I’m going to go a little bit outside my normal insurance domain to address a topic that has received a lot of attention of late – corporate health insurance. Most people I speak to have a fundamental misunderstanding about how their health insurance works. If you have employer provided healthcare, Continue Reading
Allianz’s Foolish Bitcoin Bond Buying
Did you know Allianz is at the center of the biggest racket in financial markets since AIG was insuring mortgage CDOs? Some of you are probably familiar with MicroStrategy. They are the software firm led by Michael Saylor that morphed into a Bitcoin hedge fund (that doesn’t hedge!). After Satoshi Continue Reading
The Greater Fool and the Persistence of Irrationality
This is going to be a bit nerdy, but hopefully it’s insightful. Probably the biggest difference I have seen between economic theory and reality is the lengthening of lags across the economy and markets. What do I mean by that? I mean if theory predicts it might take one year Continue Reading
S&P 6000: Irrational Exuberance
WARNING: I am not saying sell stocks today! It was over three years from Greenspan’s irrational exuberance speech until the top of the market. Rather, I am expressing the need for caution as you think about future stock returns. I have no idea when the top will come or how Continue Reading
Understanding Political Betting Markets
First off, this post is not pro either candidate. If you read it as such, it’s your bias, not mine. Truth is, I am anti both parties. Today’s topic is one that has received a lot of attention of late – political betting markets. I thought I would use some Continue Reading
Hurricane Milton – The End of the Florida Insurance Experiment?
I wanted to write some initial thoughts based on what we know at the moment. Obviously, this is a fluid situation and predictions can change between now and landfall. I am going to assume for this post that Milton is a strong 3 hitting near Tampa, going through Orlando as Continue Reading
The Paradox of Workers Comp
Sometimes, it helps to zoom out a bit and look at the big picture. I was looking at some long term industry stats recently and stumbled on an interesting conclusion. Did you know that over the entirety of the 2000s, workers comp has had a better combined ratio than the Continue Reading
Christian McCaffrey: A Case Study In Risk Management
Risk management doesn’t just apply to insurance or investing. It is necessary in anything from managing your health (should I eat that fried Twinkie?) to managing supply chains (do we need a backup supplier?). Today I am going to discuss how risk management can help you win your fantasy football Continue Reading
Industry Cat Loads Are Still Not High Enough
Verisk recently released their updated estimates of industry cat risk. Amazingly, average annual loss (AAL) surpassed $150B, up from $100B just four years ago. Similarly, the 1 in 100 aggregate loss (PML) grew to $400B from $300B four years ago. These are stunning rates of growth beyond what we have Continue Reading
Is Private Equity Buying Into Peak NFL?
Editor’s Note: My annual NFL predictions follow at the end of this article. The NFL recently confirmed that they will let private equity buy small stakes in NFL teams. This caused much consternation that private equity will somehow ruin the NFL. Today, I will argue the opposite. Buying into the Continue Reading