Historically, so you don’t get screwed…

In a world where everything is changing all the time, it’s easy to forget that not so long ago, things were very different.

Today we know insurance as a agreement between big insurance companies and individuals, and this is in fact what most insurance relationships are.

However, the history of insurance runs deep. Farther back than even the 1700s.

Before big 18 wheeler cargo trucks, marine ships were the only form of cargo transport we had.

Anyone could get their goods transported for the right price. But unlike today, big companies weren’t the sole owners of large amounts of goods. Because one person couldn’t afford the cost of delivering something overseas by themselves, multiple people would be the the owners of the goods on the ship, which was very expensive and labor intensive to get transported.

Something about transporting things across the ocean, in the 1700s, it was taking a big risk. There were endless threats about the ocean, like pirates, storms, changing or crooked captains and crew, unavoidable detours, ect. You just would never know if your goods were safe or not.

Too soften the potential losses that people could suffer with very uncertain outcomes. People got wise and between the owners of the property, they formed agreements, policies that in the event of a loss, they would all put in money to compensate for the loss of the property.

This is the essence of insurance. We are all at risk of losing something at an uncertain time. Insurance is sharing that risk with someone else, so that you do not have to pay it all alone when the going gets tough.