Insurance Doesn't Make Sense If You Have Savings

February 12th, 2011
insurance, money
Living in an apartment, it might make sense to get renter's insurance. We'd pay something monthly, and then if something bad happened the insurance company would pay for our stuff. The alternative is not to get insurance, and pay for stuff out of savings if needed. Insurance companies make money. They do this by charging people as a whole more in premiums than they get back in payments [1]. So as long as we can afford to re-purchase all our stuff out of savings, insurance has negative value to us.

[1] Health insurance is different because the company does collective bargaining to decrease how much the providers charge for their services.

Comment via: facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Ozy at LessOnline!

I will once again be a guest at LessOnline, alongside many other writers whom you no doubt like less than you like me: Scott Alexander, dynomight, Georgia Ray, David Friedman, Nicholas Decker, Jacob Falkovich, Kelsey Piper, Alicorn, Aella, etc.

via Thing of Things March 23, 2026

Daycares and the Brown School

As someone in Somerville I notice that there are quite high prices regarding childcare. The average family in Somerville pays $1,100 to $3,500 for daycare per month, and I want to make the costs more affordable. I have also noticed that housing is quite …

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts March 22, 2026

2025-26 New Year review

This is an annual post reviewing the last year and setting intentions for next year. I look over different life areas (work, health, parenting, effectiveness, etc) and analyze my life tracking data. Highlights include a minimal group house, the usefulness…

via Victoria Krakovna January 19, 2026

more     (via openring)