WHAT DO I STAND TO GAIN WITH INSURANCE 1

It's funny sometimes when I hear people say 'of what benefit is an insurance benefit to my life or business'. In such situations I do not convince neither do I encourage such individuals to pick up any insurance or life assurance policy but make them see the other side from their own eyes and leave the rest to their imagination.

One of the benefits/gains of insurance is the leverage in which it gives the policy holder against uncertainties that could occur. Life is an unpredictable phenomenon and it's causes and events cannot be phantom. There should be a conscious effort to get some cover as this helps put the policy holder at rest. When a loss occurs at any level it causes some form of discomfort, emotionally, physically and often times financially. It destabilizes your activities be it business or personal life.

It's a leverage.
Insurance is one of the best form of leverage you could pick to help cushion the effects of small and huge losses. Quite a lot of people are from the school of thought that insurance gets your money and walk away leaving you bare. Well! that's not absolutely true. As much as funds is been paid for whatever cover you intend having in form of premium, you also have the right to a claim where a loss is experienced. As long as the claims you are making is genuine.
The present day insurance industry is well positioned to settle any claim that crystallises from a loss or series of loss. The era of insurance companies not settling claim and walking away is long gone. There are various avenues to making a legal complain to the authorities about such discrepancies (we would discuss that in a later post).

How
Quite a lot of people have misunderstood the term insurance being a leverage probably because the representatives of these firms used the industry jagons to pass across the message and not in plain understandable language.

1. Insurance does not give you back a certain amount you requested as claims(it's known as sum Insured/ sum assured). Rather it helps(restore you back) you get back to a certain level of your life before the loss(whatever agreed form) was ever experienced. For instance if you had a comprehensive cover (leverage against theft, fire and 3rd party) for your car to tune of N3million naira (sum insured/value of the car at the point of taking the cover) where a case of fire occurs as a result to auto crash, the insurance company will not pay you the entire N3million naira as your claim benefit. Certain percentage will definitely be deducted from the value at the time of inception. Yet the insured is sure of getting to as much as 80% or more depending on the time of loss from date of cover and other events. To be continued.................

HOW COVERED ARE YOU

No one prays for death but its an inevitable occurrence that would manifest someday. Some may have their eyes wide open when it comes, for others it may be sudden. However it is inevitable.
The mind bugging question is this, what would be the financial and emotional state of your loved ones when it eventually happens?

The seaman is always prone to risk, either onshore or offshore, this making it important to get as much cover for himself and also the financial future of his/ her family,of course the laid down labour laws of contract and agreement between employees and employer may exist by way of Group Personal/ Life Accident form of insurance. In the light of this it is most important that every seaman gets his/her own insurance cover how ever little.

The present day operations of the seaman in Nigeria is an eye sore and ear sore to most seafarers/mariners alike. Don't live your life to chance as a seaman, get every form of financial protection for your self and your family. When the eventuality happens it would shock you in realm you may be then, that your family may not even know if there is an existence of any form of GPA by your sea going vessel firm, that is if they even have.

I have a cover, I am insured, my family is assured, how about YOU!!!

Do you have any form of cover? Are you insured? Lets get talking. It pays to plan.

Whose Risk is it?

The cynic behaviour of the public towards insurance policies may be misunderstood by both parties, most especially when the issue of trust is the anchor.

This is a sector in which every party involved is carrying one form of risk or the other. Interestingly is the measure to which the risk is underwritten.

Invariable the insurance companies need’s to stay afloat, so the need for the pool of funds from the insured. For the insurance savvy public, it is a sigh of relief as the risks and fears is been shifted to the firm in anticipation of a damage, loss or disaster. 

This brings to mind the tale of a marketer and a prospect ‘John was prospecting an acquaintance and it took a funny turn. John was trying to get Mr. Randolph to renew his motor insurance policy. Mr. Randolph reminded John of his carefulness in driving and sees no need to renew, having been driving for over 6 years without a single scratch’

Situations like this are common and it takes a knowledgeable mind to understand that risk also could be an eventuality. 

On the other hand, what happens to the insurance firms who collect such funds in trust of fulfilling its own part of the obligation, should the eventuality occur and pay claims duly?

Paying of claims is also a risk the firms would be taking as the veracity of damage/ claims have to be investigated. This cup of milk has not always gone down well with claimants, as they get furious on such statements. 

From a close view, the pool of funds belong s to every of its client and it is the duty of the firm to ensure these funds are properly disbursed.

As for Mr. Randolph, on his way home from work that same day, a truck ran into the vehicle behind his and that run into his , denting the entire boot of his car.  He came down fuming. Right at that moment he recalled to have just renewed his insurance with John’s firm. He frowned to the car owner behind him and inquired, “I hope you’ve got insurance”.

INSURANCE AS AN OFF SHORE BUSINESS MODEL

Every business environment has got its own rules and regulations governing its operations. Having afore knowledge of this will help in the making of right business negotiations and participation.

As a tool of business, the insurance models adopted in various economies aren’t similar. Definitely, it’s about risk taking, premiums and claims. Having such diversified will give intending firm an edge. The question is can one invest in Insurance offshore without been there? Off course you can. It’s a matter of understanding the economic policies as regards the sector and the various products that supports such within the region.

For instance a nation like Nigeria has got a robust room for investment in this sector, as the insurance policy is experiencing a revamping and 100% political will to making impact in the nation. The days of ill activities are long gone, as the sector has been neatly sanitized. The power of choice and information by clients lies within their reach.

One of the best places to have an investment in such a sector is a developing nation like Nigeria. With a vast population of over 160million people, and still growing, its impact in global economy cannot be overemphasized.

Currently the level of insurance penetration is less than 20% and this has a lot of positive impact for growth in the sector, for the firms as well as investors alike. The insurance sector has got a lot of products that suite every life style, from cradle to death.

 

One of the firms that has got such a robust product and pedigree is Royal Exchange plc. Its products are such that suites diaspora and foreigners. 

There are quite a lot of issue that are peculiar to off shore investment, yet the culture within the Nigerian people makes it difficult for abnormalities.

Its policy on offshore divestment in the insurance sector has been tightened, thereby creating excessive room for foreign investment in this regard.

The interest rates paid on some of the products purchased are encouraging, compared to other regular savings. 

Hurricane sandy has thought everyone in the world a lesson, especially the insurance sector. The beauty in this regard is that, it has also created room for loop holes to be found and anomalies corrected.

Nigeria as a nation as gone digital in most of its sectors, the era of paper proof of policy payment is fading away. It does matter the location the insured is, anywhere in the world. It takes the click of the mouse to discover your account details.

It is in this light, you need to give a rethink of having your business and investment offshore. A learning nation is the best place to invest; with less than $90 you can get a cover of over $2,880.

www.royalexchangeplc.com 

Take your insurance offshore and make your family happy.

Would be more than glad to help.

Ghomorai Williams Ebimobowei

ghomoraie@gmail.com

4 REASONS WHY YOU NEED TO PICK UP AN INSURANCE POLICY.

It is quite evident that everyone will not be alive in the next twenty years. What is the possibility of one still breathing 5years from now? Eventualities are inevitable as they occur without a sign of warning. Should such take place, what will be the state of your families well being. In this light the following needs to be considered as an adopted option. 

1.    You are the decision maker: no matter how hard anyone tries, the impetus lies on you to make a calculated decision, to giving your life a meaningful start and ending. Accidents are daily occurrences, no matter how small they may appear to be. Ranging from motor, to industrial, fire, personal peril, force majeure, domestic as well as theft. One of these often happens.

2.    No backup plan: it is important to create a serene atmosphere of productivity in the home. In case of a domestic accident or industrial peril, the insured will be adequately covered. This will help in the continuous flow / availability of resources to meet family needs. Worse is the occurrence of death. In this part of the world, death of the bread winner is often accompanied with great tears and anguish. This is as a result of inadequate monetary preparation of the deceased. Get a back up, take up insurance. It’s the UPS of your life.

3.    Take the risk off your neck: Corporate insurance bothers less about what happens to them or their businesses. Those in the know have taken up group life policies or have their buildings covered. This has helped to eliminate the phobia of any disaster in that light. All energies are directed towards profitability, rather than fear of fire or death. This is a good mind set retail policy clients should have. The last thing you need to worry about is a thief coming in to burgle your home. Just put all security measures in place and get the property insured. You’lld always has a sound sleep.

4.    No one will come to your aid: This reminds me of a prominent citizen who had is house raised down by an inferno, in the high brow area of Ikoyi. As high the value of the property was, it had no insurance cover. The victim was practical homeless and at the mercy of well wishers after that incident. Despite the beautiful paint the press may have used to solicit any public support. It doesn’t rule out the truth, that insurance would have been most appropriate to handle such claims quantum.

3 REASONS WHY RETAIL DON’T EMBRACE INSURANCE IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD

Someone asked me last week, why the fuse and hullabaloo about embracing insurance cover. As much I tried to explain the beauty of such covers, these three resistances were observed.

1.    The Quest for survival: one cannot but recognize the scourge of lack impoverishing the citizenry; as a result the top on the hierarchy of needs is food. It is only a stomach that is fill that can think straight. The mind set to invest for the rainy day, let alone for posterity does not come to mind at all. Just like a few would say. Food first others second.

2.    Ill Information: quite a lot of the educated and uneducated public is misinformed about the modalities t of operations of this sector. People still have this old notion that the sector is driven by mediocrity and untruthfulness. The believe that the firms just take the funds and disappear is still a ghost hunting the growth of the sector. To buttress such claims, issues of the defunct commercial banks and wonder banks are often brought up and such smells is been rubbed on the insurance sector. Been a financial institution as well.

3.  Issue of Trust: This is a very serious issue as the insured or would be insured wants to be very sure his complains will be heard. Definitely the firms needs the pool of funds to operate, but the issue of paying claims and been friendly is an issue. The insured gets worried about been given a good ear, while the firms worry about the integrity of the insured. The issue of legal fraud cannot be ruled out.

Worrisome at this is to the insurance sector, it is strongly believed that the sector will thrive, but a lot of sales and commitment will be needed more from the sector.

THE INSURANCE MYTH

In the eighties, when life was bubbling and activity seems to be at a slow pace, many folks including mine, took the sweet food insurance firms had to offer. Just like any other naïve investor, it was just another package around. Little did they know that it is an investment worth offloading any form of risk.

There were no proper enforced policies to safe guard the funds of clients, and quite a lot of funds came crashing down with a few firms. A kinsman of mine (now late), while growing up, vividly said nothing would make him put his funds in any insurance firm. This notion was passed unto us as kids then. Consciously or unconsciously we kept singing that song, even when we knew nothing about it.

Interestingly is that this same song is been sang by many age brackets of the early 70’s and early 80’s like me, including the 19^th century kids.

I began having a change of mind and attitude after reading Robert Kiyosaki’s books on investment. It dawned on me, that we were ill informed and also the approach to insurance taken by our folks back then was from a different mindset and not the personal risk reduction attitude.  

Most of the comment heard from ill informed public about insurance is that, ‘they just collect your money and run away’. Others say’ it’s not just possible to get money after an accident or damage occurs’. These are some of the common comments made, but it is not the way it has been viewed.

Insurance is not a get rich or money vault scheme as perceived by many. Rather it is the collection of pool of funds to invest and kept for uncertainties, which invariable will definitely occur. This based on factual probabilities and possibilities.

Most definitely death will surely occur, accidents can be reduced but not unavoidable, illnesses will always be on the rampage, a bread winner could drop dead at anytime, floods and fire disaster can be curtailed, but often do occur and to mention a few.

Insurance firms have got various products that suite quite a number of situations, not necessarily death and motor as known only by a few.

Understanding that risk is inevitable, but can be reduced is the right step to understanding and appreciating the benefits of insurance cover. Developed nations have a good policy structure that supports the growth and survival of insurance industries.

Back home in Nigeria, mistakes may have been made in the past, yet the present and the future is bright as policies in this sector is seriously been enforced. Not to mention the benefits accrued the individual who has got a life policy. 

If you have been in the school of myth about this sector, like me, then it’s time to take the bull by the horn and have a rethink. The traffic management agencies are doing their best, disaster agencies are up and doing, fire stations may be well equipped; hospitals having the best of equipments, airlines may be the 21^st century models, buildings may have passed construction stress tests etc. All these are not a guarantee that disaster will be kept at bay. 

The Insurance sector has got quite a lot of benefits. It’s time we stopped been deceived and plunge into the pool of wholesome economic advantages it has to offer.