If one thing is for certain, it is that there are no
guarantees in life. Or, as other people have said, the only sure things in life
are death and taxes. I never did agree with the taxes part of that statement,
since you can choose jail (or death) over paying taxes.
Anyway, now that I started thinking about death, a concept
I’m not at all fond of, I wanted to look at the ways people die, and how they
can avoid that, or at least put it off for a while. So I got on the National
Safety Council website (www.nsc.org) and found
an article titled “What are the odds of dying from…”
To me, this is good information to have for a few reasons.
One, if you know the most likely ways you are going to die, you can then learn
some steps to help you beat the odds. Also, if you know the least
likely ways you are going to die, you can ease your mind a bit when it comes to
worrying about dying in a particularly nasty, but highly unlikely way.
For example, the NSC showed Heart Disease and Cancer led the
way towards death with 1 in 7 odds. So, if you do just a little research, you
can take some pretty easy steps to greatly reduce your odds. Stop (or never
start) smoking, exercise regularly, maintain a healthy diet and weight, and see
your doctor.
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| Image courtesy of wikipedia.org |
On the other end of the spectrum, dying from a lightning
strike came in last with the odds of 1 in 164,968. Now, I was not thinking of
this the other day when I was playing catch in the front yard with my son, under
a tree, with lightning cracking nearby. If I did, even though the odds are not
high, I would have gone into the house even sooner than I did. Still, there are many other ways to die, but I'm not going to list all the odds. What I will do is give you a few, with some thoughts on how you can reduce your
risk.
Did you know the odds of dying in a motor vehicle crash are
1 in 112? That’s worse than I thought it would be, making me glad I always wear
a seatbelt. Other than that, I could really stand to be more careful when I
drive (no texting, no speeding, no aggressive lane changes). Besides improving
my life span, good driving habits can save me money on insurance premiums.
Does knowing the odds of death by firearms discharge are 1
in 6,699 make you feel better? This one is tricky, because many of these deaths
are caused by the person’s own gun, which means not owning a gun would better
your odds. Then again, as a gun owner, I would recommend you take a firearm
safety course, use a trigger lock, and take extra care whenever handling or
cleaning a gun. After all, the answer to avoid dying in a car accident would be
to never drive or ride in a car. This notion highlights the difference between
“possible” and “realistic”.
How about choking to death from eating food? The odds of
this are listed as 1 in 3,375. As someone that has used the Heimlich Maneuver
twice on my own daughter before her 7th birthday, may I suggest
being careful to cut food into pieces too small to choke on, not putting too
much food in your mouth at one time, and chewing food well before swallowing.
And parents, please particularly watch out for hard candies with your kids. My
daughter’s first choking “incident” was on a Life Saver – how ironic!
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Most people have a fear of dying in a plane crash, much more
so than dying in a car crash, but when you consider the odds of dying in a car
vs. a plane are 1 in 112 vs. 1 in 8,015, I’ll take that plane ride any day of
the week. I recall someone asking me why I would jump out of a perfectly good
airplane (back in the day when I would skydive for fun on weekends). Even then,
without knowing the odds, I would always say, “there is no such thing as a
perfectly good airplane” meaning, all planes seem perfectly good, right up to
the time they crash. The fact is, skydivers are much more likely to die on the
car ride to or from their jump site, or when the plane they are to jump from
crashes (this takes out the whole group of jumpers, not just the one that might
die during the jump).
Insurance is a system by which financial risk is avoided or
reduced by transferring the cost of that risk to another. The event may still
happen, but your financial risk is reduced or eliminated. Similarly, taking
extra precautions reduces your risk of accidents, and in the case of accidents,
it is not just money you are trying to save, it is your health, or even your
life.
Mark Goldwich is president of Gold Star Adjusters, a group of public insurance adjusters dedicated to helping citizens get the maximum settlement for any insurance claim.
Some pretty cool statistic and a very interesting read ; D
ReplyDeleteHaving spent the bulk of my professional life in the gaming industry, I can tell you that the you live or die by the math of the game. This also applies in the game of life.
ReplyDeleteThe book is a must read. After Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and the predecessors of years past, I had heard many sad cases from friends and I felt so lucky to have been spared all those years. This year I was beaten by Hurricane Irma and was determined not to be beaten by my insurance company as well. The book was a very fast, interesting, and easy read. It described so many problems my friends also experienced as well as the games that the insurance companies play - a huge eye opener. After I hired GoldStar and they were totally successful for me, I loaned my book out and haven't seen it since, neither have I seen back the other 5 books that I got from Mark to lend to my friends. Also, so many people couldn't believe how fast I was able to not only get action out of my insurance company, but, I also got money to begin my repairs from them before most others got theirs. They got repairs approved that the insurance company attempted to both downgrade and deny. There is no way I could have fought these battles on my own without help... and I didn't need to get an attorney!
ReplyDeleteSave yourself from the pressure, depression, heartbreaks... Don't even think you can handle this all by yourself and get what you deserve. They got me more than twice what I expected and more is still due in. It's not like I was getting something I didn't deserve, but everything I did deserve. To give a plain example - they made sure that the repaired woodwork was going to match ALL of the wood in my house and not be a noticeable stand-out, and anticipated the repairs like a game of chess... if you do this, then you must do that, and you can't do that without doing this.
This is what they do for a living - they serve YOU! They protect YOU! They fight the battles FOR YOU! They think of things that you don't think of. They are worth every penny I spent on their fee. I would definitely hire them again and refer them to anyone who has experienced a situation requiring a homeowners claim.
Sara N.