Disability Insurance Observer: Brick

Some exceptionally well-adjusted people may understand in their hearts that they win some and lose some, and that the wins and losses may not necessarily be correlated.

The rest of us tend to let victories and defeats color how we see ourselves.

If we do well, we feel as if we’re generally on the right track.

If we lose, we feel as if we must generally be losers, and have many areas in which we ought to try to improve.

One problem for disability insurers is that the people who’ve taken the heaviest metaphorical bricks to the head — people who have learned that they are disabled, or have health problems that are likely to lead to disability — are uninsurable.

They are ready to change… but, at least from the perspective of disability insurers, it’s too late.

It hit me over the holidays that there’s another group of consumers who are healthy enough to insure but defeated enough to have an interest in changing their irresponsible ways: The many people with solid work histories, decent credit scores, and minor credit report blemishes that make getting a mortgage or other loan difficult in today’s environment.

A young invincible friend hopes to buy a house. The friend’s friend, a financial advisor, told him what a hash he had inadvertently made of his finances (despite working steadily, paying his bills and living a respectable life), and was especially brutal about the fact that the young invincible has no will.