Insurance ... The insured receives a contract, called the insurance policy, which details the conditions and circumstances under which the insured will be financially compensated... Principles Financial market participants Collective investment schemes Credit unions · Insurance companies Investment banks · Pension funds Prime brokers · Trusts Finance series Financial market · Participants Corporate finance · Personal finance Public finance · Banks and banking Financial regulation Insurance involves pooling funds from many insured entities (known as exposures) to pay for the losses that some may incur... Insurance is a commercial enterprise and a major part of the financial services industry, but individual entities can also self-insure through saving money for possible future losses...
Real Estate Appraisal ... In some areas, an appraiser doesn't need a license or any certification to appraise property. Usually, however, most countries or regions require that appraisals are done by a licensed or certified appraiser (in many countries known as a Property Valuer or Land Valuer and in British English as a "valuation surveyor")...
Health Insurance ... The type and amount of health care costs that will be covered by the health insurance provider are specified in writing, in a member contract or "Evidence of Coverage" booklet for private insurance, or in a national health policy for public insurance... However, in an ERISA case, that insurance company "doesn't engage in the act of insurance", they just administer it...
Tax Rates Around The World ... Tax laws in most countries are extremely complex, and tax burden falls differently on different groups in each country and sub-national unit. The graph below gives an indication by rank of some raw indicators...
Vehicle Insurance ... Several jurisdictions have experimented with a "pay-as-you-drive" insurance plan which is paid through a gasoline tax (petrol tax)... Australia In South Australia, Third Party Personal insurance from the Motor Accident Commission is included in the licence registration fee for people over 17... In Victoria, Third Party Personal insurance from the Transport Accident Commission is similarly included, through a levy, in the vehicle registration fee...
Taxation In The United Kingdom ... Income tax was announced in Britain by William Pitt the Younger in his budget of December 1798 and introduced in 1799, to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic Wars. Pitt's new graduated (progressive) income tax began at a levy of 2 old pence in the pound (1/120) on incomes over £60 (£5,077 as of 2012), and increased up to a maximum of 2 shillings (10%) on incomes of over £200...
Home Insurance ... The cost of homeowner's insurance often depends on what it would cost to replace the house and which additional riders—additional items to be insured—are attached to the policy... The insurance policy itself is a lengthy contract, and names what will and what will not be paid in the case of various events... Insurance should be adjusted to reflect replacement cost, usually upon application of an inflation factor or a cost index...
Casualty Insurance ... In its most basic form, automobile insurance provides liability coverage in the event that a driver is found "at fault" in an accident... This can cover medical expenses of individuals involved in the accident as well as restitution or repair of damaged property, all of which would fall into the realm of casualty insurance coverage... If coverage were extended to cover damage to one's own vehicle, or against theft, the policy would no longer be exclusively a casualty insurance policy...
Property Insurance ... Eliot Spitzer announced more than $4.5 billion would be made available to rebuild the 16-acre (65,000 m2) WTC complex as part of a major insurance claims settlement... Post-Hurricane Katrina property insurance claims In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, several thousand homeowners filed lawsuits against their insurance companies accusing their insurers of bad faith and failing to properly and promptly adjust their claims... Insurance companies changed their pricing policies after Katrina, with most policyholders in New Orleans seeing their property insurance premiums double after the storm, and deductibles increase by two, or even three, fold...
Dental Insurance ... Dental insurance companies have similar fee schedules which is generally based on Usual and Customary dental services, an average of fees in your area... When a dentist signs a contract with a dental insurance company that provider agrees to match the insurance fee schedule and give their customers a reduced cost for services, this is considered an In-Network Provider or Participating Provider network (PPO)...
Capital Gains Tax In Australia ... CGT operates by having net gains treated as taxable income in the tax year an asset is sold or otherwise disposed of. If an asset is held for at least 1 year then any gain is first discounted by 50% for individual taxpayers, or by 33.3% for superannuation funds...
Insurance Law ... The expansion of English maritime trade made London the centre of an insurance market that, by the 18th century, was the largest in the world... At the same time, eighteenth-century judge William Murray, Lord Mansfield, was developing the substantive law of insurance to an extent where it has largely remained unchanged to the present day - at least insofar as concerns commercial, non-consumer business - in the common-law jurisdictions...
Value Added Tax ... The "value added" to a product by a business is the sale price charged to its customer, minus the cost of materials and other taxable inputs. A VAT is like a sales tax in that ultimately only the end consumer is taxed...
Life Insurance ... The advantage for the policy owner is "peace of mind", in knowing that the death of the insured person will not result in financial hardship for loved ones. Life policies are legal contracts and the terms of the contract describe the limitations of the insured events...
European Union ... The EU operates through a system of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states. Important institutions of the EU include the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Central Bank...
Ad Valorem Tax ... An ad valorem tax is typically imposed at the time of a transaction (a sales tax or value-added tax ), but it may be imposed on an annual basis (real or personal property tax) or in connection with another significant event (inheritance tax, surrendering citizenship, or tariffs). In some countries stamp duty is imposed as an ad valorem tax...
Payroll Tax ... Employers are required to pay payroll taxes to the taxing jurisdiction under varying rules, in many cases within 1 banking day. Payment of Federal and many state payroll taxes is required to be made by electronic funds transfer if certain dollar thresholds are met, or by deposit with a bank for the benefit of the taxing jurisdiction...
Payment Protection Insurance ... Credit insurance can be purchased to insure all kinds of consumer loans including car loans, loans from finance companies, and home mortgage borrowing...
Liability Insurance ... If a declaratory judgment is sought, the issue of the insurer's duty to defend will be resolved. If the insurer decides to defend, it has thus either waived its defense of no coverage (later estopped), or it must defend under a reservation of rights...
Taxation In The United States ... Taxes are imposed on net income of individuals and corporations by the federal, most state, and some local governments. Residents are taxed on worldwide income and allowed a credit for foreign taxes...
Indemnity ... If a purchaser of car insurance policy is involved in an accident wherein the liability for the accident is undisputedly of their insured driver, then the insurance carrier has the duty to indemnify their insured driver in very specific ways to make them "whole" again...
Insurability ... An individual with very low insurability may be said to be uninsurable, and an insurance company will refuse to issue a policy to such an applicant... For example, an individual with a terminal illness and a life expectency of 6 months would be uninsurable for term life insurance... This is because the probability is so high for the individual to die within the term of the insurance, that he/she would present much too high a liability for the insurance company...
Fractional Reserve Banking ... To mitigate this risk, the governments of most countries (usually acting through the central bank) regulate and oversee commercial banks, provide deposit insurance and act as lender of last resort to commercial banks...
Gap Insurance ... Gap insurance covers the excess amount on your loan in an instance where your insurance company does not cover the entire loan...