Where life is, there risk is also. No life on earth has been lived by anyone without having to undergo natural threats such as disease, catastrophes and yes, even death.

The principle of insurance is to manage those unpreventable risks by investing early and preparing to meet them. Insurance companies are there to calculate the premiums that you would receive in times of need.

Insurance dates as far back as the third and second millennia where Chinese and Babylonians who traded practiced it. The Chinese merchants ‘insured’ their products by distributing them in several ships rather than putting them all into one. This way, in case the ship capsizes, there are other goods that would remain intact. This is insurance in its simplest form.

Health and life insurance all began with the Greeks and Romans. Dating back to 600 AD, they practiced insuring ‘help’ among members of their community who experience death in their families. This is a type of service as a form of insurance. Once a member of their community passes away, all other members (called benevolent societies) help in the burial and also in taking care of the departed one’s family.

The insurance we know of today has many types:

1. Automobile insurance—covers legal liability claims and damages to the car. Even lost cars are covered. In the United States alone, car insurance is an ever-growing business. And to the people, it is a necessity because you can only operate a vehicle on public roads if it is insured.

2. Aviation insurance—is a type of insurance that covers Spares, Hull, Deductible, Liability threats and Hull War.

3. Boiler insurance—an insurance for breakdowns.

4. Casualty insurance—covers accidents but not tied to specific properties.

5. Credit insurance—pays back loans when something bad happens to the client (examples are disability, loss of employment, or death).

6. Financial loss insurance—covers a policy holder in case of illnesses or injury that caused him to lose his job.

7. Liability insurance—covers all legal claims against the policy holder.

8. Purchase insurance—provides protection to goods or any products that consumers purchase.

9. Marine insurance—this covers damages or even the loss of merchandise at sea.

10. Pet insurance—is insurance for pets against illnesses and accidents. This could also include health care and burial.

11. Life insurance—provides finances to loved ones in case of death.