prosperity's Blog

 Author: edward hulse

For many years, the study of ethics was left to the philosophers. Business people did not see the need and thus practiced "business as usual. There are three reasons why the insurance professional should study ethics:

- Penalties for unethical behavior.

- Ethics for an understanding of business.

- Price of a tarnished reputation.

Penalties for Unethical Behavior

First and foremost, any unethical behavior that is discovered will probably cost far more than any potential gain.

Ethical breaches end careers much more than any other reason. In the past few years, newspaper headlines have screamed of business malpractice in the insurance industry. Not many of these individuals, if any at all, still work in the industry. On an agency level, those agents who made it a practice to "fudge" and made material misstatements on applications, in order to make a commission, are probably no longer in the industry. These are severe penalties for such behavior; however such actions are not only unethical, but also illegal.

Ethics for Understanding Business

Successful insurance professionals understand that their personal ethics are transformed into a successful insurance career. They realize that although business and personal responsibilities can be separated physically, they never will be able to separate their code of ethics. There is no door which automatically admits them into reality at the end of a business day. The ethical code of behavior is part of them and transformed into daily activities, whether it is business or personal pursuits. Thus, it becomes obvious, that the study of ethics by the insurance professional is indeed important.

Since we are called upon to make value judgments every day, how we act, both in our business and personal lives, becomes paramount. A study of ethics enables us to become aware of our thought process and helps us to make sound and ethical decisions.

Price of a Tarnished Reputation

Not every ethical breach is subject to the public spotlight. In many cases, the individual involved keeps his/her job. What does occur is that a reputation is established which is a tarnished one at best! We all have known individuals who established stellar reputations in the business community. Unfortunately, we all know individuals that have questionable reputations and no matter what is ever said to diminish these tarnished reputations, a lingering doubt remains. Interestingly, the individual may not even realize that their behavior has been detected. However, career paths and promotions become blocked and mediocrity sets in. In summary, unethical behavior is a prescription for business disaster.

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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/insurance-articles/california-insurance-continuing-education-practice-ethical-behavior-876468.html

How to Survive the Credit Crunch (Vol 1) - House Insurance

By Chris Fensome

As the credit crunch begins to bite in we are all feeling the pinch as the cost of the most basic of amenities like food and energy continues to sky rocket relentlessly. Unless you have been under a rock for the past week you will have seen that the Royal Bank Of Scotland has folded and that the Government has announced a staggering £50bn bail out for the banks to help them through these times.

You may be wondering how all this relates to the cost of house insurance? Well the RBS is the parent company of some of the biggest insurance companies in the UK such as Green Flag, Churchill Insurance, Direct Line to name a few. Over the pond one of the biggest house insurance providers AIG (American International Group) has faced similar liquidity problems and needed an $85 billion bailout from the U.S Federal Reserve.

This will all affect the cost of everybody's house insurance when the policy comes up for renewal and although different companies will take different routes to re-coup their losses, the rest of this article will focus on some tips to help everybody through the current crisis.

The two options for the insurance companies in the current climate is to either raise their premiums in the hope that they will re-coup their losses through higher margins; this will probably be the option for the companies that have experienced the biggest losses. The other option for the insurers is to lower the costs of their premiums in an attempt to drive new sales and help to recoup losses through higher economies of scale.

As household look at ways to shave the costs of their monthly outgoings they may look at switching house insurance providers or not renewing the contents insurance at all (this is highly unadvisable!) If the first option is taken up and you want to switch your house insurance provider then here are a few tips to look out for searching the market for new house insurance providers. Many of these tips may not be new, but in the economic winter we are currently in, nobody can afford to be complacent.

First things first, shop around. If you get a price from one company, copy it down and take it to another company and see if they can beat that price. Then take that price to another company, this may seem long winded but it is worth the slog as most places will want to knock you down on that price. Remember, as a consumer you are in the driving seat now and let the companies do the chasing.

Use a comparison sites to find the best range of services they offer in addition to the basic price. These sites are a fantastic tool and they can cut down on time and stress as you can search a massive part of the market from one site. Just enter your house insurance details and you are away.

Once you have selected your house insurance company, make sure you do not accept the quoted price and negotiate to strike a deal. I have always found that going for the cheapest company straight off is not always the best way of doing this. Instead look at the total package of what they offer (comparison sites should do this) and then attempt to drive them down in price until you reach a figure you are happy with. They will be apprehensive to do this at first but be persistent and once they move once you can keep moving them until it snowballs.

Further more if you are a gambling man, it may be worth chancing your arm and extending beyond the minimum terms of the deal as with all the uncertainty in the market you may be onto a winner if companies increase their premiums. However it may go the other way and house insurance companies may lower the price and you may lose out.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Fensome [http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Survive-the-Credit-Crunch-(Vol-1)---House-Insurance&id=1571623 ]http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Survive-the-Credit-Crunch-(Vol-1)---House-Insurance&id=1571623