NLIC.org

Kristina Said:

Should there be a marriage penalty for low and middle class families in the healthcare bill?

We Answered:

I was wondering if anyone would bring this up.

the same thing happens with taxes. It isn't really a marriage penalty as much as it is an income penalty that applies to a married couple as a single unit. Notice the article does not say what the premium cap would be for a married couple with a combined income of $25,000. That would provide a true apples-to-apples comparison that would indicate a "marriage penalty"

Sue Said:

asking again, comparing these 3 Allstate home owner and car policies and differences in premiums.?

We Answered:

It's very had to say without looking at the quote and previous policy. Credit, the fact you don't have prior property insurance, and the information listed in the quote could all be factors. Also, as someone else mentioned there are actually several sub-companies under the major names you are familiar with. Your father may have had a policy with an older company line that is no longer sold. All new policies must go through their latest line which I believe for Allstate is "Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance" for most states. The previous company was "Allstate Property and Casualty". The new line may be rating the home differently than the previous line.
Your best bet is the ask an agent. They can look through the previous policy and the new quote to see exactly what the changes are.

Cynthia Said:

Do you think Factory workers are over paid.?

We Answered:

"factory farm" workers are overpaid, even if they were getting paid five cents an hour. the horrible things they do are not worth being paid for, they should be punished! google factory farming and see for yourself! its horrible :( and to think our tax dollars go towards it!

Ruben Said:

how will demo explain their lies about insurance companys profits now that the truth is out?

We Answered:

demos will not admit that they dont make huge% of profits,they can not demonize them if they do.im happy with my coverage.i dont make a lot of money under 25,000.00a year but my employer has great benefits,demos just dont want to pay for it them self.if your disabled or of a certain age you get medicade or medicare.they want to insure all those who wont work ,druggies ,bums ,perverts etc.

Victor Said:

what do these insurance companies invest my money in?

We Answered:

HI, your friendly insurance guy here, again! :)

Insurance companies are required to have a certain amount of money on hand to cover claims. That means they tend to invest conservatively with most of their funds. They also rely heavily on actuarial predictions of probable loss, and present value / future value computation.

Actuarial predictions: Actuaries are high-powered mathematicians who, among other things, help insurance companies figure out what the probabilities are of losses occurring. An Actuary may determine that, for example, the odds of a house burning to the ground in New Hampshire is 1 in (whatever number) per year.

They then multiply the expected number of house fires by the average cost of claim per fire to get an estimate of the expected losses due to fires that year.

Present Value / Future Value computations: Insurers tend to fund payment of claims by starting with the value from the first part of this post, for example, the expected cost of losses due to fire in a given year.

Let's say the insurer expects to have $5,000,000 in fire-related claims. The company will buy something like a $5,000,000 face value 1-year bond. Such a bond can be purchased at a discount (meaning you pay less for it than $5,000,000).

At the end of the year, the bond comes due and provides funds to recoup the cost of paid claims, or pay due claims.

That's a simplification, but it's essentially a good example.

Also, since claims for a loss are INCREDIBLY fewer in number than premium paying clients, it's actually not hard at all for an insurer to cover claims and still make a LOT of money.

Witness MassMutual, which had higher gross revenues last year than Coca-Cola. Belive it - insurers are taking in a LOT more money than they pay in claims.

The exceptions are cases like Hurricane Katrina. The only reason the home-owners insurance carriers in the area have not gone totally out of business due to claims is that they denied, and denied, and denied claims. If they paid out on all those claims they'd probably go under. that's a case where a natural disaster caused SO many claims at once there's no practical way for the carrier to cover its payouts.

Anyone reading who is an actuary can explain in more detail

Elmer Said:

Why is car insurance so expensive for me?

We Answered:

The value of the car is irrelavent to some extent. You could hit a £20000 car with the Matiz and write it off and then your insurers will be paying out £23000 plus.
Some of this will be impossible but the fact is they will reduce the premiums a lot -
- move out of London to a postcode that is known to be low for car crime
- park the car off road at your own home and in a garage is even better
- get a job, unemployed is one of the high risk categories of people

Although perhaps morally it should, your past driving record counts for nothing. You should not buy a car until you pass - it could take a few goes despite your experience. Once passed insurers will treat you the same as any UK person who has never had a full licence before.