Insurance in Review

Many consumers believe that insurancebrokers have an inherent conflict ofinterest because they make their living oncommissions from products that they sellyou. That gives a broker a strong incentiveto sell policies, even if you don't needthem, to reap the commission on the sale.Now there's a group of fee-only insuranceadvisors who will look over your policiesand decide what's good for you to keepand dump. They can also evaluate theneed for any new policies a broker mayrecommend. The most likely clients arewell to do with several policies, some ofwhich may no longer be needed. Costscan run as much as $250 an hour,although at the Consumer Federation ofAmerica (202-387-6121; www.consumerfed.org), actuary James Hunt, CFA,reviews insurance for up to $75 a policy.