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The life insurance policies advertised on the radio with the line You cannot be turned down for this coverage! are actually saying, For policies this small, it would cost us more to decide whom to turn down than simply to accept everybody - and make them pay through the nose.

Andrew Tobias

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Andrew Tobias
Age: 77
Born: 1947
Born: April 20
Journalist
Writer
Cannot
Turn
Radio
Make
Simply
Turned
Advertised
Would
Saying
Accept
Coverage
Life
Lines
Cost
Insurance
Small
Line
Nose
Everybody
Pay
Policies
Turns
Accepting
Noses
Actually
Policy
Decide

More quotes by Andrew Tobias

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The first life insurance societies where formed in England in the years between 1692 and 1720. In America, life insurance became available to the clergy through the Presbyterian Ministers Fund, founded in 1759 (still in existence), and the Episcopal Corporation, founded ten years later (subsequently merged).
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I think a lot of people would rather have more control over their life than less.
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The life insurance industry is filled with good people who believe in their work and their companies, but who may never have challenged the assumptions underlying their efforts.
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There are only two things as complicated as insurance accounting and I have no idea what they are.
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There were no jobs created in America from 1945, when the war ended, through 2003. How could there be? Taxes were too high. Preposterously so under Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan (who left office with a 28 percent rate on long-term capital gains) and Bush the Elder.
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Rule of thumb: The more trimmings an insurance plan has and the harder someone is pitching it, the faster you should run.
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The first American insurance company was the Friendly Society for the Mutual Insurance of Houses Against Fire, founded in Charles Town in South Carolina, in 1735.
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In short: Readily available low-cost life insurance would be a threat to the industry, and whatever threatens the life insurance industry threatens America.
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The best thing I have are 5 percent bonds from 1780, denominated from $1 to $20. As far as I can tell, they are obligations from the United States of America, so I should be able to walk down to the Federal Reserve and redeem the uncanceled ones. With 217 years of accrued interest, for a $20 bond, that's about $800,000.
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