A word we hear most frequently is manifestation. Some people who are spoken about frequently use the term manifestation from a positive perspective. Sometimes it takes a long period of time for an event of a physical thing to manifest from the intangible to the real physical. Sometimes  though it only takes a short time. However one thing I have found in my 30 plus years of experience is that for anything to manifest itself there needs to be some vital elements and when those elements come together at a certain moment in time that’s when the event of thing manifests itself

The very same applies in the world of insurance.  Why insurance. Why do we need insurance. Personally I prefer to put my energy and focus into preventing a loss from occurring and thinking about how a loss can occur. Then being creative to remove that risk or engineer a solution that reduces the risk from manifestation to a point that I can deal with it without fear and stress and financial loss.

Insurance focus is on the perspective of risk . The probability that something is going to happen. Thus much of this depends upon ones perception of the immediate world around them.  If a person says “it has never happened to me before” then their perception of the probability of the event occurring is very low. However in our world of risk because we experience loss and claims in peoples  lives every day the insurance advisors perception of probability of a risk manifesting itself is very high. We in the “insurance risk advising industry” are aware and have an understanding of how a risk can manifest itself into reality very quickly. We also understand and have witnessed many times the financial consequences of an event and also the level of stress and ‘dis – ease “ that is created from an event

Why Insurance. It’s not about selling a policy or you buying a Policy. It’s about assisting to remove the fear and assisting to provide the financial assistance, legal assistance,  empathetic support, at a time when it appears a persons perceptive (the insured)of their secure world is being torn down or threatened.

I would like to add though that the problem we have with insurance and the word Risk is that it is a product  (the policy ) that deals with the world of probabilities. If however we could show you the hazard as in a physical form – like a car – then the decision to buy insurance is not difficult. Because most people understand the hazard. They can see it. They have witnessed the Motor Vehicle crash and seen the results on TV news. The understanding of the hazard is quick. Less than 7 seconds. Understanding risk of perspective and probabilities however takes much much longer and people don’t give it the time to comprehend to factors required to come together to manifest themselves in an event – The hazard.

Insurance is not about how much or about it has not happened to me up until now –so why do  I need it. Its about when it happens how much money will, you need for legal costs in defence and the other hidden costs in dealing with the levels of stress that will occur as you deal with the fear as it conflicts with your sense of freedom.

I guess to a point Insurance is buying you your freedom. Your get out of jail card.   You throw the dice

John Barley

Barley Insurances Ltd

PO Box 1412

Phone 09 827 7266

www.barley.co.nz – insurance