Can insurance really offer peace of mind?

BY: ANDREW STEWART

For many people, buying something tends to be both emotional and financial. So, I wondered why do most people view insurance as a transactional product or a necessary evil? Some people may buy a well-known brand or base their buying decision on a TV commercial or friends and family. While other people may buy insurance with a focus on price, they want the lowest cost possible. I believe insurance is more than a transaction. Insurance involves a trusted relationship and a promise from the insurer to perform in the event of a loss, and insurance offers security to the buyer that when something bad happens, things will be ok. (But it doesn’t always work out that way does it!)

The first true insurance company was founded in the wake of the Great Fire of London in 1666. Insurance, after all, is about pooling your money with lots of other people so that, if things do go wrong, you can recover what you lost or pay for particular health services like healthcare without it costing you a fortune. When we even see the word “insurance” it has the ability to evoke some form of emotional feeling. For some it’s positive and for some it’s negative and even the people in the middle that don’t have any direct experience with it have an opinion. Some people look at insurance: they don’t worry or think about it until something awful happens and, by then, of course, it’s usually too late.

These days you can insure against almost any risk and uncertainty you’re likely to encounter in everyday life. As a quick reminder here are the main types of coverage you might consider for yourself at some point in your life:

• Life insurance
• Homeowners’ insurance and renters’ insurance
• Auto insurance and other vehicles
• Medical insurance, disability insurance and long-term care insurance
• Business insurance

Do you need it and is it worth it? Obviously, in my opinion, the answer is “YES”. It only takes one story like the one below to remind me and hopefully you of the reason why.

An Ajax family was left with nothing but the clothes on their backs after a fire tore through their home. In the cold month of December, fire at a Blackburn Crescent home left a family of six homeless. Joel Jacques and his wife Samantha Santilli-Jacques have four children, aged 3, 4, 5 and 8. The fire started in their daughter’s bedroom. Joel Jacques rushed to grab a fire extinguisher as his wife got the kids out of the house, but the extinguisher didn’t work. Both Ms. Santilli-Jacques and a neighbour called the fire department and by the time the fire was put out, the home was uninhabitable and the family had lost everything. The family was renting the home and had no insurance for the contents. Ms. Santilli-Jacques said she didn’t realize she cancelled it when she cancelled the insurance on her broken-down car. They have been relying on the kindness of friends and family to get by. The children’s’ school collected toys and clothes for the kids and the couple, and their oldest child are staying with friends as they search for a new home to rent.

This story is a tragic and heartbreaking reminder of how quickly life can change. It’s also a reminder that the calamity and difficult aftermath of this situation could have been avoided by having insurance in place. When I posed the question “Can Insurance Really Offer Peace of Mind” I don’t have to research too hard to find the answer in the exact same situation happening to another family that has insurance in place. Their comments are like “Thank God everyone is safe, possessions can be replaced that’s what insurance is for”.