University/Organization
Professor of Mathematics and Actuarial Program Director
Department of Mathematics, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
Title
Life, Family, and the Pursuit of Retirement
Synopsis
Insurance companies present themselves to the public as institutions providing protection. But of course, they do not really protect from the insured events, such as hurricanes, or car accidents, or death. No matter how sophisticated and advanced the work of an insurance firm is, no insurance company can prevent any of those. Instead, insurance companies provide financial compensation for losses due to the insured events. The result is that, on a social scale, insurance industry provides encouragement for risk taking, not protection. In this work, we analyze this perspective on the business of life insurance and life annuity.