Tornadoes Make $7 Billion Disappear from Insurance Industry

June 9th, 2011


(photo credit: Mike_tn)

Here’s how insurance works for you: Instead of paying $200,000 to rebuild your house after it’s been destroyed in a natural disaster, you pay $200 a year (called a premium) to an insurance company that will cover the whole bill in the event that such an unfortunate thing occurs.

Here’s how insurance works for insurance companies: A lot of people pay you $200 a year for protection against the very unlikely possibility that their house will be destroyed in a natural disaster. You profit.

(Of course, you have a team of people with calculators and maps who spend every single day figuring out the likelihood that your customer’s house will, in fact, be destroyed in a natural disaster. If the odds look good, you’ll either charge them a higher premium or refuse coverage altogether.)

Here’s what happened between May 20th and 27th: Hundreds of tornadoes destroyed $7 billion in property, which the insurance companies now have to pay for. That makes 2011 the most expensive year EVER for these companies.

But… better them than you, right?

Here’s why you need insurance.

Addicted to Risk

June 9th, 2011

sky-jumper.jpg
(photo credit: jeroen_bennink)

When you have a lot to lose, how likely are you to engage in risky behavior?

Apparently people with a lot of money to lose – people known as “the wealthy” – are pretty likely to take those risks. But not simply because they can afford to lose here and there. Many of them are just hard-wired that way.

At least, according to this study by Barclays Wealth. We definitely don’t endorse trying to make money by taking excessive risk or doing things like trying to time the markets. But, interestingly, neither do the millionaire risk-takers themselves. Most of those who reported trading more often than they should also reported feeling guilty about it – and slightly out of control.

Surprising, right?

What’s your risk tolerance? Find out by taking our Risk Assessment Quiz!

Addicted to Risk

June 9th, 2011

sky-jumper.jpg
(photo credit: jeroen_bennink)

When you have a lot to lose, how likely are you to engage in risky behavior?

Apparently people with a lot of money to lose – people known as “the wealthy” – are pretty likely to take those risks. But not simply because they can afford to lose here and there. Many of them are just hard-wired that way.

At least, according to this study by Barclays Wealth. We definitely don’t endorse trying to make money by taking excessive risk or doing things like trying to time the markets. But, interestingly, neither do the millionaire risk-takers themselves. Most of those who reported trading more often than they should also reported feeling guilty about it – and slightly out of control.

Surprising, right?

What’s your risk tolerance? Find out by taking our Risk Assessment Quiz!

TILE Announcement: How to Keep the Kids (Barrons)

June 8th, 2011

Why is TILE’s work so important? Allow this article in Barron’s to explain:  How to Keep the Kids

The Way to an Investor’s Heart is Through His Wife’s Closet?

June 8th, 2011


(photo credit: fimoculous)

If you were a major luxury fashion house going public in an attempt to raise $3 billion from Asian investors, would you spend hours working on your investor PowerPoint presentation, or would you wrap a bunch of models in snakeskin and have them walk around at the Plaza Hotel?

Guess which way Prada went?

The Italian company is pursuing an IPO, which means it’s going to sell off pieces of itself to public investors, in Hong Kong this month. In order to woo potential investors, it held a relatively small fashion show for tycoons and their wives and daughters. Female tycoons either didn’t exist or were mysteriously lost in the editing of this WSJ piece about the event.

Prada is valued at $15.7 billion, so with this initial public offering, they’re giving up ownership of almost 20% of the company. But they’ve got to raise that cash somehow if their plans for world fashion domination are going to work out.

In other news, here’s a handy list of some of the biggest IPOs in U.S. history.

Hey, investor. Would YOU be wooed by a runway show?

The Way to an Investor’s Heart is Through His Wife’s Closet?

June 8th, 2011


(photo credit: fimoculous)

If you were a major luxury fashion house going public in an attempt to raise $3 billion from Asian investors, would you spend hours working on your investor PowerPoint presentation, or would you wrap a bunch of models in snakeskin and have them walk around at the Plaza Hotel?

Guess which way Prada went?

The Italian company is pursuing an IPO, which means it’s going to sell off pieces of itself to public investors, in Hong Kong this month. In order to woo potential investors, it held a relatively small fashion show for tycoons and their wives and daughters. Female tycoons either didn’t exist or were mysteriously lost in the editing of this WSJ piece about the event.

Prada is valued at $15.7 billion, so with this initial public offering, they’re giving up ownership of almost 20% of the company. But they’ve got to raise that cash somehow if their plans for world fashion domination are going to work out.

In other news, here’s a handy list of some of the biggest IPOs in U.S. history.

Hey, investor. Would YOU be wooed by a runway show?

Strategies for Change, Part 4: Education

June 7th, 2011


Welcome to our new series, showing you how the changes you want to see in the world actually happen!

Check out our other SfC shorts:

Strategies for Change: Introduction
Strategies for Change, Part 1: Activism
Strategies for Change, Part 2: Advocacy
Strategies for Change, Part 3: Direct Service

Today at TILE… Learning By Doing

June 7th, 2011

Today at TILE we talked about learning by doing… Putting what you learn in the classroom to use in real life. Specifically, we talked about walking the entrepreneurial walk after cooking up an idea. How do you turn that great idea for a business into a great business? Does SWOT apply to your market position or is it something that kills insects? How can passion translate into real success?

Read the rest of this entry »

Strategies for Change, Part 4: Education

June 6th, 2011


Welcome to our new series, showing you how the changes you want to see in the world actually happen!

What matters most to YOU?

June 3rd, 2011

better-life-index.png

It’s all connected – your spending with your values, your investments with your spending, your everyday choices with your financial identity. But money isn’t everything. Right?

The Better Life Initiative is a project that really gets that. The people behind it – the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – know that when it comes to national health and identity, a real understanding requires more than economic statistics. They’re not the first to realize that, of course, but they are the first to turn that philosophy into a majorly awesome interactive online experience.

This kind of information used to come from a group of analysts crunching numbers and telling us who ranked where in the great global economic struggle. The Better Life Initiative collects data, yes, but YOU choose how it’s ranked and displayed.

What’s the wealthiest nation that has affordable housing for its citizens?

How about the poorest nation with the highest life satisfaction?

Tweak the knobs to your soul’s content and see where your own personal life desires are really being played out in the world. Whenever someone creates and shares their ideal index on the site, OECD records it in a giant “what the people of the world really care about” database.

We picked Luxembourg as our favorite country, though we’re not sure where exactly it is.

What does your ideal life look like?

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