Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

The Time-Money Continuum

By Paul A. Rose and Amanda M. Leffler

Everyone has heard that time is money, but it may be that no industry understands this concept as well or as thoroughly as the insurance industry. To be profitable, annuities must be sold at a price that, given expected investment performance on the premiums, will more than sustain the income streams promised in the annuity contracts. Life insurance premiums must, given the investment performance expected on the premiums and the mortality experience expected for the pool of insured persons, more than support the expected payments to beneficiaries. Liability and casualty insurance premiums must, given the investment performance expected on the premiums, be more than adequate to pay expected claims. The “more than” concept in all these examples is the key to the profitability of these products for insurers. In short, insurance involves a lot of math.

Insurance companies, accordingly, employ large numbers of accountants, actuaries, economists and others with mathematical training, and they understand the time-money continuum in the way that theoretical physicists understand the interchangeability of time and space. Insurers also understand that, consistent with the very nature of insurance, claims are inevitable. Although the impact of time on money is fundamental to the operation and viability of the insurance industry, and although the inevitability of claims is a given in the industry, it is not always evident that insurers appropriately account to their policyholders for the time value of money when valuing and paying casualty or liability claims, or that policyholders insist that they do so.

Read These Next
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough Image

There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.

Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs Image

A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.

Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It Image

Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?

Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners Image

Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.

Coverage Issues Stemming from Dry Cleaner Contamination Suits Image

In recent years, there has been a growing number of dry cleaners claiming to be "organic," "green," or "eco-friendly." While that may be true with respect to some, many dry cleaners continue to use a cleaning method involving the use of a solvent called perchloroethylene, commonly known as perc. And, there seems to be an increasing number of lawsuits stemming from environmental problems associated with historic dry cleaning operations utilizing this chemical.