[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] If you’re renting an apartment and the guy upstairs lets the bathtub overflow – for a couple of hours while you’re at work – who’s going to pay for the damage to the “stuff” in your apartment? Not necessarily your landlord. In fact,...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] At one of the Clark Insurance Breakfast Briefings in 2013, we invited a noted Maine physician to offer his analysis of the stubborn facts of U.S.health care system. While shocking, the facts suggest immense opportunity to take control of our health and the...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Which of these statements is true? A. Politicians are all thieves. B. Insurance companies don’t pay claims. C. Lawyers are ambulance chasers. D. Chuck Norris made a mistake once but it corrected itself. Obviously, the answer is “D”. Too often, though, we accept something to be true and...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] The doctor says your high blood pressure and cholesterol are likely to result in heart disease, diabetes or cancer and you could die sooner than later unless you adopt a healthy diet. Who’s going to care if you die? More people than you might...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Such are the protests of some people who don’t recognize that their behavior or actions may be considered harassment for which you or they may be held liable – sexual innuendo, gay-bashing, comments about someone’s age, weight or ethnicity. It takes a vigilant...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] When it comes to driving convictions in Maine, the data underscores why the insurance industry charges men more for auto coverage than it does for women. Looking at the most recently available statistics in Maine (2011) on the Bureau of Motor Vehicles web...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] We all have a different view of insurance in Maine and New Hampshire and when to use it. Something happens, you file an insurance claim. “Hey, I paid my insurance premiums and I want some of that money back for the damage to...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] No matter how much people joke about government, the fact is we generally trust our bureaucracy for objective information, particularly about insurance. A few months back, for example, we wrote a column about annuities, an insurance product that can guarantee buyers a steady...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] A traffic incident a few years back brought to light the inherent conflicts between bicyclists riding the roads and drivers. The incident involved a cyclist crossing the bridge through a construction site that had no shoulder or bike lane. The cyclist claimed a...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Teenagers happen and you ask yourself, “What were they thinking?” Scientists tell us that the brain does not fully mature until the early twenties and even then, there are no guarantees we’ll always act responsibly. That’s why the stories we tell our parents...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] What color car? You’re getting married? Is it a boy or a girl? You want a four bedroom house? Was he drunk? How big a power boat? What colleges is she visiting? What’s the prognosis? She left you how much? Life comes at us...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] When there’s a hill to climb, don’t think that waiting will make it any smaller. Here in Maine and New Hampshire, the sun’s setting earlier and temps are dipping. It’s getting late in the season to cure the critical repairs that could cause...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Tales of attempted fraud can be awfully amusing but horribly expensive – like the guy who was collecting insurance benefits for an injury he claimed prevented him from working. The gentleman, however, won a moose hunting lottery permit and his name was published...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Hackers can guess 76 percent of the passwords in a data breach according to Agent & Broker magazine. Someone scratching at your online door with lots of determination may be able get at your passwords so why make it easy. Password strength can...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] According to WIRED, “Google’s autonomous cars have driven 1.3 million miles since 2009. They can recognize hand signals from traffic officers and “think” at speeds no human can match. They’ve been involved in 17 crashes, but have never been at fault. Google’s previously...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Jim Collins in his book, Good to Great, advises organizations wishing to achieve world-class success to know and perfect what they can do best to the virtual exclusion of all others. Once that position of market dominance has been established, Collins says they...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] A competitive insurance market is a pretty remarkable thing. It allows individuals, owners and employers to transfer their risk at a very low cost to a company that will pay to restore what’s been lost. For most people and companies, it allows them...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] The issues that keep us awake at night are the ones over which we feel the least control: health, employment, retirement, money, relationships. How about changes in leadership? Does that trigger the anxiety button? Someone unexpectedly gets fired, hired, promoted, leaves or dies. For...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Years ago, we spent more than $5,000 for the removal of a twisted spleen from our eight year-old standard poodle. Our three young sons had sided with Buddy, their BFF, so euthanasia was off the table. This episode was a reminder that our...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Some years ago, our son jammed his finger during soccer practice but stoically didn’t complain until after dinner when it began to hurt from swelling. We called the pediatrician who advised that we head for a walk-in clinic or emergency room to check...
