I recently took out an insurance policy and i realise that i postponed it for too long. Except for car insurance (which doesn't really count because we're actually insuring ourselves against police harassment), I have a funny feeing Nigerians are not very insurance conscious and generally would not seek to insure their lives and property.

Also there might be this belief that if you take out life or property insurance you are somehow violating a pact with God an would incur His wrath (alright i confess, that was one of my reasons!)

So would you take out insurance?

i personally don't care about it because when it comes down to it, you are not really secured. sure it might help you in some instances but in cases much bigger it may not work.

though chances are that you may not ever need it, don't you think its better to have insurance than nothing especiall for the really valuable items

not doubt, i'm not against it, im just saying that its not reliable. when they had hurricane katrina in new orleans, alot of people had house insurance but didn't get money or item recovery or anything, why? because their insurance didn't cover floods. so sometime its best to have another back up plan then to totally rely on issurance. same goes for health insurance. they cover the cheap portion of your health like doctor visits when you are not really sick. but as soon as you need that surgery, they want to cover like 10 percent of hospital fee, which no doubt is better than nothing but at the same time, they could do more.

hear the insurance situation in the US is horrible saw reports on the California fires on how insurance fees have skyrocketed and even those that had insurance are been asked to pay up or be dropped. very sad, very annoying.

and they say nigerians are fraudulent!

knzguru:

hear the insurance situation in the US is horrible saw reports on the California fires on how insurance fees have skyrocketed and even those that had insurance are been asked to pay up or be dropped. very sad, very annoying.

and they say nigerians are fraudulent!

the issurance policy is not that bad but it could be better. basically its catered to people with more money. if you have less money, you have to get the cheap plan which doesn't cover much.

hi there,

at d risk of sounding ignorant, is insurance mandatory in d US? i know that insurance cover for some things (like cars) are compulsory but what other items are compulsory.

knzguru:

hi there,

at d risk of sounding ignorant, is insurance mandatory in d US? i know that insurance cover for some things (like cars) are compulsory but what other items are compulsory.

it's not being ignorant if you dont know but issurance sometimes is mandatory. like on cars, like you mentioned is mandatory. i think inssurance for a house is also. health is not mandatory but i would say it is because of the price of good health. i think someone told me that w/o health inssurance a shot alone cost like thousands of dollar so i think getting the issurance is better. issurrance so to say is not mandatory but if you are smart you'll get it. people get it on their car, cell phone, computer(sometimes known as warranty, they play the same role kind of) , on house, electronic (in case it breaks), on life, for almost everything. at my job, they take money out my paycheck for either life or health issurance. i don't want them to but i think its mandatory that they do it for all the employees.

they wouldn't dare here. the govt has always promised free health along with some other ludicrous things so over here people aren't ready to pay bills and this devalued the health sector which then gets worse and then people are even more reluctant to pay, a seriously vicious cycle. On other items like cars, house etc i've heard some good stuff about nigerian companies.

I recently took up an insurance cover after years of contemplating the pros and cons. i shd mention that growing up in the environment that i did, kinda made u believe that having insurance showed lack of faith. the package is really cool cos its also a savings scheme and u can take out ur principal after a while. so that a bit of a relief.

To digress a bit, i've got an idea to throw a party for nairalanders and i'll like to bounce it off u.

For a while I've followed a few posts where people where tryin to put together a party but i think they've always gone about it wrong. they never seem to have a concrete, workable plan and i think that people would respond better if there was pne.

i realise how difficult it is to convince people to release cash so i'm thinking it shd be a tee-shirt party where funds for the gig come form d tee-shirt sales. I believe people might feel they are getting more value for their money as compared to having to pay for tickets only. A website wld be created for registration and to select d nairaland-branded shirt they want with the option of having their forum names behind. I'm targeting 500 people at per shirt @ N2500 - N4000 (nigerians love vip, so we'll have some limited vip shirts). funds wld be used to get a venue, Dj and Mc. Peeps get to buy their own drinks. Christmas is too close so we'll be looking at Jan/Feb.

I also know for a fact that for nairaland to grow and capture the more attention, there needs to be substantial offline awareness and having the party with the shirts wld be fantastic PR. i think the key factor here is Seun's approval and support so i intend to run this by him soon. let me know if u've got any thots abt this

p.s. wats wit d diva?

if you're talking about an offline party where we see people face 2 face, i think that would be complicated because everyone lives in different parts of the earth and i don't think people will spend money for a party unless they have them in different location, one that is of convience to people.

well i'm just thinking about people in lagos and its environs.

well i guess if people are up to it,it can't only be broadcast over the internet, you have to have flyers to convince people that its for real, no playing around. that way they could bring along friends and feel comfortable. but seun has to be the host and whatever the call it. he has to be the one in charge.

i totally understand that Seun must be involved but i'm really not used to waiting for people especially when they seem reluctant. however i thinks he's being careful because over d years he's tried to plan something like this, but then that was before i appeard on the scene. i think good ideas should be acted on immediately.

now tell me what u think about d plan and if u've got any more ideas let me know. i think street banners would be more cost effective than handbills. i'm also considering gvin out free tee-shirts for the first few peeps/or a select few peeps who hav clout on nairaland. i'll show u d designs soon if u want to see it.

p.s. hear the cali fires were started by a little boy wit matches.

concering the insurance stuff, it is often said that the cost of ignorance is higher compared to the value of knowledge. how do i mean, you will not understand insurance until you come face to face with unforseen disaster (God Forbids). In recent times, people have doubted the sincerity of insurance companies to pay "claims" in the occurence of unforseen risk. Like the Hurricane case in the US.

the failure of insurance companies to pay claims may be due to the insurance policy undertaken by individual insured. i know in Nigeria, should hurricane occurs (Heaven Forbids), some corporate invididuals will not loose much cos most of them are insured against "natural disaster". also, in an attempt to beat cost, many nigerians prefer to deal with "unlicensed" agents and brokers that will never remit their premium to the insurers. by implication, the over wise but unsuspecting insured IS NEVER INSURED. s/he will not know this until the accident occurs.

my point is, insurance is a decision one must make like every other investment decision. if you dont take insurance, you save some cost. should accident or risk occurs, you loose your investment or assets. the choice is yours.

regards.

p.s. hear the cali fires were started by a little boy wit matches.

i didn't hear but i'm not surprised.

Countries like the US can not exist without insurance companies. Risk is a fact of life and someone
(an insurance company) has to underwrite that risk. For every sad Katrina story, there are others
whom have been compensated when they suffered loses.

Of course, there will be times like Katrina for instance when the level of destruction is so vast that
the companies may actually risk going under (over $80billion in damages). When events like this
occur, they begin to get technical on whether the flood damage was actually caused by a direct
hurricane hit or if it was triggered by a secondary (non-covered) effect like the levees breaking,
etc. They essentially begin to look for an easy way out of the jam. Most times they will reach some
sort of settlements with the governments on whats to be paid out.

As someone said earlier, insurance is something people think they don't need until something
happens and they wish they had it. While one can get life insurance for as little as $20 a month,
a lot of Nigerians live and die in the US without life insurance, leaving friends to raise money to
bury them. It is a disgraceful state of affairs but it happens every day.

I can't speak for Nigeria, but I will think there might be a few reputable insurance companies
left still. One thing with insurance though is you can't afford any lapses in your payments. If its
life insurance (term life), you have to pay and must keep the account current until you die. I
do see where there can be shadiness in the Nigerian market as they might not notify you of
any lapses and may continue to accept payments even when the insurance is no longer in force.

Of course, there will be times like Katrina for instance when the level of destruction is so vast that
the companies may actually risk going under (over $80billion in damages). When events like this
occur, they begin to get technical on whether the flood damage was actually caused by a direct
hurricane hit or if it was triggered by a secondary (non-covered) effect like the levees breaking,
etc. They essentially begin to look for an easy way out of the jam. Most times they will reach some
sort of settlements with the governments on whats to be paid out.

that's exactly what i was trying to say but i didn't feel like typing too much.

I had been thinking about investing in the insurance industry and just thot to sample peoples perception of the industry both internationally and in Nigeria. All in all i see a loss in faith of insurance companies especially in the US and that cannot portend much good in the future as the people who ought to take up policies in order for the companies to make a profit might just be less willing. However in Nigeria, i think people would be more open to insurance companies in Nigeria as long as they develop a reputation for paying up no matter what.

I'm amazed on how far religion got into people's lifes. Why are you so naive? I don't get it, if you think that God is good than why would he want you to suffer? Insuring your house is not a bad thing at all. Now that I think about it I get it why Africa is so poor - you take too serious the fake religion. Why fake? 'cause when someone is against something - spreads the idea that God hymself is against that and you fools follow him. I insured every property I have. Found some good information about insurance in the U.S. on homeownersinsurancecover and got my insurance company from there. So don't get fooled. Think about you and your future.

stormtrooper:
I'm amazed on how far religion got into people's lifes. Why are you so naive? I don't get it, if you think that God is good than why would he want you to suffer? Insuring your house is not a bad thing at all. Now that I think about it I get it why Africa is so poor - you take too serious the fake religion. Why fake? 'cause when someone is against something - spreads the idea that God hymself is against that and you fools follow him. I insured every property I have. Found some good information about insurance in the U.S. on homeownersinsurancecover and got my insurance company from there. So don't get fooled. Think about you and your future.

Africa is poor mainly because the world stoled all the gold and the diamonts from there

Actually, insurance should be encouraged at every sector of Nigeria's economy, public and private.
Take for instance, I am a medical personnel and I can say that insurance would greatly enhance health care delivery in Nigeria. It would be a long story, but health insurance would reduce the number of deaths due to lack of money for health care.
Health insurance in Nigeria also has its own challenges that has made it difficult for people to participate, even for other insurance policies like life, car, housing and mortgage, etc.

But for now, here is a complete list of insurance companies in Nigeria and their coverage.
Top among the list are AIICO, Leadway, AXA Mansard, Custodian and Allied, Cornerstone, etc

Complete List of Insurance Companies in Nigeria