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Insurance
WHAT IS INSURANCE?
In its essence, insurance is pooling of risk.
It had its beginnings in the days when people would pool their
resources to share the risks of business. For instance, instead
of buying or hiring a ship and loading it with merchandise
for trade...at the risk of losing the whole thing in a single
storm...people would take the same money and invest with others
in a portion of several ships. That way one loss wouldn't
wipe out anyone's total investment.
Insurance is still based on this model. It is
designed so that no one member of the pool will have to bear
the brunt of a catastrophic loss. It works best when used
for this purpose.
You and I and the other folks who pay a premium
for the protection of our property, businesses and families
are pooling our risk so that no one person will have to suffer
the full brunt of losing a home, a car, a business or the
life of a breadwinner.
WHAT CAN INSURANCE DO FOR ME?
Insurance is very effective at helping you and
me to manage the financial risks we face. Insurance cannot
return a home, or a parent. But it can relieve the catastrophic
financial burden that such a loss can bring to a family. When
you or I put a down payment on a house and sign a mortgage
we have committed ourselves to pay for that home whether it
survives to the end of the mortgage or not. It is hard to
imagine what it would be like to have to make the payments
on a house destroyed by fire and not be able to have the use
of it.
When an individual invests in a home, a car,
a business or a career, that individual and his or her family
are making sacrifices in support of that decision. Sacrifices
are made in anticipation of benefits received immediately
or over a period of time. Often debt is involved.
A few years ago one of my customers called me
in an absolute panic. We'll call him, "Bob". Bob
had just received a summons stating that he was being sued
for over a quarter of a million dollars. He did not have that
kind of money. In his house, in his savings, in his retirement
all combined he did not have that kind of money. He saw
everything he had worked for over the years--including his
children's education and his retirement--going up in smoke.
It took me twenty minutes to get Bob calmed
down enough to hear what I said to him at the beginning of
our conversation. "Don't worry, you are covered."
Along with his home and auto insurance, he had purchased a
catastrophic liability policy. It took over where the limit
of liability on his car and his home left off and carried
them up to a million dollars.
Can't happen to you? Maybe not. Bob probably
never expected to use that insurance. But he realized he might.
When it comes to a serious loss, it will happen!
We just don't know to whom. Every time you
or I put a car on the road or sign a loan or put our hard
earned cash into a home, retirement or a business we take
a risk. We can choose to go it alone. Or, like Bob, we can
pool our risk with a large group of others so that no single
one of us will have to bear the loss on his or her own!
HIGHLANDER INSURANCE SERVICES
9 Asbury Road, PO Box 1749,Candler, NC 28715
Phone 828 665-2531; FAX 828 665-2530
david@highlander-insurance.com
PLEASE NOTE: Robert Ownbey Insurance Group and Robert
Ownbey Insurance Group dba Highlander Insurance Services is licensed
to conduct business in the State of North Carolina only. The information
on this web site is a solicitation to conduct business only in the State
of North Carolina.
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