While it may surprise some to know that the original concept of life insurance can be traced back millennia to ancient times, there is no doubt the life insurance industry plays a vital role by providing financial protection when people need it most.
For many of us working in the industry, we know that insurance is a noble profession. Our customers and the community should feel this as well.
So, what is noble? “Noble” is having or showing fine personal qualities or high moral principles. Nobility means virtue, honour, honesty and integrity. In essence, having nobility is about doing the right thing.
How does nobility translate into action and outcomes? Well, this is a rather hard question to answer, but one way is to look at recent data.
Life Insurance Claims data collected and published by APRA shows that, on average during 2019, 17 death claims were made for every 10,000 policies held. While this figure was higher for disability income claims, of which 84 claims were made for every 10,000 policies held, the vast majority of customers are unlikely to claim on their policy. It will therefore be very difficult, if not impossible, for someone to properly assess the value of their insurance cover based on their personal experiences alone.
That is why life insurance is a transaction enabled through trust, not price. Life insurers make a promise to each and every customer that they will be there to pay any valid claims, including potentially one day theirs. And it is trust that is the key to this core promise. The same APRA data shows that 97 per cent of death claims were paid in the first instance where a decision has been made. The equivalent proportion for disability income claims was 95 per cent. The life insurance industry pays out, on average, almost $33 million to 279 Australian households every single day, 365 days a year. Needless to say, from this bird’s eye view, there are a great many instances that life insurers can know they are fulfilling their noble purpose.
It is important to reflect on the fact that for every disappointing story we hear on life insurance, there are infinitely more positive stories which are deserving of attention, but that are rarely reflected in the mainstream media. Glen James’ story is just one story that we want to share.
Glen recently shared his experience on the value of trauma insurance for a special episode on his podcast My Millennial Money. For those readers that haven’t heard of the ‘MMM’ podcast, its episodes provide some really informative and useful content on a range of money matters. Having this content being discussed in a light-hearted way is tremendously valuable for a topic such as life insurance, which for too many too often is hard to think about (let alone talk about). In some respects, this is because life insurance is the intersecting point of two topics traditionally considered taboo to speak openly about in society: life threatening events and personal finance. If you’d like to listen/view this episode, follow through by clicking the link here.
Of course, we can and we must, as an industry, always aspire to do better for our customers. But let’s not forget to take stock of the noble role we are playing each day in protecting the Australian community during these difficult times.