Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose, etc.

Insurance companies actually made money as a whole during the Katrina year- even those in it's immediate area of wrath. For those picky on sources, it was a Frontline documentary, I believe- don't remember the name though.
 
Insurance is all about the profits and never about the insurance. The business is all about holding and investing your cash donations in hopes that you never ask them to payout for the services they pretend to offer.
Simply wrong, front to back. The one thing I give you is hold and invest.

Being able to hedge against risk is super important. If your free market providers of such hedges aren't behaving appropriately, blame your legislators.
I would have said regulators, but essentially correct.

J
 
Being able to hedge against risk is super important. If your free market providers of such hedges aren't behaving appropriately, blame your legislators.
I do.
 
Simply wrong, front to back. The one thing I give you is hold and invest.
J
I don't think that you understand the business. It has two parts: underwriting (collecting premiums and payouts for claims) and investments. On the underwriting side they make money by denying claims or settling for the lowest amount possible. The underwriting business model is to collect as high a premium as the market allows and payout as little as possible. For the most part the more regulation and social pressure to carry any particular type of insurance policy, the better the industry likes it.

They make money on the investment side through diversified investments. And furthermore, most of the investment products offered by insurance companies are crap: high premiums, lots of penalties and restrictions, and no guaranteed return.
 
I don't think that you understand the business. It has two parts: underwriting (collecting premiums and payouts for claims) and investments. On the underwriting side they make money by denying claims or settling for the lowest amount possible. The underwriting business model is to collect as high a premium as the market allows and payout as little as possible. For the most part the more regulation and social pressure to carry any particular type of insurance policy, the better the industry likes it.

They make money on the investment side through diversified investments. And furthermore, most of the investment products offered by insurance companies are crap: high premiums, lots of penalties and restrictions, and no guaranteed return.
I have ten years in the business. Let's just say your explanation is less than fair, even slanted.

For example, underwriting has to do with risk assessment. An underwriter does define the coverage as part of the risk evaluation, but has nothing to do with collecting premiums or paying claims. Actuaries calculate reserves necessary to maintain the ability to pay all claims. This is where investing comes into the picture. And so on.

J
 
Insurance companies actually made money as a whole during the Katrina year- even those in it's immediate area of wrath. For those picky on sources, it was a Frontline documentary, I believe- don't remember the name though.

That does sound meaningless. Firstly, property insurance is only one part of the insurance industry. Profits from life insurance could have kept in the books in the black. Secondly, profits aren't binary. A profit of, say, a $100 million would be quite a shift from a $10 billion profit. I would also assume not all of the payouts would have happened in the same year.

From what I could find, profitability in property insurance wasn't out of the ordinary (as of Jan 1st 2017): http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/roe.html (a return of equity of 10-20% is normal)
 
I don't have a problem with insurance companies making money, what I have a problem with is when they bail on an entire market cus they didn't make enough money. The money they collect should allow them to pay claims and keep on going.

I also hate how your individual rates increase after a claim, disproportionately so, as if the insurer is trying to reclaim the money spent on you by you. The point of insurance is to spread risk among a large group of people so everyone pays substantially less than what they would pay out of pocket for a claim. But if you have an auto claim that's like $4,000 the insurance company often jacks your premium up $600-800 a year for several years so you're almost better off just paying out of pocket, which again, now the purpose of insurance is defeated if my premiums are modeled to always outweigh the amount claimed by an individual.
 
Jose is still out there, wandering around as a Cat-1. I saw a compilation of computer models on Fox News. They looked like a 4th of July starburst. No one knows where this thing is going. :run:
 
If I weren't already boycotting Pizza Hut for other reasons...:mad:

A Pizza Hut manager in Florida threatened to punish employees who missed shifts by evacuating too early for Hurricane Irma.
In a memo, the manager said workers at the Jacksonville restaurant have a "responsibility and commitment" to the community, and that employees who needed to evacuate would get only a 24-hour "grace period" before the storm.

"You cannot evacuate Friday for a Tuesday storm event!" the notice read. "Failure to show for these shifts, regardless of reason, will be considered a no call / no show and documentation will be issued."

It also said that employees would be required to return to the city within 72 hours of an evacuation.
 
Jose is still out there, wandering around as a Cat-1. I saw a compilation of computer models on Fox News. They looked like a 4th of July starburst. No one knows where this thing is going. :run:
If I weren't already boycotting Pizza Hut for other reasons...:mad:
Obviously a major disaster. I've been boycotting Pizza Hut since the founders sold to Pepsi in 1977, ie pretty much my whole life.

J
 
Jose is continuing north. It will miss Cape Hatteras and become a tropical storm. The very worst case scenario has it hitting Cape Cod as a Cat-1. :coffee:

Lee is a tropical storm in the eastern Atlantic. It is expected to fade away. :whew:

Maria has formed in the western Atlantic. It is expected to rake the Windward Islands and, as a Cat-3, to hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday. :scared:
 
Obviously a major disaster. I've been boycotting Pizza Hut since the founders sold to Pepsi in 1977, ie pretty much my whole life.

J
Because you don't like Pepsi?
 
My neighbor's two daughters both live in Houston and bought houses there a few years ago. Their realtor restricted the houses he would show them to those on very high ground. Both came though Harvey untouched except by rain. Water 30 or more feet deep was all around both their houses.
 
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