by Stacy T. | Apr 28, 2018 | CPCU 530
As discussed in CPCU® 530, the named parties to a contract generally have a right to sue if they fulfill their duties but the other party fails to go through with their end of the bargain, mainly because the victim stands to lose something. In some special situations, there may also be a third party that does not have any duties under the contract but could also stand to lose something if the contract falls through. These parties are called third-party beneficiaries, and some of them also have rights to sue. This tip will explain the three types of third-party beneficiaries and what their rights are under contract law.
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by Stacy T. | Apr 21, 2018 | Announcements, CPCU 540
We have received a copy of the new CPCU® 540 – Finance and Accounting For Insurance Professionals textbook and have compiled a list of confirmed changes between the old second edition and the newly updated third edition.
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by Stacy T. | Apr 19, 2018 | CPCU 520
In addition to calculating insurance rates, actuaries are responsible for estimating loss reserves. Using various statistical tools, their goal is to predict how much the insurance company will pay out in claims so that the company can set aside enough money to pay for those claims. This job duty is extremely important because if an insurance carrier does a poor job of estimating and sets aside too little money, they run the risk of having to unexpectedly sell their investment assets at a major loss or even going bankrupt if they don’t have the cash available to pay for the claims that arise. Today’s tip will start with an analogy to help illustrate how actuaries try to tackle the challenge of making a future prediction. We will also include a discussion of the three methods covered in CPCU® 520 that are used to estimate loss reserves.
UPDATE: Two of these three methods are not longer covered in the CPCU 520 as of the third edition textbook.
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by Stacy T. | Apr 17, 2018 | Announcements, CPCU 540
Update: A detailed list of changes to CPCU® 540 is now available here.
The Institutes™ has formally added CPCU 540 – Finance and Accounting For Insurance Professionals™ to their list of updated courses. The announcement posted on The Institutes’ official website confirms that there are a number of topics affected by this update to CPCU 540.
The new third edition textbook will include new content or changes relating to the following subjects:
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by Stacy T. | Apr 9, 2018 | CPCU 540
In this part of our three-post CPCU® 540 Fundamentals series, we will teach you about stocks and bonds. The Institutes’ doesn’t go into these types of investments too much until Chapter 8, but they come up right from the start of the course and reappear over and over again throughout the entire course. You are much better off if you go into your studies already having a basic understanding of the main differences between stocks and bonds.
Both are key ways for any business, including insurance companies, to raise money to run their operations. Also, insurance companies earn a lot of their income from investments, which will include stocks and bonds. As such, there is much to know about stocks and bonds, from both the perspective of being a buyer and also from being a seller.
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