Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Life Insurance Industry -- A Great Revolution

By Chimezirim Odimba

For numerous reasons, the insurance industry has made an almost historic transformation in recent years. In the simplest terms, insurance of any type is all about managing risk. In regards to life insurance, the insurance company attempts to estimate the fatality rates amongst its customers.

The insurance company accumulates payments from policy holders, then invests it in low risk investments, after that, compensates for these funds on the occasion the person dies or the plan matures. There are people that have the specific job of crunching numbers and demographic data to estimate life expectancy. The amount that a policy holder will pay is all calculated by estimating facts based on specific characteristics about them.

The higher the possibility that an individual will have a shorter life span than usual, the more elevated the payment will be. This process is virtually the same for every other type of insurance, including automobile, health and property. There has been a huge change in the life insurance business lately.

The industry is more likely to offer clients annuities and other investment vehicles versus straight insurance. As a result, insurance companies have been able to compete more directly with other financial services companies such as mutual funds and investment advisory firms. Services such as tax and estate preparation have develop into commonplace for several insurance companies to provide.

Presently, there are countless issues to look at when shopping for insurance companies. More than anything, both consumers and investors should concern themselves with the insurer's financial strength and ability to meet ongoing obligations to policyholders.

Growth is greatly hindered and investment opportunities are reduced when poor fundamentals exist. Not anything could be more detrimental than for insurance holders to learn that their insurance provider might not be able to pay out if when handed a large number of claims.

Ownership of insurance companies can come in two forms: shareholder ownership or policyholder ownership. If the company is owned by shareholders, it is like any other public company. That is, its shares trade on an exchange like the NYSE, and it is required to report earnings on a quarterly basis.

The further sorts of ownership are called "mutually owned insurance companies." An account called policyholder's surplus, reflects on the balance sheet rather than shareholder's equity because the company is in fact owned by the policyholders.

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