Perhaps as a consequence of living through what is being described as the worst global economic crisis since the depression of the 1930s, we are seeing more and more people looking for ways to cut on their insurance costs; with people making efforts to save amounts that they would have in better times described as ‘inconsequential.’ To make the savings on insurance costs, a number of steps are taken – chief among them being shopping far and widely for the insurance policy (as insurance costs between insurers tend to vary significantly), getting different types of insurance coverage from the same providers (to maximize on ‘quantity-purchase discounts’) and trying to mitigate the risk against which insurance is taken for, so as to maximize on the lower insurance premiums that insurance providers give to those of their customers who take such steps. But the question remains as to whether, really, the savings one stands to make on their insurance payments are worthy of the effort that goes into making them possible.

Of course, the answer to the question of whether the savings made on insurance payments are the worth the effort that goes into making them depends to a great extent on the perspective of the person who is seeking to make the savings. As it turns out, there are those of us who view money on the basis of its consumption value, while there are those of us who view money on the basis of its investment value, that is, what any sum of money that is saved today and channeled into an investment might yield for us sometime down the lane.

To those of us in the first category who view money in terms of its present consumption value, some of the savings likely to be made on insurance costs by things like taking mitigating steps against the risk we are insuring or shopping far and wide for insurance might not seem to be worth the effort, as the savings are likely to be in marginal figures, say tens or hundreds of dollars at most.

To those of us in the second category, who view money in terms of its future value if invested today, however, the savings likely to be made on insurance costs by things like mitigating the risk we are insuring against or shopping far and wide for insurance will probably be seen as worth the pursuit. The people in this category are people are said to ‘know the game of money’ – and for any such person, the fact that a sum as little as $80 (saved on insurance) that is invested in an investment instrument that yields only a 10% compounded return per annum would be something in terms of hundreds of dollars in ten years time is not like to be lost.

Of course, besides these two groups of people, there will also be those of us who are pragmatists, and who appreciate the fact that money is money (whatever its amount), and one cannot afford to lose any money they have worked for; and for those in this category too, the savings to be made on insurance costs by taking the various steps are well worth the effort.