In a world without any dangers and only with foreseeable events, in which we would be completely invulnerable, insurances wouldn’t have been invented in the first place. But the truth is that, on a personal level, we all have an Achilles’ heel, some having it exposed more than others, and, as a species, we are all still subject to nature’s caprices, regardless of how much our civilization has evolved.

As such, insurances play an important role in our lives. When you are the sole breadwinner in your household, if holding a life insurance, you may at least be sure that whatever bad may happen to you, your family won’t end on the streets, begging. You may also ‘insure’ your occupation; if you are a physician, for instance, it is likelier to make a mistake than die all of a sudden. As such, you should have professional indemnity insurance to make sure that your malpractice doesn’t destroy your family as completely as your death would do, by compromising your career and your financial prospects, given the high legal costs you’d have to pay in case of a trial. Professional indemnity insurance is therefore essential ‘occupation’ insurance, because we can’t do our job always perfectly or always satisfactory for any third party.

Besides these ‘personal’ insurances related directly to our particular life or profession, there are more general insurances related to our vulnerability as a species, when facing, for instance, natural disasters. Especially if you are aware that the area where you live and work is exposed to earthquakes, floods, volcano eruptions, tornadoes, hurricanes etc, you need to ensure your property, whether that’s your home or your business office. Otherwise, you can lose your abode and your company simultaneously, in a matter of minutes.

But even if there is no such likelihood in your area, with the climate change so apparent these days, it seems much more difficult to establish some weather patterns, and floods for one may take place where they are completely unexpected. And, besides, you have to be prepared for unexpected calamities as well, because insurances deal with the existence and dimensions of a disaster and not with its provenience.

It’s actually immaterial to you whether a catastrophic accident destroying your building was provoked by an expected earthquake or an unexpected gas leak, if the effects are as bad. And if you are a bank, for example, it’s unimportant to you if all the cash was destroyed in a fire or taken as hostage by armed robbers. What you insure is what you have and you may lose, regardless of the manner in which this may happen or of the likelihood of such an event.