Respond vs. Prevent

I see families of the future having different risk management choices than they do today.  Today, you can buy an insurance contract that promises to help you pay for certain losses for certain limits under certain conditions.  Buy it, put it on the shelf, wait for the loss, then see if it applies.

But as an alternative (or complement), I believe the day is fast approaching when you’ll have the ability to subscribe to a service that will predict and help prevent a loss from ever happening.  Buy it, adopt it’s guidance into your daily behaviors, and avoid the loss.

The reason I think this is going to happen is because people I speak with who are entrenched in the insurance industry don’t seem intrigued by the prospect of being in the alternative group.  And people I speak with who are outside of the insurance industry believe they can do a better job of predicting the future in order to lead you toward a desired outcome, unlike those who sell passive products.

The second group believes you’ll prefer to prevent the loss and need less insurance.  The people in the first group don’t think it’s worth the effort.  I don’t know who will “win”, but my experience tells me that when the new kid feels they can outdo the elder and the elder says “huh?”, change is already underway.

Photo:  Seattle, WA