Ed Hinerman On Life Insurance

Oh, The World We Live In!!

A client of mine called the other day and asked if I could track down some kidnap insurance for his top executives. They have a very successful world wide company and their success has started to expose them to the realities of being American in places where our dollar may not be worth much, but we are.

These guys all have plenty of life insurance that will cover them if someone were to just out and out whack them, but it seemed to them to be prudent planning to have insurance that will cough up the ransom money if they are kidnapped.

While I very seldom wander out of my expertise in life insurance and disability income, I was curious and certainly wanted to do what I could for a good client, sooo……I inquired at an outlet I have for travel life insurance. These guys have provided policies for clients of mine as diverse as mineral exploration in New Guinea to civilian contracting work in Iraq.

My clients were looking for coverage for kidnap, ransom and extortion in Israel, India, Russia, Philippines, and Mexico to start with. They wanted the option of adding countries as opportunities came up. We were able to get them coverage for up to $3,000,000 per employee for just $3600 annually. And check this out…

Limit of Liability: $3,000,000 Ransom per Insured Event
$3,000,000 Transit per Insured Event
Unlimited Consultants Expenses per Insured Event
$3,000,000 Additional Expenses per Insured Event
$3,000,000 Legal Liability per Insured Event
Personal Accident: $250,000 per Insured Person
$1,250,000 in the annual aggregate
Policy Extensions: All Perils Extortion Loss of Earnings at full policy limit;
Computer Virus Business Interruption at $500,000 limit;
Threat Expense Response at $50,000 per insured event and in the aggregate;
Express Kidnap at $150,000 per insured event and in the aggregate;
Disappearance at $50,000 per insured event;
Travel Evacuation at $150,000 per insured event and in the aggregate; all per
terms and conditions of attached wordings

They seem to have all the bases covered and at $3600 annually, it is a nominal expense to know that they have a reasonably instant way to respond to the unthinkable.

Bottom line. If your company has worldwide exposure and there is a possibility of working in areas where the kidnap and ransom business is alive and well, consider insuring against that possibility.

Add comment January 27th, 2009

You See What I Mean?

I rant. I rave. I scream from the rafters. The point I keep making about people’s mortality hit home again for me over the weekend when a 51 year old friend of mine died suddenly at home. Danny was just too young to die. He was too active to die.

When I was talking to a partner of mine in Denver today and told him about Danny, he told me about a friend who has passed away this weekend from leukemia at age 37. That’s just too young. How can a young family plan for life when things like this happen when they aren’t supposed to?

First, in case neither of the cases above strikes a nerve, let’s cut right to the chase about all of this mortality stuff. As I’ve stated in many posts in this forum, if you’re a 25 year old male in America, you have only a 1 in 6 chance of making to age 64 according to a recent study. This same study points out the kind of denial that causes people, especially those in their 30’s and 40’s to avoid purchasing life insurance. The survey notes that “Americans generally underestimate their risks – for example, only 5% of Americans ages 35-44 said they think they will die before reaching age 65, when in fact a typical 35-year-old male has a 17.5% chance of death before age 65.” That almost 1 in 5!!

Whether it’s cancer or a heart attack, a car accident or whatever, death happens too early. It happens at the wrong time. It happens unexpectedly and the only planning tool we have, and thank God it is an inexpensive one, is life insurance. It isn’t going to replace the loss or do away with the pain, but it’s going to fulfill your loved one’s wish that if something did happen, you’re going to be all right.

Bottom line. As a whole we are living longer and I think there is a tendency for young adults to think that means that death always comes when it’s supposed to. Think again.

Add comment January 27th, 2009