You may have heard me recommend getting travel insurance. But should you go for an annual program, or are you better off paying per trip?

With AIG Travel Guard, the TravelRite Annual coverage costs an average of $260.

That includes medical coverage, lost baggage, hotel overbooking, rental car collision, and more.

Similar per-trip coverage for a $2,000 trip to Italy will cost you at least $100.

With Access America, a basic annual program will cost you $250-$350. That includes trip cancellation & interruption, baggage coverage, car accidents and collision, and more.

Classic insurance from Access America for a $2,000 trip will cost you about $130

Although per-trip insurance varies, the rule of thumb is it will be 5-10% of the total cost of your trip.

So if you take at least two nice vacations a year, annual may be worth it for you.

And if you travel for business or take short trips that cost a couple hundred dollars each, it would take at least five trips to make the annual insurance worthwhile

Get more information in our Travel Insurance section.

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