Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Gambling as 'insurance'

Spotted this from one of those 'Oddly Enough articles': Man loses bet by staying alive

Turns out this guy placed a bet in order to insure against a possible inheritance tax bill..
  • If he died before the first week in December his wife would of been handed a £3000 bill from the IRS
  • So thinking laterally he approached a bookie and asked what odds he would get for him dying before the deadline
  • Getting odds of 6/1 he placed a £500 bet that he would die

So if he died, his wife would of been able to cover the tax, all for the 'insurance premium' of $500.

Kind of morbid but I like that lateral thinking... One thing I ask myself though is, does this mean that when you insure something you are in essence placing a 'bet' that your belongings are going to be stolen/broken/etc..? In essence betting against yourself? Of course you could look at as that insurance agencies are all crooks.

B

PS: Wonder how long it'll be till you can get an insurance policy to cover these kinds of uncertain taxes?

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