Car insurance

I insure two cars. They are old - one 10 years, the other 14 years.  I am a cheapskate when it comes to cars. My guess is in aggregate their market value is $5000-$6000.  The insurance premium I have been paying each year for both is around $750 per car and there is an excess on claims of $650 on each.  I pay $750 annually to insure a car whose replacement value net of excess I would have to pay of about $2100 plus, to be fair,  I get comprehensive cover if I damage  another car.  The value of the comprehensive cover is about $250 per car (I priced this as a stand-alone policy) so that for the actual cover on each vehicle costs me $500 for a value of a written-off vehicle of excess of $2100.  This charge seemed outrageous to me and I even felt foolish for allowing this situation to develop.

I have been insured with the firm for 25 years and have never made a claim - all the costs above are discounted to reflect this.  After a long discussion with one of the insurer's representatives I found that about $150 of this charge was connected to the fact that one of the cars had initially been purchased with "finance". This adds a $300 premium to the total bill.  I had failed to notify the insurer that the financing had ended 9 years ago and a finger was wagged at me for my failure! I had no idea I was being levied a surcharge for this.

Eventually I did the obvious thing and took out a policy giving me comprehensive insurance cover only.  If either car is damaged beyond repair or stolen I will write it off.   My premium total dropped from $1500 to $550 a saving of $950 annually.  For this I gave up cover on the two vehicles insured of $4200.  Happy with that exchange.

My lifetime experience of insurance companies has been unfavourable.  On this occasion I have to say my own stupidity in not demanding a detailed accounting of costs in years past irritates almost as much as the over-charging. 

Pension reform

The reforms on eligibility for the pension that Labor opposes seem sensible to me, The current eligibility for a part pension (for a couple) is $1.15m in assets whereas under the proposed Coalition-cum-Green  reform this is reduced to $823,000.

Suppose couples want to leave no bequests and that they own a house worth $650,000. Suppose also they retiree at age 65 and know they will live for 25 years to age 90.

The big factor determining their sustainable income is the rate of return on their assets and whether they can engineer a reverse mortgage on their house that yields this rate of return.

Suppose their assets earn a paltry 2% annually real return. Someone just on the old current eligibility limit (without a home) can spend $58,903 annually over the 25 years (or $92,102 if you include the reverse mortgage). With the lower eligibility requirement they can spend $42,154 annually (or $75,448 with the reverse mortgage).

More realistically suppose returns of 5% annually on the investments.  Under the old limit they can (without a home) get income of $81,538 annually (or $127,715 with the reverse mortgage).  Under the lower eligibility requirement they can get $58,393 annually (or $104,000 with the reverse mortgage).

I have used simple annuity formulae* to do these calculations.  The basic idea is that you can draw down the value of assets and draw interest on residual asset values until they hit value zero at age 90.  The Labor Party it seems to me in opposing the Coalition reforms is supporting people who don't really need it.  Of course they want it but it isn't an imperative.

With a bit more effort I could allow for bequests and longevity risk but these will change these calculations in a straightforward way.   Bequests anyway are irrelevant in a situation where you are trying to compute eligibility for basic pension entitlements. Notice too how critically the value of the family home enters these calculations.  Excluding the family home from these asset tests  does not seem defensible if the opportunity to purchase reverse mortgages is available.

(*) It is a while since I have done these financial mathematics but the equation I used is that the sustainable income X * annuity formula given interest rates r and time horizon n, namely a(r,n),  must equal the initially value of the capital asset V so X =V/a(r,n).  I think that's right. 

Congestion pricing & Infrastructure Australia

I have been glancing through the 3-part report by Infrastructure Australia (a summary here) on Australia's infrastructure needs over coming decades.  I was mainly interested in the transport sector and proposals that looked - on casual reading of the press this morning - like yet another case for user charges (congestion charging and heavy vehicle charging for road damage costs).  As I started working on these issues more than 20 years ago I do get a little peeved by the almost annual attempt to revive such discussions somewhere which always get promptly forgotten.

On this occasion I can only say I am underwhelmed by the stupidity of the Infrastructure Australia analysis.  They still don't understand the basics of user-charging. Nor for that matter did Ian Harper in his recent reported proposals for competition reform.

Infrastructure Australia take as given Australia's dismal future population trend forecasts (fair enough not their concern, but in my view the forecast rates of population growth via our migration program are unacceptably high) and then look for ways of dealing with the surge in congestion and heavy vehicle demands that will result.  Their answer?  Build more roads everywhere and find ways of funding such investments.  Their answer?  Road use charges that fund the roads. 

That fundamentally misrepresents the intent of user charges. Unless these prices target congestion and road damage costs this won't ensure efficiency.  Indeed the issue is not primarily one of funding at all.  All roads - new and old alike - that are subject to external costs should be priced to eliminate the external costs imposed on them (congestion and road damagers) so that all roads are utilised efficiently.  Then if the roads make a profit expand their scale thereby making expansion decisions that reflect demands at the socially correct price.

Its the same old dumb-assed "engineer think" that has dominated Australian road infrastructure planning for decades.  It is a shame that they cannot get the basic logic right.


http://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/2015/2015_05_22.aspx

How to eliminate government budget deficits with some simple efficiency-based tax reforms

I recently became awarec that each year the Commonwealth Government publishes a tax expenditures report that details the tax exemptions, deductions or offset concessional rates as well as deferrals of tax liability.  A colleague told me that state governments publish similar documents for tax expenditures associated with land tax, payroll tax and the non-taxation of non-profits. I have not yet checked these out.

A tax expenditure is a bit of tax the government could grab but it does not - it foregoes the tax. It is just like government spending in terms of its impact on the budget deficit. They increase the deficit. Actually more than a "bit" . Huge amounts of foregonee possible tax revenues arise:

• Exemptions of capital gains-tax on family home $25b
• Exemptions on residences previously lived in  $20.5b
• Concessional tax on superannuation $16.3b

These alone would boost the total tax take by 12% and obliterate the deficit.   These tax expenditures have grown dramatically over the paast few years because of the property booms in our capital cities. Getting rid of housing exemptions would reduce property prices and leave our children better-off.  Over-investment in housing would give way to more productive investments in other areas.

Generally even without adding to tax income the fewer these types of exemptions therec are the smaller are the excess burdens (deadweight losses) of the taxesc that remain. Big taxes impose disproportionatetely large inefficiency costs - roughly they are proportional to the square of the tax size.

Apart from income tax deductions there are also exemptions from the GST - Australia compared to NZ which does have a broadly based GST has  40% less coverage. Some big items here:

• Exemptions of food from GST $6.4b.
• Exemption of education $3.9b
• Exemption of health services $3.6b etc etc.

There are plenty of opportunities to resolve our fiscal difficulties if politicians had the guts and stamina to approve such changes. They won't in the foreseeable future.  We are timid of even modest cuts in childcare benefits! A basic principle of Australian policy (a version of the Pareto Principle) - no policy should be undertaken unless it disadvantages no-one.  There are no such policies so we will do nothing!

Emissions Reduction Fund insufficient to hit Kyoto targets

I wrote a paper with Rob Waschik and Iain Fraser arguing that the ERF would be unlikely to achieve Australia's Kyoto target by 2020 - in fact we computed that the $2.55b in the fund would only hit 50% of the target. (The link is to a preprint - the paper itself is now published but paywalled).

The figures today on the outcome of the first ERF auction do not lead me to reconsider my conclusion despite the assurances of The Australian that the ERF is "within reach" of the 5% reduction target by 2020.

The arithmetic in The Australian is wrong since, to this time, about 1/4 of the $2.55b has been spent but emissions cuts of 236MT are only 1/5th of the 236MT reduction that is targeted.  Not a big deal this error however and the "within reach" conclusion might even be approximately justified.

The difficulty is that the emissions cuts achieved so far are likely to be the cheapest cuts available - the "low hanging fruit".  As cuts continue to be made the cost per tonne of making the cuts is likely to rise well above the average rate paid this round of about $14 per tonne.  The "marginal abatement curve" is always supposed be to be a strongly increasing function of the level of cutbacks.

This is not to say that Australia won't hit its emissions targets.  It might. The economy may go into recession and continuing developments in energy conservation and the use of renewables (solar and wind) may help achieve this objective as might developments in coal burning technology and substitutions toward use of natural gas.  But the ERF itself won't be enough to achieve desired targets with its current budget. 

Insuring quack medical treatments and non-quack useless treatments

A few years ago I had an arthroscopy in my right knee. It followed acute knee pain that resulted from clumsy attempts to climb a locked gate at the Western Treatment Plant.   The pain was intense and "burning" - it lasted several weeks while my GP suggested I rub Voltaren on it which had no effect at all. Finally I went to a "sports doctor" who recommended arthroscopic knee surgery. I was on crutches for a couple of weeks after which the knee went back to normal,  the pain gone I think permanently.

I was intrigued therefore to read in this morning's AFR  ("Rolfing and Rebates", unfortunately pay-walled) that some insurers (NIB) regard arthroscopies as being ineffective so that, like Rolfing, homeopathy, naturopathy, massage and herbalist treatments (and other evidence-free medical practices)  insurance companies should not provide cover for them.

I am not expert on medical issues but I wondered if the claim with respect to arthroscopy is correct true. This article posted online claims they are.  It claims the recovery I experienced would probably be achieved by a placebo procedure.

Two issues occur to me:

(1) Should insurance companies provide cover for treatments that consumers demand - if- like homeopathy - there is no clinical evidence they work.  One insurer in the AFR answered "yes" to this question since insurance companies should reflect consumer preferences and, presumably, not science.  I have problems with this view since providing insurance cover to procedures signals to customers that the procedures are valid. By reducing the effective cost they also increase incentives to use them.

(2) How many more mainstream "respected" treatments (like arthroscopy) are being insured even though there is little clinical evidence they work?  I wonder, for example, about the widespread advocacy of Statin drugs for dealing with claimed cholesterol problems: See here - Statins of concern to me as I have taken these drugs for a decade.  Or the now discredited, but still practised, advocacy of a carbohydrate-based "food pyramid" that has driven millions into obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.  Ditto the rejection of carbohydrate intake as a treatment for diabetes and obesity.

Plain packaging of cigarettes

Ireland has followed Australia in introducing plain packaging of cigarettes.  David Prentice and I gave an interview on the Australian experience and its implications for such countries in The World Customs Organisation News, February 2015, Vol 76, pages 62-64.  This type of work David and I did on plain packaging won't get prestigious academic awards but in terms of practical policy and promoting the public good I rank it among my best. 

University of Sydney

The University of state capital (commonly noted as state capital University, Sydney Uni, USyd, or state capital) is associate Australian public university in Sydney. supported in 1850, it's Australia's initial university and is considered one in all its most prestigious, graded because the world's twenty seventh most honored university. Its field is graded within the high ten of the world's most lovely universities by British people Daily Telegraph and also the Huffington Post, spreading across the inner-city suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington.The University includes sixteen schools and faculties, through that it offers bachelor's, master's, and scholarly person degrees. In 2011 it had thirty two,393 undergrad and sixteen,627 graduate students. Sydney University may be a member of the distinguished cluster of Eight, educational pool twenty one, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), the Association of Southeast Asian establishments of upper Learning, the Australia-Africa Universities Network (AAUN), the Association of Commonwealth Universities and also the Worldwide Universities Network. The University is additionally informally referred to as one in all Australia's arenaceous rock universities. History: In 1848, within the New South Wales legislative assembly, William Wentworth, a graduate of the University of Cambridge and Charles Nicholson, a medical graduate from the University of Edinburgh grad school, planned an inspiration to expand the present state capital faculty into a bigger university. Wentworth argued that a state university was imperative for the expansion of a society aspiring towards self-rule, which it'd offer the chance for "the kid of each category, to become nice and helpful within the destinies of his country.It would take 2 tries on Wentworth's behalf, however, before the set up was finally adopted.

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford (informally Oxford or just Oxford) could be a collegial analysis university set in Oxford, England. whereas having no far-famed date of foundation, there's proof of teaching as so much back as 1096, making it the oldest university within the English-speaking world, and also the world's second-oldest living university. when disputes between students and Oxford townspeople in 1209, some lecturers fled northeast to Cambridge, wherever theywhat became the University of Cambridge established Most college boy teaching at Oxford is unionized around weekly tutorials at the sovereign faculties and halls, supported by categories, lectures and laboratory work provided by university colleges and departments. Oxford is that the home of many notable scholarships, as well as the Clarendon Scholarship that was launched in 2001 Organisation: As a collegial university, Oxford's structure are often confusing to those unacquainted it. The university could be a federation, comprising over forty sovereign faculties and halls, along side a central administration headed by the Vice-Chancellor. Academic departments ar set centrally among the structure of the federation; they're not connected with any specific faculty. Departments offer facilities for teaching and analysis, verify the syllabi and tips for the teaching of scholars, perform analysis, and deliver lectures and seminars. Colleges prepare the tutorial teaching for his or her undergraduates, and also the members of an educational department ar unfold around several faculties. although bound faculties do have subject alignments (e.g., First Viscount Nuffield faculty as a centre for the social sciences), these ar exceptions, and most faculties can have a broad mixture of lecturers and students from a various vary of subjects. Facilities like libraries ar provided on of these levels: by the central university (the Bodleian), by the departments (individual division libraries, like land school Library), and by faculties (each of that maintains a multi-discipline library for the employment of its members).

Rice university

In 1911 the cornerstone was laid for the Institute's first building, the Administration Building, now known as Lovett Hall in honor of the founding president. On September 23, 1912, the anniversary of William Marsh Rice's murder, the William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Letters, Science, and Art began course work. 48 male and 29 female students were enrolled, paying no tuition, with classes taught by a dozen faculty. Unusually for the time, Rice accepted coeducational admissions. Administration Building, Rice Institute, Houston, Texas (postcard, circa 1912-1924) Three weeks after opening, a spectacular international academic festival was held in celebration, bringing Rice to the attention of the entire academic world. Four years later, at the first commencement ceremony, 35 bachelor's degrees and one master's degree were awarded. That year, the student body voted to adopt the Honor System, which still exists today. The first doctorate was conferred in 1918. Campus: During warfare II, Rice Institute was one in every of 131 schools and universities across the nation that took half within the V-12 Navy school coaching PrograFive streets demarcate the campus: Greenbriar Street, Rice street, Sunset street, Main Street, and University street. for many of its history, all of Rice's buildings are contained at intervals this "outer loop". In recent years, new facilities are designed near field, however the majority of body, academic, and residential buildings ar still placed at intervals the first pentangular plot of land. The new cooperative research facility, all college man housing, the Greenbriar building, and also the Wiess President's House ar placed off-campus. Rice prides itself on the number of inexperienced area on the market on campus; there ar solely regarding fifty buildings unfold between the most entrance at its east corner, and also the parking tons and Rice arena at the West End. The Lynn R. Lowrey installation, consisting of over 4000 trees and shrubs (giving birth to the legend that Rice features a tree for each student), is unfold throughout the field.m that offered students a path to a Navy commission .

Brown university

Brown University is a private institution that was founded in 1764. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 6,455 and the campus size is 146 acres. Brown University's ranking in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 16. Its tuition and fees are $47,434 (2014-15). Located atop College Hill in Providence, R.I., Brown University has a college-town feel with Thayer Street serving as a center of activity for shopping and dining. The Brown Bears have about 35 NCAA Division I athletic teams and compete in the Ivy League. The Bears are well known for their men’s soccer team, which consistently ranks among the top 25 teams in the nation. All students at Brown are required to live on campus for their first six semesters, and housing options include traditional singles, doubles and suites. With around 400 student organizations on campus ranging from The Brown Jug comedy magazine to Brown Ballroom Dance, students can find a way to pursue their interests. Brown also has a small but vibrant Greek community with approximately 10 chapters, including a few co-ed Greek organizations. Brown offers a number of a graduate studies through its Graduate School, which offers well-regarded programs in English and history, and the highly ranked Warren Alpert Medical School. The center section of the Van Wickle Gates on Brown’s campus opens only twice a year: once to let incoming students onto campus and once to let recent graduates exit after commencement. Brown hosts an annual celebratory "Spring Weekend" with athletic events, concerts and free food. Notable alumni include John D. Rockefeller Jr., John F. Kennedy Jr. and CNN founder and media mogul Ted Turner.

Childcare costs

An excellent editorial in the AFR today (unfortunately paywalled, buy yourself an AFR!) identifies the core problem with childcare subsidy policies in Australia.  The $6.7b from the Commonwealth and the $800m by the states that gets channelled into such subsidies should be skewed much more heavily towards low income earners.  Parents earning $160,000 plus annually will still have 60% of their childcare costs covered by taxpayers, those earning $200,000 will get 20% subsidies - these are after the reforms suggested by the Productivity Commission are implemented.  Indeed I would go much further than the AFR and look for very substantial cuts in the level of assistance provided across the board.

This childcare aspect of our entitlement society is absurd.   The prevailing belief is that even if you earn high incomes the fact that you are a parent gives you a net claim over the incomes of those who are not parents.

People don't have a right to have children that they cannot afford to make a substantial contribution to supporting. Those earning high incomes should obviously pay their own childcare costs.  Mothers (or fathers) who find that their incomes are too low to cover childcare costs should either stay at home and look after their children or delay having children until they can afford to by-in-large support their own children.  People need to understand that their parenting decisions have consequences that they must bear.

Subsidizing children and having an active immigration program creates high child-raising costs in Australia by driving, in particular, high housing prices.  We do not need to have an ever-increasing population - there are plenty of people - and, with less demand for housing, the cost of raising children would fall in accord with reduced market pressures.  We would also experience lower infrastructure costs and less unpriced congestion in our urban centres.
 

Price of beer

I bought a schooner of draft beer in a pub bar in Carlton at lunch today. It was $11 for 425 ml.  Yesterday I bought a dozen long-necked Coopers Sparkling Ale for $56 from Dan Murphy. That is $4-68 per bottle and each bottle contains 750 ml.  The cost of 425ml of the Coopers would be (425/750)*$4-68 or $2-65.

The costs are not directly comparable. The beer in the pub was a draft beer and was not a Coopers but was a good local brand.   But the Coopers bottle is a pretty good brand itself and hence a plausible substitute so the price comparison is not that misleading.

I wonder if it is the size of the price markup on beer - it was 415% - that might be the reason that almost no-one patronises pubs these days.  There were 4 clients in the pub I entered today and none were drinking alcohol - they were eating cheap counter lunches.

Australia has high alcohol taxes, particularly on full strength beer, but the tax is lower per unit quantity on the beer sold in the large containers that hotels buy.  Taxes create absolutely high priced beer but cannot account for these differentials.  Consumption of alcohol creates road death "externalities" but these are better addressed by heavily penalising those who drink-and-drive rather than innocent economics professors seeking a beer with their pork and stir-fried. Finally health costs are real consequences of drinking excessively but not of having a beer with your lunch.

Low patronage due to the enforcement of "drink driving" laws might encourage high prices of pub-provided beer to cover high fixed costs and maybe this is part of the story.  People drink most of their beer at home. I'd be interested to get more evidence on this.  For sure, institutions such as golf clubs are recording low revenues from bar sales and fear on the booze bus is pervasive.

Beer consumption in Australia is at an all time low.   A beer at lunch - part of the traditional Australian life style is also disappearing.  While the health Nazis will applaud this those of us who enjoy a beer do not. Australia does not want to be swamped in an alcoholic culture but nor do we want to become a nation of wowsers. 

Go solar!

I got a pleasant surprise from my $15,000 investment in solar last October. Power charges for the first quarter it has operated were $266 down from $887 the previous quarter or savings this quarter of $621. Naively assuming this trend will continue over the year (it might be more than this since the previous quarter is a low consumption quarter for my household) gives me annual savings of at least 4*$621 or $2484 per year which amounts to a tax free return of 17% on my investment. Interestingly a large part of the reduced bill was electricity sold back (at relatively low rates*) into the grid - around $367 in value for the quarter although our overall paid daily consumption fell considerably too - from an average of 28.5kWh last year to 20.3kWh in the last quarter. We are significant power suppliers!

I always assumed the solar vendors would exaggerate the economic case for their system. They did but only by a very small amount - in fact they were very accurate. If I continue with these savings this will be a great financial deal.

Why are households still buying power from the grid?

* We sold back into the grid 1501kWh and used 1889kWh. We sold back 80% of what we used.

Australian stock market cheap in US dollar terms

The recent strong rally in the Australian stock market has been near-universally attributed to a 25 basis points drop in the overnight cash rate to 2.5%.  I don't buy this.  In fact, since September last year, the Australian dollar has depreciated much faster than stock market indices so the Australian stock market, valued in US dollars has got cheaper for US investors*.  Real after-tax interest rates have barely changed and are not driving investment trends at present.

At the same time those Australian mining and agricultural exporters faced with declining commodity prices but selling their outputs in US dollars will now start to do much better than would have been thought possible even 6 months ago.

My guess is that foreign investors withdrew from the Australian market fearing capital losses associated with an expected devaluation of the Australian dollar - one that was even promoted by the RBA - but that now the Australian dollar has depreciated the foreign funds are rolling in**.

With the usual caution that goes with all my forecasting - for over a decade in the 1990s I said the Australian dollar was undervalued! - I am reasonably confident that the ASX will do well in the remainder of 2015, particularly starting in the 4th quarter. I also think the economy will do much better than expected from late 2015 with falling unemployment and moderate economic growth.

One of the most irritating things about Australian economics discussions is the overwhelming sense of dread and pessimism concerning the disaster around the next corner.  To the extent we can talk ourselves into a bad outlook we do our best to do so.  But even regarding such adverse impacts I think the Australian economy is strongly placed to recover as we move through 2015 and beyond.


* The Aussi dollar has fallen from 93 to 78 cents or by about 16% (here). The ASX100 has wobbled quite a btt from mid-September 2014 to today it has grown from about 4500 to 4850 or by about 8% (here).

** The correlation between Australian and foreign stock market indices is revealing - Australia's stock market health is driven by that internationally (here). 

Why Phone Insurance Is Necessary?

Phones have become a part of one’s life. It is the most widely used and the fastest means of communicating with your loved ones. With the growing technology the use of a phone today is not just restricted to messaging or calling, but it is also used for many more things. Its application and features not only allow you to talk to your friends and family members, but it also connects you to the outer world. Along with calling and messaging you can also surf the web, send photos, videos and can view them as well. You can also use your phone to store important files and documents, can carry them with you, and can view them where and when needed. All these features along with its streamlined and beautiful design makes it expensive and with the increasing features its price is increasing day by day. So it becomes necessary to get your phone insured.

Phone insurance comes in handy in case your phone gets damaged, lost or stolen. In any of these circumstances, you have to bear a heavy penalty from your pocket. Purchasing a new phone or repairing it instantly is not that easy as they are so expensive that you think twice before buying it again. If your phone is insured, you could be relieved from these great losses.

 

Necessity of insuring a Phone:

ASURANSI

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daftar top 10 health insurance companies

Pada masa sekarang setiap orang memerlukan yang namanya asuransi kesehatan. karena dengan memiliki asuransi kesehatan pasti hidup kita akan merasa nyaman, karena jelas kita akan mendapat manfaat dari asuransi kesehatan tersebut.

Di saat kita sakit tidak perlu lagi memikirkan biaya untuk pengobatan dan tidak perlu takut biaya pengobatan mahal.

Berikut daftar  asuransi  terbaik top 10 health insurance companies.
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Online Insurance Quotes

Often times we like to go shopping, but we don't want to be bothered until we are ready. It's amazing how we will be looking for something and can't find exactly what we want and as soon as the professional attendant ask "May I Help You", we all of sudden usually say no thank you, we're fine. But really we do need help in what we are looking to acquire, however the reason why we do this is because nobody likes to be sold, we only want to buy when we are ready to buy.

Well many times we want to shop for life insurance, but we don't want to be bothered by someone and we especially don't like giving out our personal information until we are ready to do business. Well I have found a company named Online Insurance Quotes, Inc. and they allow consumers to shop for the best rates for term life insurance quotes with over 125 different companies. The system will provide usually the top 25 to 30 companies with the best rates available and the best part about it is that you don't have to give any personal information such as your name, phone number, email or address. If you see what you like and you want to get more information, then you can provide the personal information after you see what you want.

With online life insurance quotes you will know what type of action to take and which company will be in the best interest for your insurance selection. You will be able to decide how you want to manage your insurance account. As most of us know, getting a good deal on our life insurance means planning for the future.

There are times when people need to have life insurance. When these times come you will look for trusted companies that you can take out a life insurance policy. To help you in this endeavor you will find that there are lots of different life insurance companies. These companies have the training and the knowledge that you will need to help you get the best life insurance quotes. The website Online Life Insurance Quotes will give you access to the best companies with competitive rates.

How To Obtain An Aetna Life Insurance Policy

Seeking an Aetna life insurance company policy or other life insurance policies can be beneficial to groups or people who just want life insurance coverage for their workforce. However, reasons for seeking life insurance may vary. Employers may require a wage insurance policy for their employees. It is important, however, for anybody interested in securing a life insurance policy to know what they are seeking for. A handful of insurance companies find it difficult to serve customers on normal circumstances.

People who engage in business are the best targets for this insurance scheme. Paying utility bills on time and ensuring your family's good health is the reason you may take the insurance plan. An individual may also encounter an emergency bank overdraft fee. A life insurance plan will be suitable for paying your mortgage after you succumb to illness and pass away. For example, say a person has a large family, the mortgage reversals or normal house loans payments will continue to run. Paying for expenses after your death by your remnants will be an easy deal once you acquire a life insurance plan or policy.

Over 50s Life Insurance

Several life insurance companies provide Over 50s Life Insurance so it would be prudent to consider shopping around for what you feel is the best package that fits in with your budget and meets your needs.

Not only should you consider the amount of life cover you are being provided with for the monthly cost but you should also digest the key features and benefits documentation relating to the Over 50s Life Insurance plan so that you are fully aware of the benefits and features.

There are many reasons why this type of life cover is taken out by someone. Perhaps to cover the expense of their funeral, leave some monies to a grandchild, to clear any debts or to make financial provision for their partner.

Somebody may submit an application for Over 50s Life Insurance if they are aged between 50 and 80 years. An excellent benefit with this type of life assurance is that you are guaranteed to be accepted for the cover as it does not matter should you suffer or have suffered from any existing medical conditions. You will be pleased to hear there are no health questions to answer on the proposal form.

You pay the premiums for a set period of time depending upon how old you are when you take out the policy. Having stopped paying the premiums you will be delighted to note that the Over 50s Life Insurance plan will still continue and pay out whenever you die.

Over 50 Life Insurance

One thing is certain in life - I am going to die sometime and as I am now 55 years of age that "sometime" is getting nearer. Aren't I the cheerful one-what a way to introduce an article about Over 50 Life Insurance.

What are the financial implications when I die - i.e. how will my mortgage be cleared if it is not paid off before I die, will my wife manage financially and how will my funeral be paid for? Well I have life insurance in place to cover the first 2 things but had no savings to pay for my funeral. I felt the solution for me was to take out further life cover to cover the cost of a funeral but a complication was that I had some pre existing medical conditions which made it difficult to take out the usual types of life cover and who knows how long I will live for.

However, after doing some research, I discovered that some life insurance companies offer Over 50 Life Insurance plans which do not require you to answer any health questions so it does not matter if you have any pre existing medical conditions- they guarantee to provide life cover.

I obtained online quotes from a number of providers of Over 50 Life Insurance and read the Key Features document for each of their Over 50 Life plans as their features and benefits do differ slightly.

To get an Over 50 Life Insurance quote all I had to provide was my date of birth, male, non smoker and that I wanted to pay £10 per month.

Life Insurance For Over 50: 3 Top Mistakes

Buying life insurance for over 50 is a different undertaking than for someone in their 20s. Here are 3 of the top mistakes people make when buying life insurance for over 50.

 

Mistake #1: Assume you’ll have to Pay Outrageous Rates

Many people looking into life insurance for over 50 just assume that their rates will be a lot higher. While you will pay more than when you were in your 20s or 30s, not every company will charge the same rates. Some specialize in life insurance for older people. Some even specialize in people with health conditions. While you may have been dealing with the same agent for years, it may be time for a switch. The fact is some agents can only sell for certain companies. So get some online quotes, research a few other companies. If your agent can’t help you buy from a reputable company that offers you a lower premium, then you may need to make an economic decision and find someone who can help get a better deal.

 

Mistake #2: Don’t Bother Thinking Through your Goals

Confused by all the different life insurance plans there are out there? Bewildered by all the insurance terms? Don’t be too hard on yourself: you aren’t alone. But you don’t need to invest a ton of time in learning about every plan or programs and understand every term.

Whole Life Insurance Pros And Cons

Life insurance, either whole life or term, may have one of a number of purposes. The bottom line is protection but protection from what? The whole life insurance pros and cons relate to the annual cost of the insurance and the benefits which we will discuss later in this article.

The military has life insurance. I had $10,000.00 while I was fighting in Korea which my parents would have collected if I took a fatal hit. I could have continued this insurance, as did many World War II veterans, but I was not wise in those matters after I was discharged and I guess I thought I was going to live forever.

Those who do keep their military insurance end up paying nothing for it as time goes on. Many people who served in World War II are now collecting that insurance, that is, their beneficiaries are. That amount pretty well covers funeral cost which are ridiculously high.

Almost one million policies for WWII veterans are still in force, some using the dividends to increase the value of their policy. The average holder is now over 80 years old. Almost two hundred thousand Korean veterans (the smart ones) still have this term insurance some purchasing more insurance with the dividends.

If you are a disabled veteran form military service or not, you should contact the Veteran's Administration to see what benefits you may be entitled to including mortgage insurance. Those who fought in Vietnam and in the Bush Wars should contact the Administration.

Life insurance can be used to protect from the loss of income if the breadwinner passes on. This is particularly important for families with children. When the income stops coming in, the cost of raising a family do not. So families should have protection.

Preserve Yourself From Life Insurance Scams

As if buying life insurance wasn’t complicated enough, there are multitudes of life insurance scams out there, run by criminals just looking for opportunities to separate people from their money. Not only do their victims lose out financially, but often learn that they can’t get legitimate life insurance or their identity has been stolen. So how can you preserve yourself from life insurance scams?

Know why you are buying life insurance

If you already have life insurance and someone is offering you a better deal, think carefully about why you would make a switch. Do you have reason to be dissatisfied with your current policy or insurance company?

If someone is offering you a fabulous deal that will make you big bucks, think long and hard and don’t let visions of what you could do with all that money cloud your judgment. An outrageously good deal is probably just one more life insurance scam.

Whether you have life insurance or not, be clear with yourself what your intent for having life insurance is. If you have a young family, then you want them to be protected if you die suddenly and can’t support them. If you are older, you might be looking for enough to cover funeral expenses and care for your spouse. Whatever your goal, know how much insurance you really need.

Ask questions, think about it, and ask some more

One reason life insurance scams are so common is that buying insurance can be complicated and many people don’t fully understand what the terms of their policies are. For example, some life insurance policies will only pay out after you have paid into it for 15 or more years. This kind of policy would not be a good option for an elderly person. Understand what it is that is being offered to you, and any penalties you would face if you gave up your existing coverage.

Population & the environment

I've spilt a lot of printer's ink on the topic of the connection between population size and environmental quality. Indeed 24 years ago I co-wrote a book on the topic.  At a Productivity Commission Workshop on "Sustainable Populations: Key Policy Issues" a few years back I was asked to summarise my bottom line.  I immodestly think its one of my better contributions.

http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/111057/17-population-discussant-clarke.pdf

Low oil prices to continue?

This argument (here) that $50US/barrel oil might be a ceiling price not a floor impresses me as sensible. The Saudi's are involved in a war with the US unconventional oil producers and the most sensible thing for them to do is to keep prices below a level that allows the unconventional oil producers to be profitable. That price seems to be about $50US/barrel. Moreover, the policy seems to be working.

According to the AFR page 9 this morning (unfortunately paywalled) drilling rigs are going out of business now in the US.  Over the last 3 months oil rig numbers in the US have fallen from 1591 to 1366 while gas rigs have fallen from 330 to 310.  One forecast is that 800 rigs will close by the end of 2015.  This does not necessarily indicate a proportionate drop in oil production given the "flight to quality" rigs that will occur.

It will be interesting to see this Wednesday what BHP-Billiton says of the effects of the recent oil price collapse has on its $20b US shale oil investments.  A fair bit of its production is low cost (around $40/barrel) but the outlook for returns will at least be disappointing.

IKEA

I have only shopped in IKEA twice and was impressed with the quality of the merchandise once it is assembled.  It is an interesting experience for me because you can choose how much effort you want to put into the purchase and that determines your costs.

Last week I ordered two sets of bookshelves with height extensions for about $200 - amazingly cheap for what look like quite elegant shelving.   You take the order to a warehouse where you select the disassembled items and take them on a trolley to the cashier. For $40 they will do this for you so you only need to go the cashier but I didn't pay that - this involved trivial effort.  The price for assembling the shelves and disposing of the packaging was $140 - a two part tariff consisting of a fixed $35 charge and a variable $90 charge for the assembly of the two units.  I felt some guilt about my laziness in this respect but I my experience is that idiot proof assembly often defeats me so I paid up including the $15 fee for the assembler to remove the boxes. Delivery cost another $92 so all up my $200 shelves cost me $440.  Still fairly inexpensive for what seem to be high quality units.

There were time costs of waiting for delivery of the items and for the arrival of the assembler cost me a whole working day. This was expensive in terms of at least one foregone golf game.  In addition, as far as I can see, you cannot order from IKEA online so the shopping expedition through Melbourne traffic added to my user costs.

Update: This was written before the assembler came.  Nice guy put the thing together in two hours plus - two simple bookshelves. It wasn't simple and very pleased I had it assembled rather than do myself.  It would have taken me (at least) a day of frustration.

Sometimes it all gets just too ugly

A beautiful young woman who had been practising hymns for her church is raped and murdered by a homeless man (who said) he was happy to be sent to jail. 

Don't have to do

William S. Burroughs in his book (with Daniel Odier) "The Job" describes a de-conditioning exercise called "dont't have to do".  No lessons, no books, no work to be done.  It starts by mocking up a way of thinking you have to do - for example a set of errands or a speech before an audience you need to impress - and then a way of thinking you don't have to do - for example based on a person whose way of life is completely different from your own - what did Dutch Schultz the gangster have to do?  This exercise, borrowed from Scientology, is intended to loosen up enforced ways of thinking.

You wind up understanding that you don't have to do anything.  Even abandoning language and words and just seeing and relaxing.  You can't work at it (or write blog posts about it) as that would be doing something. "Its a way you would think if you didn't have to think up a way of thinking you don't have to do".

I've been out of the workforce for 4 weeks now and thinking about these ideas. I still feel compelled to do things - even if they are non-work things.  I still dislike the idea of "wasting time".  Forty years in the workforce does that to you.  Of course I don't want to wander around like a middle-aged spaced out hippy appreciating the great orgasmic nothingness of it all.  But I do want to become a little less driven and more inclined to recognise the value of "don't have to do".

Don't have to prepare for classes, don't have to go to the gym, don't have to play golf, don't have to read Proust, don't have to...

Review of Richard Tol on climate change economics

This is a draft of a proposed review.

Richard S. J. Tol, Climate Economics: Economic Analysis of Climate Change and Climate Policy, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham UK, 2014.

This is a text on climate change and its economics.  It is written in a brisk, lecture note format with much material tersely presented. It contains exercises, reading lists and utilizes a supplementary website which contains lecture notes, quizzes, lecture slides and supporting databases.  As someone who teaches classes on climate economics I found this useful.  Particularly those early parts of this book that involve describing the science and in establishing a conceptual policy setting.

Early chapters summarize the physical science basis of climate science with a emphasis on the physical uncertainties, the difficulties of projecting climate trends and of devising future emissions scenarios.   Then abatement costs are discussed. They are seen as low provided adjustments are given enough time to be implemented. Carbon taxes work best if they are implemented broadly and double-dividend benefits are utilized.

The choice of market-based policy instruments – taxes, subsidies, tradable permits - for emission reduction is then analyzed in both static and dynamic contexts.  The dynamic efficiency conditions are presented tersely assuming that the carbon price equals a costate variable from an optimal control task reflecting the shadow price of emissions. With respect to choosing between taxes and tradable permits under uncertainty the standard Weitzman result is provided. Since costs depend on stocks of emissions not flows, using a tax instrument will outperform tradable permits.  Tol rejects the realist political argument that “grandfathering” permits admits greater political feasibility than subjecting emitters to taxes.   He also discusses problems of making permits internationally tradable and discusses the EU scheme and the CDM mechanism.  Technological innovation in the energy sector is best driven by a credible abatement policy.  These are all sensible views and well argued.

Approaches to valuation of various climate impacts are then provided along with a useful discussion of willingness-to-pay and willingness-to-accept compensation for climate changes.  This binds the way climate policy discussions are formulated and impacts on the way climate impacts are valued.

Chapter 6, which looks at empirical estimates of climate impacts, is more problematic.  This is the start of a sequence of chapters that downplay the need for a stringent activist climate policy.  The claim is that moderate climate change is most likely which will have small aggregate impacts mainly in poor countries where limited adaptation capacity creates extra costs. Hence, it is argued, economic development is the best means of addressing climate issues since it best improves this capacity.  The probabilities of severe climate events are minute so such events can be disregarded.  The unstated hypotheses here are that economic development will occur in time to prevent extreme climate change and that the probabilities of “fat tail” extreme climate change are low.  These hypotheses are rejected by many, for example, by the 4^th IPCC Assessment Reports.

This type of argument is developed further in Tol’s view of “optimal” climate policy which is seen as involving a modest emissions reduction that will not end  use of carbon-based fuels anytime soon.  Tol correctly points out that climate policy objectives should be posed in terms of emission stocks in the atmosphere not emission rates.  To make this clear, the world could emit at maximum rates for a hundred years and then cut emissions significantly – hitting any pre-assigned emissions target but still leaving a devastated environment.   This isa confusion of the UNFCC and many policy makers (including those in Australia). It is a straightforward stock/flow confusion.  But it is a long step from endorsing this view to asserting the case for limited action to address climate change. Tol’s case is based entirely on his interpretation of the Nordhaus DICE model.  It is a strong, controversial argument derived from such a narrow ideas base.

Tol goes further. Climate change only matters at all if you care about the distant future, faraway lands and remote probabilities.  Some nice economics is exposited as a precursor to these claims – the Ramsay rule for discounting, the role of equity weights, Weitzman’s dismal theorem and so on - but I could find no empirical or theoretical justification provided for the claims.  Of course the Stern Review using low discount rates came up with a strong presumptive case for addressing climate change decisively and now.

Indeed in a subsequent chapter, Tol shows himself how risk and irreversibility intensify the case for a more stringent climate policy. This is a major practical policy concern.

On the strategic issues involved in climate policy, Tol asserts that game theory and “free riding” explain why cooperative agreements such as Kyoto have not yet had a large impact and why future attempts at negotiation will also be futile.   The implication Tol draws is that most policies will, of necessity, be nationally-based, adaptation policies that do not require international agreements.  This seems an overly pessimistic assessment given current initiatives world-wide (in Europe, China and the United States) to mitigate emissions.

Tol provides an Excel-based integrated assessment model that can be numerically explored by students.  Although highly aggregative this is a useful way of illustrating how the various science and economic components of modelling need to be put together to determine policy impacts.

In a final brief chapter Tol sets out his bottom line on policy.  The climate issue is seen as a minor problem that can be efficiently resolved with a limited carbon tax.  Views that the problem is more serious than this are identified as climate “alarmism” fostered partly by the self-interest of politicians and bureaucrats.  The potential for international action is limited by right-wing conspiracy fears and the free-riding issue.  Domestic actions are expensive but politically sought even though they have relatively high cost compared to a cooperative global response.  These views can be debated but what is non-debatable is that these views do not reflect the worthwhile discussions of climate science and climate economics that lie elsewhere in this book. There is much sound analysis in this book but this analysis does not seem to drive the author’s policy views.

Harry Clarke

La Trobe University and the University of Melbourne.

January 2015.

Photos

Checking I can readily post photos on my new blog. I took the train into Melbourne today where it was raining.

Starting again

Starting a new blog as my old WordPress blog, something I have maintained for 7 years, has grown to vast proportions in size - more than half a GB.  Also I have reverted to using Blogger software as it is sophisticated enough for my immediate needs.  On Blogger it is easier to post photographs as well.