Risk and Property Insurance
By Randell Tiongson on June 7th, 2010Property insurance is a risk-distributing device. A person puts money called premium to a common fund and distributes his risk to the group. There is no way for a person to know in advance whether he will receive compensation more than he has contributed or that he will be merely paying for the loss of others.
The primary goal of a person getting insurance coverage is to assure himself that he will not shoulder the loss alone. He may gamble, take his chance that he may be able to steer his property away from a loss and its devastating effect. But putting a minimum amount, and considering that such amount is the only sum he is bound to loss in case a loss actually occurs is the logic behind getting protection for your property. However, it is unfortunate that most Filipinos remain clung to his fatalistic philosophy of “Bahala na.” When the loss happens, it is already too late.
Risk is an everyday reality. This is the reason why people make calculations instinctively to avoid risk. They forget that their own negligence (lack of foresight, lack of skill to prevent loss) is the paramount reason why property insurance is there in the first place.