Behavioral Biases in Buying Insurance
Buying insurance is a cognitive puzzle. We over-insure the frequent and under-insure the catastrophic. We anchor on premiums, neglect deductibles, ignore exclusions, and chase add-ons that soothe…
Risk Pools and the Politics of Fairness
Insurance works because risk is pooled: many pay small amounts so that the few who suffer receive large amounts. The design of the pool is a political…
Reinsurance: The Insurance of Insurers
Reinsurance is the safety net under the safety net. Insurers promise to pay when bad things happen; reinsurers promise to pay insurers when very bad things happen…
Underwriting and the Human Pattern
Underwriting is the craft of predicting the future with incomplete information. It examines the human pattern—age, health, driving, credit, property condition, occupation—and converts it into a price….
Claims: How Stories Become Numbers
A claim is the moment when a story—my basement flooded, my car was hit, I slipped at work—must be translated into numbers. It is a stressful bilingual…
Deductibles: Choosing Your Skin in the Game
A deductible is a line you draw: below this, I pay; above this, the insurer pays. It aligns incentives, prices small risks, and keeps premiums sane. Choosing…
Liability: The Cost of Being in the World
To live is to bump into things—physically, financially, legally. Liability insurance prices the cost of those bumps. It is the least romantic coverage and often the most…
Auto Insurance: The Mathematics of Roads
Roads are algorithms masking as asphalt. Each trip is a problem in probability—speeds, distances, human attention, physics. Auto insurance prices that problem for you and for everyone…
Property Insurance and the Weight of Walls
Homes feel permanent until a pipe bursts, a tree falls, or a spark finds old insulation. Property insurance carries the weight of walls when gravity is interrupted…
Disability Insurance and the Price of Time
Your income is your largest asset in present value terms. Disability insurance protects that asset by paying you if illness or injury prevents you from working. People…