Tausi Insider

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You've likely pursued traditional business insurance. But when it comes to protecting your business from a myriad of outside threats in today's complex and ever-changing environment, is traditional insurance enough — or even the right fit? With the hardening of the insurance market and costly premiums , it's a timely question, especially as more and more businesses are looking to alternative risk transfer. And an increasingly trending option is captive insurance as worldwide more than 100 captives formed last year as reported by Business Insider . Related: 4 Ways to Protect Your Business From Inflation Background of traditional and captive insurance Traditional insurance has built up a portfolio of coverage offerings and options for businesses. Some components of traditional insurance include risk distribution, tax deductibles on premiums and many blanket insurance coverages such as gener...

Activists glue their hands to the wall after throwing soup at a van Gogh painting at the National Gallery, in London, on Oct. 14. JUST STOP OIL/Reuters Climate activists’ attacks on some of the world’s most precious paintings have added to insurers’ worries about the threat to art from climate change itself, concerns seen as leading to higher art insurance premiums. In recent weeks, activists have drawn attention to the climate cause by throwing tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” in the National Gallery in London and a black liquid at Gustav Klimt’s “Death and Life” in the Leopold Museum in Vienna to protest against the use of fossil fuels. The paintings were behind glass or a screen and a spokesperson for the National Gallery said only “minor damage” was done to the Sunflowers’ frame. The Leopold Museum has said the Klimt was not damaged, but did not respond to a request for further comment. Many in the art and insurance world, however, say it may be only be a matter of ...

Financial services giant Desjardins Group has agreed to buy Guardian Capital Group Ltd.’s GCG-T insurance and wealth management operations, tripling its adviser network to more than 7,000 professionals across Canada. Desjardins – the second largest property and causality insurer in the country – announced on Wednesday it will pay $750-million to acquire three separate operations from Guardian Capital: IDC Worldsource Insurance Network Inc., a life-insurance advisory business; mutual-fund dealer Worldsource Financial Management Inc.; and Worldsource Securities Inc., a securities licensed investment company. Following the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, Montreal-based Desjardins will have more than $2-billion in life insurance premiums and $43-billion in assets in retail investment funds. Those assets include segregated funds – a type of insurance contract that allows investors to participate in markets. All three of the Guardian companies will continue ...

Photo : Lowphoto ( Shutterstock ) Tiny houses—typically defined as any primary dwelling under 500 square feet in size (the average tiny house is about 225 square feet )—have been a thing for a while now. There are even entire TV reality shows dedicated to folks searching for, building, and buying tiny houses. The concept is often sold on two basic ideas: Simplicity and minimalism, because tiny houses require less space and resources and lend themselves naturally to a minimalist lifestyle (because there’s no room for a collection of junk), and cost, because tiny houses are a lot cheaper than more traditional homes . And that’s true—the average cost to build a tiny house is about $45,000 , compared to about $280,000 for a traditional home . That’s a lot of cash! And it’s one reason tiny homes are often pushed as a solution for cash-strapped folks looking for that starter home to get on the property ladder . Sure, tiny homes obviously have other challenges, including fitting your li...

Canada’s most prominent banks and insurers say they are sticking with the virtual or hybrid annual general meetings they adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic for another year. The group of 12 banks and insurers say they recently obtained a court order allowing them to hold the meetings in these formats again. Though they acknowledge the COVID-19 situation has improved this year, they say they want to use virtual and hybrid meetings because the virus is so “unpredictable.” They add that using the formats will also allow them to respect protocols recommended by public health authorities. The group, which includes Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Group, Sun Life Financial Inc. and Manulife Financial Corp., were granted a similar order in March 2020, December 2020 and December 2021. Rounding out the group are Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canadian Western Bank, Laurentian Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, National Bank, Great-West Lifeco and Canada Life. https://www.ta...

Crude oil tanker New Vision, carrying Kazakh oil, at the Dardanelles Anchorage off Sarkoy near Tekirdag, Turkey, on Dec. 9. YORUK ISIK/Reuters The Group of Seven countries’ price cap on Russian oil is not responsible for a queue of tankers waiting in the Black Sea to pass through Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait on the way to the Mediterranean, the European Commission said. The number of vessels queuing in the Black Sea increased on Friday to 20, according to the Tribeca shipping agency, amid talks to disperse the build-up. Since the start of the month, Turkey has required vessels to provide proof of insurance covering their transit through the Bosphorus strait or when calling at Turkish ports, which is causing a logjam. The queues have coincided with the introduction of a plan this week by G7 countries and the European Union to stop insurers from helping to export Russian oil by ship unless it is sold at a capped price, in an attempt to reduce Moscow’s oil revenues. “This situation is no...

Most of us don’t think too much about insurance, but we deal with it in just about every aspect of our lives, from health insurance to unemployment insurance, from homeowner’s insurance to auto insurance. But insurance can cover a lot more than this—in fact, most common homeowners insurance covers stuff you might not think of, like liability if your dog bites someone, damage from riots (!), and even your tombstones, which are considered personal property. And in theory, you can get a custom insurance policy on anything that has a demonstrable “ insurable interest ”—that is, demonstrable financial loss associated with an event. Insurers may not be willing to write the policy if there are significant moral hazards or if they calculate that the policy doesn’t make sense financially for their business—but you might be surprised to learn some of the stuff you can insure with a pretty low degree of difficulty. Body parts You’ve probably heard about some celebrity who has taken out an in...

Canada’s publicly traded home and auto insurers are designed to be boring and predictable businesses. But stellar stock market returns have catapulted them into rarefied air, allowing them to dethrone the Big Six banks as the country’s hottest financial companies. Shares of Intact Financial Corp. IFC-T and Definity Financial Corp. DFY-T trounced those of Canada’s largest lenders this year, climbing 21 per cent and 30 per cent respectively, as of the market’s close on Dec. 23. The banks were down 15 per cent on average. The insurers also beat the broader market: The S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 8 per cent since the start of the year. Intact and Definity are property and casualty insurers, meaning they insure personal automobiles and residential homes, and also offer commercial insurance for the likes of contractors and financial and legal professionals, among others. Despite their presence in day-to-day life, they aren’t household names in the same way as banks or life insurer...

It is time to increase the Canada Deposit Insurance Corp.’s insurance limits to strengthen this country’s banking system. Andrew Moor is the president and chief executive officer of EQ Bank, and Michael Mignardi is general counsel. Deposit insurance provided by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corp. is an important contributor to the stability of Canada’s banking system. If a participating financial institution goes under, CDIC ensures that people’s savings are insured up to a certain amount and remain accessible. That’s why it is concerning that nearly 20 years have passed since the last time a federal budget (2005) increased coverage for Canadians to $100,000 per insurable category, up from $60,000 with the cost borne by participating financial institutions. While $100,000 may sound sufficient, it is far lower than other developed countries, and that figure has been eroded by inflation, which reduces purchasing power and the value of money – making a limit of $100,000 even lower in rea...

Photo : Denys Kurbatov ( Shutterstock ) While it’s true that inflation seems to be coming down since its peak in June, some things are looking to continue to increase in price this year. To start, it’s helpful to know what it actually means when the experts say “ inflation is easing. ” The 6.5% inflation number you see in headlines is the average price of goods and services used to measure the cost of living for most people. That means some products will be going up while others are actually expected to drop in 2023 . Here are some of the things experts are predicting will be going up in price this year—and some that already are. Postage stamps According to U.S. Postal Service, a mailing service notice to increase prices to keep up with inflation is pending to be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission before they take effect Jan. 22, 2023. If they are, expect these price hikes from the USPS ; if you’re running low on stamps, you should buy some soon. Food and eating out A...

If you're like most other entrepreneurs, you're always seeking to protect your business (and your finances). One way to do that is to purchase gap insurance, a type of coverage that helps pay the difference between what you owe on your car loan and what your car is worth if it's totaled in an accident. Here's everything you need to know about how gap insurance works, how much it costs, and more. Gap insurance defined Gap insurance is a supplementary type of car insurance that covers the gap between what you owe on a financed or leased vehicle and the car's actual market value if it's totaled in an accident. This type of coverage can be valuable if the amount left on the auto loan or lease becomes more significant than the actual cash value due to fluctuations in depreciation rates. If your vehicle is stolen and not recovered, gap insurance can also help you compensate for the difference between what you paid and its current value at the time of t...