The Advice You Might Not Want to Hear

Nobody hires me to tell them what they want to hear.

I learned that early. When you own a brokerage for 25 years, you learn that the client who argues with you the most on the way in thanks you the most on the way out — usually right after the thing you warned them about happens to someone else.

Now that I don't sell insurance at all, I get to say the quiet parts out loud. Here are the truths I deliver most often, and the ones people least want to hear.

You're paying for coverage you'll never use

This is the polite one, and it's everywhere. Low deductibles on every policy. Riders and endorsements stacked up over years of renewals. Coverage for risks that don't apply to your life anymore.

Nobody selling you insurance will ever point at your premium and say "you could safely spend less here." It costs them money to say it. It costs me nothing — and it saves you plenty.

Your home is insured for far less than it would cost to rebuild

This is the one that keeps me up at night, because it's the most common and the most painful. Construction costs have moved dramatically, and most policies haven't kept up. People insure for what they paid, or what the home is "worth," instead of what it would cost to rebuild from the foundation up at today's prices.

After a total loss is a terrible time to discover the gap. Before a loss is the only time that matters.

Your denied claim was denied correctly

This is the hardest conversation I have, and I have it regularly. Someone brings me a declined claim, certain they've been wronged. Sometimes they have been — and then I go to work.

But sometimes I read the actual policy wording, and the denial was right. The coverage they thought they bought was never there. Telling someone that takes ten minutes and saves them months of fighting a battle they can't win — and points them at the real problem, which is the gap in their program going forward.

An advocate who only tells you you're right isn't an advocate. They're a cheerleader, and cheerleaders don't get claims paid.

The cheapest quote would be the most expensive mistake

Every year, someone shows me the rock-bottom quote they're about to buy, and every year the story is the same: stripped limits, exclusions doing quiet work in the fine print, and an insurer whose claims reputation I know too well.

Price is a fact. Value is the story behind it. The cheapest policy is only cheap until you need it — and then it's the most expensive thing you ever bought.

Why I can say these things

Here's the thread that ties it all together: I don't earn a dollar from what you decide. No commission if you buy more, no penalty if you buy less, no insurer relationship to protect when I tell you a denial was fair.

Salespeople can't afford this kind of honesty. I can't afford anything else — it's the entire product.

The truth is cheaper than the surprise

Every one of these conversations is uncomfortable for about five minutes. Every surprise they prevent is expensive for years. That's the trade, and it's the best one in insurance.

If you'd rather hear it from me now than from your adjuster later, start with a complimentary 30-minute assessment. I'll tell you what's working, what isn't, and what I'd do about it — whether you hire me or not.

— Jeff Kristjanson, Jasper Private Insurance Consultants