Sean Pyles

Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds.

I'm Sean Piles.

I mean, that can be a really difficult amount of debt to get out of, especially considering how high interest rates tend to be on credit cards.

In a moment, the next installment about your money in 2026.

Stay with us.

We're back and continuing our series about your money in 2026.

This time around, we're going deep into insurance, what's happening in the insurance market, what you need to know to get the best rates, how to shop around, and which companies won NerdWallet's prestigious Best of Awards for their insurance products.

Let's start by getting a lay of the land of insurance.

Anyone with a house or a car has probably experienced firsthand how expensive insurance has gotten over the past few years.

So can you outline why insurance costs have continued to climb year after year?

All right.

I'm crossing my fingers here, Kaz.

Let's go a little deeper into auto insurance specifically.

So what should folks know about getting the right coverage for their needs for the best price?

For a lot of people, given how expensive everything is beyond just insurance, I mean, cars are so expensive, too.

It can be really tempting to get just bare bones coverage to save money, but that can be pretty risky, right?

I do love to drive fast, so I will not be putting that in my car.

One thing that we've heard a lot when talking with folks about insurance is that one of your best ways to save money can also be to shop around and get some rates and that it doesn't really pay to be loyal to one insurer over many years.

Is that still the case, Kaz?

Exactly.