March 18, 2025
I just bought my first life insurance policy. And I didn’t read the contract.
But honestly? I have a pretty good excuse.
I’ve worked on hundreds of insurance products. But I’ve always had comprehensive group cover, so I’ve never really worried about buying my own. Hopefully not a skinny chef situation.
Suddenly, I realized I wasn’t covered anymore and had to scramble. Luckily, the process was smooth – great adviser, automated underwriting, no issues. And then… I received 114 pages in my mailbox.
If I lay my policy out end to end, it’s longer than the largest animal on earth.
With 114 pages I could weave 1.3 padel nets. Einstein’s 1905 paper on special relativity was 24 pages. His subsequent paper introducing E = mc² was 3 pages.
These papers changed the world.
The Industry-Wide Problem
This isn’t a critique of any one insurer – it’s an industry-wide problem.
A recent video showed that many South Africans don’t understand what the word “premium” means in insurance.
Meanwhile, in 2023 alone, we sold more than 10.5 million life insurance policies (let’s discuss lapses another day…).
How are we making vulnerable people spend a significant portion of their income on something they don’t understand?
The Necessary Evil
Look, I get why policies are so long. Insurers aren’t evil or looking for reasons not to pay claims (well, most aren’t). Without detailed contracts, this system doesn’t work.
But if we’re going to ask people to spend serious money, we need to get better at helping them understand what they’re buying.
How do we fix this? Has anyone seen great solutions in practice?
P.S. Please read your policy contracts. It’s important. Don’t be like me.