The Crazy (but factual) History of Insurance (Yes, there were pirates)

What is insurance, you say?
Insurance isn’t something that generally ignites fireworks and gets you dancing in your seat. Well, maybe not for most people. Insurance can be considered to be part of that “adulting” category. We don’t really get it until we need to, like when one buys their first car or home. So, to truly understand insurance, we need to back it up because believe it or not, there is a lot of history on how insurance came about.

Insurance was around even way back when…
In the ancient world, the first form of insurance was recorded by merchant ship traders. While preparing for a long and treacherous journey over troubled waters (for extra emphasis, que “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” by Simon & Garfunkel), the ship traders would divide ALL of their items among many different ships. Boy, that is a lot of rum, so can you imagine trying to ship 100 barrels of rum? They put all the barrels of rum on Captain Hook’s boat because he paid for them in gold teeth (you heard us, gold teeth), but then something bad happened. Captain Hook’s ship was seized by angry pirates, who stole all of their precious cargo. What a catastrophic loss! When Captain Hook’s crew decided to spread out their cargo (thus reducing their risk exposure), they were actually implementing the very first form of insurance known to man, ultimately protecting themselves from a gigantic loss and a ton of drunk pirates. Because who wants to see what a bunch of drunk pirates looks like? That would be cause for more insurance.

Fast-forward to Modern Day
So here we are in 2020, knee-deep into a global pandemic, surviving one day at a time. The need for insurance has become far more important. We aren’t taking long treacherous journeys nor are we worried about pirates seizing your premises BUT you would like to make sure the things that are important to you are kept safe. When you buy insurance, the money you spend goes into a premium pool with many others (premium pool, another fancy insurance word. You’re welcome). Everyone who contributes money into this pool is considered to be insured. If anyone in this pool suffers a loss, some of the pool goes to help the insured person who suffered that loss. Pretty simple, right?

The idea of insurance is still very similar to ancient times, but you don’t have to trade in your gold teeth for a policy & you only surf the internet, not the seven seas.

Same Ship. Different day-in-age.

Looking to jump ship? Climb on board!

Schedule a call with Insurely now.