Another way to NOT talk about insurance

Yesterday an industry friend and I were talking about improving the manner in which we talk about what we do for a living.  We figure if we can better describe the role insurance plays in good financial planning, consumers might take it more seriously and they’ll be able to ignore the irresponsibility of so many messages our industry sends out to people.  I’ve talked about this before in an earlier post.

I explained yesterday to my friend that my philosophy is that insurance is the only financial product that provides resiliency against sudden financial shocks.  My friend added a bit more, believing that insurance can be the engine to drive a financial plan when a sudden shock interrupts the desired methods of achieving that plan.

I think that’s a good way to put it.  If the inputs to a financial plan’s technique are time and capital and there’s an interruption to either of those, insurance can put the financial plan on its back and keep going.  I like that.

The reason to ponder this isn’t for brochures or blogs, it’s to encourage families to take their insurance planning, insurance scrutiny, and insurance standards more seriously and to filter the noise that might otherwise lead them astray.