Insurance World

I worked in the insurance industry for 16 years and saw first hand how profitable an insurance company can be. I will not attempt to go into the nitty gritty details but I will give you a pretty good idea in the form of an overview, how profitable a venture an insurance company can be.

Insurance is a form of risk management. It is purchased to avoid the possibility of a large , potential future loss. To compensate the insurance company for taking on this potential future payout, the insured pays the insurance company a certain sum of money known as the premium. In return for the payment of the premium the insured receives a written document, known as the insurance policy, that lays out what events are being insured and what the payment to the policyholder would be if that event actually occurred.

The insurance company collects the premiums of a large group of insureds to cover the few losses they would have to pay out for.They use historical data to figure the probability of losses and then charge premiums to cover them while building in a profit for themselves.

For example,let’s say there were 100 houses each worth $100,000 in a particular area. They would have a total value of $10,000,000. According to the history of that neighborhood, two houses are expected to burn down during any one year. Without insurance all 100 homeowners would have to keep $100,000 in the bank to cover the possibility of the house burning and needing to rebuild it. With insurance, each homeowner would only need to pay $2,000 into an insurance pool to pay for rebuilding the two houses that are expected to burn down.

2 houses burn x $100,000 = $200,000 for rebuilding the houses $200,000 divided by the 100 homeowners = $2,000 premium

That $2,000 premium will then have to be increased somewhat to add a profit margin for the insurance company.

In addition to the built in profit that the insurance company adds in to each premium it takes in, the company would also be subject to the actual experience of the insured group. If it takes in more money in premiums than it paid out in claims then it receives what is known as an underwriting profit. And, on the other hand if it pays out more than it has taken in then it has an underwriting loss.

One way of looking at how well an insurance company is doing is to look at their loss ratio. The loss ratio is calculated by taking the losses they had to pay out and add to that the expenses they incurred to actual pay out the
claims and divide that sum by the premiums taken in. A ratio of less than 100% shows a profit and a ratio greater than 100% indicates a loss.

In many cases if an insurance company’s ratio is greater than 100% they can still be profitable. That is because there is usually a period of time between taking in premiums and paying out claims. During that period of time the company can invest the money taken in and they can earn a profit from that investment to offset any underwriting loss and could actually end up with a net profit. For example, if the insurance company pays out 15% more in claims and expenses than premiums it took in, but made a 25% profit from its investments, then it would have received a 10% profit.

So, as can be seen there is more than one way to skin the profitability cat for an insurance company to make money. Two key factors in that regard are how well they can predict their payouts and how well they can invest the money they take in.

According to one of the largest UK life insurance companies, just 1% of life policies are written in trust. That is disgraceful and reflects poorly on the financial industry.

Let’s explain.

If your life insurance policy is “Written in Trust” then, in the event of a claim, the insurance company pays out directly to the beneficiaries you name on the policy. The significance of this is easily missed.

It means that if the policy is “Written in Trust”, the proceeds from the policy never form part of your legal estate and are not subject to Inheritance Tax. The importance of this is illustrated by the following figures:

Take Mr A. He’s a widower and wants to leave everything equally to his two sons. He owns his home which is currently worth Ј245,000 with a Ј10,000 outstanding mortgage. His investments are valued at Ј52,000 and his car and other chattels are worth Ј18,000. He also owns a life insurance policy for Ј100,000 which is not written in trust. We assume that the costs of administering his estate and obtaining probate would be Ј5,000.

If Mr A were to die now, his estate would be worth Ј400,000 less Inheritance Tax. Inheritance Tax is currently levied at 40% on the value of his estate over and above Ј275,000 – that means that the taxman will walk off with Ј50,000 and his sons would each receive Ј175,000.

Now lets assume exactly the same figures except that in this case the life insurance policy is “Written in Trust” with Mr A’s sons as equal beneficiaries. Because the life insurance company pays out directly to his sons, they each receive Ј50,000 straight away and non of the money is included in Mr A’s estate. This means that his estate is now worth Ј300,000 and the taxman can only walk away with Ј10,000. Each of his sons receives Ј20,000 more and tax-free!

So simply by signing a few forms, Mr A saves Ј40,000 tax!

Is there a catch? No – all the documentation is standard and is provided totally free of charge by the life insurance company. Your broker through whom you buy the policy, should complete the documentation for you, again free of charge. All you have to do is give the details of the beneficiaries to the broker and sign the form. Solicitors are not required. In the event of a claim, the life insurance company then has to pay out directly to the beneficiaries. Job done! Poor Mr Taxman!

Even if your policy is designed to repay a mortgage, it should be “Written in Trust” for your partner. Then, rather than your estate receiving the money and using it pay off the mortgage, the money can be paid directly to your partner. This saves legal delays, solicitor’s and probate fees and loads of hassle. Your partner can then use the money to personally pay off the mortgage. Whether this also saves you Inheritance tax will depend on the value of your estate and how you have structured your Will.

So we believe that a life insurance policy “Written I Trust” is a win win situation. And there aren’t many of those around these days! We can’t see any drawbacks.

Bye the way, no matter what you decide to do, always ensure that you have an up-to-date Will.