All,

Insurance is for RISK MANAGEMENT and RISK POOLING. 

A) Insurance company's goal is to MAKE MONEY.

B) Your goal as a customer of insurance is to cover your RISK with reasonable costs.

So, let's have some common sense here, if you are OLD and most OLD people are likely to get sick, do you THINK that insurance will intentionally LOSE MONEY and give you a good deal on PREMIUM??

In the end, if you BUY XYZ type insurance, it only covers XYZ type of incidence and NOTHING else.  So, if you buy life insurance, you get $$ if you DIED.

But, the problem is LIFE is full of EMERGENCIES that does not cover by insurance.  You need EMERGENCY FUND and SAVINGS to protect yourself from that.  For example, recession, unemployment and so on.  I know people that are in 45 to 50 that can no longer find a job.  They are healthy but unemployable.  And, that is normal economy.  So, insurance does not cover for that.

Insurance agent like to "BAIT and Switch" sales tactic.  Blah, blah, blah, somebody got hit by something and they are in financial ruins.  But, they usually conveniently forget to you that:

A) Insurance may not cover for that too.

B) The premium is SO HIGH that you are more likely to go bankrupt first before that kind of incidence happened.

My RULE of THUMB is you need to SAVE at least 10% to 15% of your gross income for financial survival.  So, before you EVEN talk about buying insurance, you need to have that FIRST.  And, you need to have 3 to 6 months of expense as Emergency Fund before even talking about buying car or house.  Of course, insurance agent will advice you something else.  Because if that is the RULE, they will have much fewer customers.

Your Emergency Fund / Savings is your first level of insurance.  It covers for any POSSIBLE incidence / risk.  It is YOUR MONEY

Every 10 years, people have to learn this.  Recession is possible and you may be unemployed for a long time.  Now, it is time for NEWBIE to learn this again.