Blog
Guides & insights
Home contents insurance, inventory tips, and protecting what you own.
Insurance claims·
We Thought We Were Covered: How the Gap Stays Invisible
Under-insurance and missing proof do not announce themselves. They sit quietly in a valid policy for years and only appear on the one day you hoped never to test it.
Life events·
Disaster Preparedness: Document Your Home Before the Season
Bushfire, flood, and storm seasons arrive on a schedule. The window to document your home is now, while it is still standing and everything is still in it.
Insurance claims·
Claims That Fell Short: The One Document That Would Have Changed Each
A pattern of contents claims that paid out far less than the loss, and the single piece of evidence that would have changed each one. The stories are composite, the patterns are real.
Contents insurance·
What 'Automatic Sum Insured' Really Means on Your Policy
Many policies fill in your contents cover for you, with a default figure you never chose. It feels reassuring. It can also be the quietest way to end up underinsured.
Privacy·
Is It Safe to Record a Video of Your Home?
A video of everything you own is sensitive data. Before you hand it to any app, it is worth knowing where it goes, who can see it, and what happens to it. Here is what to ask.
Insurance claims·
Insured on Averages, Paid on Proof: the Asymmetry Nobody Explains
Insurers sign you up on a quick average and pay you out on detailed proof. That switch, from estimate to evidence, is where most contents claims quietly fall short.
Home inventory·
How Often Should You Update Your Home Inventory?
A home inventory only protects you if it is reasonably current. Here are the simple triggers for updating it, and how to keep it fresh without it becoming a chore.
Collections·
Insuring Musical Instruments
A guitar, a violin, a saxophone: instruments hold value that depends on maker, age, and condition. Here is how to document them and why a specialist valuation matters.
Insurance claims·
How to Value Jewellery, Art, and Watches for Insurance
Specialist items are where guessing hurts most. Here is when a professional valuation is worth the cost, what it involves, and how to document valuables properly.
Life events·
Creating a Record of Belongings for Family and Executors
When someone dies, their executor has to work out what they owned, often with no record at all. A simple inventory made in advance spares the family a painful guessing game.
Underinsurance·
Is Your Contents Insurance Enough After Inflation?
You can become underinsured without buying a single new thing. When replacement costs rise, a sum insured that was right a few years ago quietly falls behind.
Home inventory·
Can ChatGPT Make a Home Inventory for Insurance?
It will produce a list. But you will work harder than you expect for a worse record, and when you are done you will be holding a document you made yourself, which is exactly what a contents claim is built to discount.
For assessors·
How to Check a WHIG Evidence Record Is Genuine
A guide for insurers, brokers and loss adjusters. How to independently confirm that a WHIG Evidence Package was sealed when it claims to have been, has not been altered since, and what that check does and does not establish.
Collections·
Proving the Value of Collectibles
Vinyl, comics, trading cards, and sneakers can be worth far more than they look. Here is how to prove value and provenance so a collection holds up at claim time.
Insurance claims·
What Makes a Home Inventory Count as Evidence
Most home inventories are not evidence. They are assertions. The difference is not how detailed the list is, it is whether anyone other than you can confirm it, and that difference decides your payout.
Insurance claims·
The Week After a Burglary: What Insurers Ask, and When
A burglary claim runs on a timeline. The questions arrive in a particular order, and each one assumes you can produce something. Here is what gets asked, and when.
Contents insurance·
New-for-Old vs Indemnity: Which Contents Cover Pays More?
The two ways a contents policy can pay a claim change both your premium and your payout. Here is the difference, and why documentation matters for both.
Collections·
Documenting Camera Gear for Insurance
Bodies, lenses, and accessories add up fast, and each one has a serial number that makes a claim easy to prove. Here is how to document a camera kit properly.
Insurance claims·
How Insurers Value a Contents Claim
There is a method behind how a contents claim is assessed. Understanding it tells you exactly what to document, and why some claims settle higher than others.
Life events·
Why You Should Do a Home Inventory When Moving House
Moving is the one time everything you own passes through your hands. It is the perfect moment to document it, for the move itself and for the years after.
Home inventory·
What People Always Forget in a Home Inventory
The big items are easy to remember. The forgotten ones are where underinsurance comes from. Here is the long tail of belongings people leave out.
Collections·
How to Document an Art Collection for Insurance
You do not need to be a gallery to document art and prints properly. Here is how to record artists, editions, provenance, and condition so a claim reflects what you actually own.
Insurance claims·
Claiming From Memory After a Fire: The 2am List Problem
After a house fire, the insurer asks you to list everything you lost. You do it from memory, at the kitchen table of a place that is not your home. Here is what that is actually like.
Underinsurance·
Why Your Insurer Never Asks What You Actually Own
When you take out contents cover, the insurer asks your postcode and how many bedrooms you have. It almost never asks what is inside. Here is why, and what it means for you.
Collections·
How to Document and Insure a Wine Collection
A wine collection changes value as it ages and as the market moves. Here is how to document provenance, cellar conditions, and bottles so a claim reflects what you actually hold.
Insurance claims·
Proving What You Owned After a Fire, Flood, or Burglary
The cruel part of a major loss is that the proof often burns or washes away with everything else. Here is how people rebuild a claim, and how to never be in that position.
Life events·
Documenting Tools and Equipment for Tradies
For a tradesperson, the garage and the van hold tens of thousands in tools, almost always undocumented. After a theft, proving it is its own nightmare. Here is how to be ready.
Collections·
How to Document and Insure a Watch Collection
A watch collection is easy to underdocument and hard to claim for without records. Here is how to capture references, serial numbers, and papers, and when a specialist valuation matters.
Home inventory·
The Best Home Inventory Apps for Insurance (2026)
A clear, honest look at the home inventory apps people use to document their contents for insurance, and how they compare on the things that matter when you actually need the record.
Insurance claims·
Why Serial Numbers and Receipts Matter for Insurance Claims
A serial number is one of the hardest pieces of evidence to dispute. Here is why receipts and serial numbers strengthen a claim, and which items are worth recording.
Contents insurance·
Do Renters Need Contents Insurance?
Your landlord insures the building, not your belongings. If you rent, everything you own is your responsibility. Here is what that means and how to protect it.
Underinsurance·
Why We Always Underestimate What We Own
Ask anyone what their belongings are worth and they will guess low. There is a predictable psychology behind it, and knowing it is the first step to getting the number right.
Contents insurance·
Sum Insured vs Replacement Value vs Market Value
Sum insured, replacement value, market value. These terms decide how much you are paid at claim time, and confusing them is a common way to end up short.
Home inventory·
Photo vs Video vs Spreadsheet: The Best Way to Document Your Home
There are three common ways to make a home inventory. Most people abandon two of them. Here is an honest comparison of each, and which one actually gets finished.
Home inventory·
Home Inventory Checklist: Room by Room
A complete room-by-room checklist of what to include in your home inventory, so the small things that add up to thousands do not get missed.
Insurance claims·
How to Prove What You Owned for an Insurance Claim
After a fire, flood, or burglary, the burden of proof is on you. Here is what counts as proof of ownership, and how to have it ready before you ever need it.
Underinsurance·
Home Contents Underinsurance: Why It Happens and How to Fix It
Most households are underinsured on contents, not through carelessness, but because nobody knows what their belongings are really worth. Here is how to close the gap.
Contents insurance·
Contents Insurance Explained: How Much Cover Do You Need?
Contents insurance covers the things inside your home. Working out how much cover you need is where most people get it wrong. Here is how to get it right.
Home inventory·
How to Create a Home Inventory: A Complete Guide
A home inventory is the single best record you can have before a fire, flood, or burglary. Here is how to make one properly, and how to make one fast.
Underinsurance·
Why So Many Australian Households Are Underinsured on Contents
Most Australians don't know what their contents are worth. The gap between what they think and what it would cost to replace everything is often tens of thousands of dollars.
Home inventory·
How to Do a Home Inventory Without Losing Your Mind
You've been meaning to do this for years. Here is how to actually get it done, with practical tips that work whatever method you choose.
Contents insurance·
How Much Contents Insurance Do You Need? A Quick Estimate
A fast, category-by-category way to sanity-check your contents cover, and why the result usually surprises people.