Did you know that today is Insurance Awareness Day? Most individuals have some form of insurance, whether it is auto, home, or life insurance. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who has never had insurance in their life. This may be news to you, but did you also know that “Chinese and Babylonian traders first used simple methods of risk transfer and distribution between 2000 and 3000BC?” In fact, one of the first recorded insurance systems comes from the Babylonians in their Code of Hammurabi around 1750BC,” which recorded when merchants received loans to fund their shipments, paying the investors a sum in exchange for the investors agreement to cancel the loans in the event of the shipment being lost at sea or stolen.” Now, you might be thinking that sounds a bit like your home or auto insurance. You pay a company in case some kind of loss happens to your vehicle or home.
Most people insure the usual objects, such as vehicles, homes, and businesses, but have you ever wondered about the unusual objects? I’m talking the things you wouldn’t think to insure, such as different body parts. For example, “Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has insured his middle finger for $ 1,600,000” and Julia Roberts “insured her smile for $30,000,000.” Possibly not as strange, Daniel Craig, that’s right Mr. 007 himself, “insured his body for $ 7.7 million while filming his first appearance as 007 in the 2006 movie Casino Royale” because he performs his own stunts. Just think, Mr. Craig took out an insurance policy on his body for over $7 million. Sounds crazy, right? The big winner for highest insurance plan goes out to David Beckham who, “at the height of his career…insured his legs for $151,000,000.” If only we thought so highly of ourselves.
If you know of any other weird insurance facts, feel free to let us know! We’d love to hear your thoughts! Check out our Facebook page for more information as to the services we provide clients, and feel free to check out Trafalgar International for more interesting insurance facts:
http://trafalgar-intl.com/interesting-weird-and-quite-possibly-useless-insurance-facts/
Katie Kaminski
C & E Insurance