Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobiasis an American journalist, author, and columnist. His main body of work is on investment, but he has also written on politics, insurance, and other topics. Since 1999, he has been the treasurer of the Democratic National Committee...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth20 April 1947
CountryUnited States of America
america would-be cost
In short: Readily available low-cost life insurance would be a threat to the industry, and whatever threatens the life insurance industry threatens America.
commodity
Life insurance is a commodity.
hay-fever average suffering
Hay fever suffers tend to be above average in intelligence,...
men years numbers
Man's natural life span, 75 to 90 years or so, has not increased. It is the number of us who manage to attain it that has increased.
altruism
There's no such thing as altruism.
book people done
One of the advantages of the book's having been out there for more than a quarter century is that there's been time for people to report back on what it's done for them.
new-york school editors
I was a writer for 'New York' magazine. I had been to business school, but what did I know? Still, everybody from the receptionists on up to the editor would ask me what they should do with their money.
years america able
The best thing I have are 5 percent bonds from 1780, denominated from $1 to $20. As far as I can tell, they are obligations from the United States of America, so I should be able to walk down to the Federal Reserve and redeem the uncanceled ones. With 217 years of accrued interest, for a $20 bond, that's about $800,000.
believe people effort
The life insurance industry is filled with good people who believe in their work and their companies, but who may never have challenged the assumptions underlying their efforts.
may matter firsts
Not surprisingly, the insurance lobby recoils in horror at the prospect of automatic coverage ( including, when it was first proposed, Social Security), no matter how efficient it may be. Automatic coverage eliminates sales commissions and profit.
america fifteen twelve
Life insurance in America has traditionally been dominated by mutual insurers. Twelve of the fifteen largest life insurers are mutuals.
ideas two complicated
There are only two things as complicated as insurance accounting and I have no idea what they are.
jobs war america
There were no jobs created in America from 1945, when the war ended, through 2003. How could there be? Taxes were too high. Preposterously so under Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Reagan (who left office with a 28 percent rate on long-term capital gains) and Bush the Elder.
common-sense giving kind
What kind of bank gives back 65 percent-often less-of what you deposit? Indeed, when you compare the services of a bank and an insurance company, common sense suggests something is out of whack.