability coverage on top of your existing auto, homeowners, and watercraft policies — usually in $1 million increments — at a surprisingly affordable cost. A $1 million umbrella typically runs between $200 and $400 per year for most families.

Why does this matter? Because the liability limits on a standard auto policy — often $100,000 or $300,000 — were set decades ago, when medical costs, jury awards, and household net worth were all dramatically lower. A serious at-fault auto accident in Florida can easily produce claims that exceed a standard policy’s limit. Everything above the limit is your personal financial exposure.

Common scenarios where an umbrella policy may make a meaningful difference:

• A teenage driver causes a multi-vehicle accident with serious injuries
• A guest is injured at your home — falling off a ladder, slipping by the pool, or bitten by a dog
• A boating accident on Florida waters
• A short-term rental guest is injured on your property
• You’re named in a lawsuit stemming from a social media post, coaching a youth sports team, or volunteering

Our agents at Comegys run an umbrella quote for virtually every homeowners and auto client we review. For roughly the cost of a monthly streaming service, it may add $1 million of protection to your existing coverage.

Life insurance is the hardest annual review to have because the subject matter is uncomfortable. But according to data from LIMRA and Finseca, roughly 40% of Americans lack life insurance entirely, and nearly 42% of households say they would face financial hardship within six months if a primary wage earner died unexpectedly. On National Insurance Awareness Day, the life insurance conversation is worth ten minutes of your time:

• Do I have life insurance, and how much — is that still the right number given my income, mortgage, and family situation?
• Is it term or permanent coverage, and which makes sense at this stage of life?
• Am I relying entirely on a group policy through work — which disappears if I change jobs?
• If I own a business with partners, do we have a buy-sell agreement funded by life insurance?

Comegys writes life insurance for individuals, families, and business owners throughout Florida. As an independent agency, we compare across multiple carriers rather than being limited to a single company’s products.

If you own a business in Florida, an annual insurance review may be even more important than a personal one. Business activities and exposures change quickly, and commercial policies often contain provisions tied directly to what you do, how much revenue you generate, how many employees you have, and what assets you own. A policy written three years ago for a small consulting firm may be badly out of date for the company that business has since become.

The annual commercial review should consider general liability limits given current revenue and contract requirements, commercial property coverage with updated replacement cost values, business interruption coverage adequacy, workers’ compensation accuracy, commercial auto, cyber liability, professional liability, employment practices liability, and key person life insurance for ownership continuity.

Comegys has been writing business and commercial insurance for Florida companies since 1939. For a deeper look at commercial hurricane preparedness specifically, see our posts Hurricane Season Is Coming — Is Your Business Coverage Ready? and Florida Businesses Brace for Hurricane Season as Insurance Confidence Falters.

Auto insurance is often the policy people pay the most attention to and the least attention to at the same time. A few items worth an annual look specific to Florida:

• Bodily injury liability limits — Florida’s minimum requirements are among the lowest in the country and are rarely sufficient for a serious accident. Most insurance professionals recommend at least $100,000/$300,000 in limits.
• Uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage — Florida has one of the highest rates of uninsured drivers in the nation. UM/UIM coverage may protect you and your family if you’re hit by someone without adequate insurance.
• Comprehensive coverage — this is what may cover your vehicle for flood, theft, hail, and falling objects. Basic liability-only policies do not include it.
• Discounts you may now qualify for — good student, low mileage, defensive driving, multi-policy, and automatic payment discounts all add up

National Insurance Awareness Day is, at its core, a prompt to talk to a human. There are two fundamentally different kinds of insurance representatives:

Captive agents work for a single insurance company and can only offer that company’s products. If their company’s rates go up or their underwriting tightens, their clients have limited options besides starting over elsewhere.

Independent agents like Comegys represent many different carriers. When rates or underwriting change at one company, an independent agent can shop your coverage across the others — often without the client having to do anything more than sign a form.

Comegys has been an independent agency for our entire 85+ year history, recognized for four consecutive years as one of the 100 Largest Agencies in the USA by Insurance Journal Magazine. For our clients, that means when the Florida insurance market shifts — and it shifts often — we have options. Our clients don’t have to start over. They just call us.

National Insurance Awareness Day is a low-pressure, high-value reason to make a call you’ve probably been meaning to make. At Comegys Insurance Agency, our licensed agents are available Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM, to walk you through your policies, answer your questions, and — if you’d like — re-shop your coverage across the dozens of carriers we represent.

Whether you’ve been a Comegys client for three generations or have never worked with us before, we’d welcome the opportunity to make sure the coverage protecting your family, your home, and your business still fits the life you’re actually living. Request a free quote or review online, explore our full product lineup, or call our St. Petersburg office at (727) 521-2100. Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM.