I’ve had the absolute honor of teaching the Insurance Cert Course over the last 40 cohorts. In this special edition of Weekend Reads, I share with you some of the most interesting, niche things I’ve read about insurance, including a shocking fact about teachers!

Social Security

• Know who doesn’t qualify for Social Security benefits sometimes? Teachers. Yes, teachers! The Motley Fool explains the story behind why you might not qualify!

Auto Insurance

• Guess which state was the first to ban insurance companies from charging men and women different rates for auto insurance! Did you guess Montana? In 1985? Insurance companies say their actuarial research shows men are riskier drivers and should pay more, but some advocates say it’s pure discrimination. How Your Gender Affects Auto Insurance Rates from Insure.com.

For your students: Consider playing MOVE: What Determines Your Insurance Premium to learn about premiums across many insurance types.

Life Insurance

• Is there a life insurance gender gap? While this reporting is based on a survey of only 385 parents with kids at home under 18, it raised some questions I hadn’t considered myself. Should stay-at-home parents have life insurance? How does a wage gap carry over into a life insurance gap? Haven Life reports.

Bonus: It includes some cool data about household roles split between men and women. 

AI in Insurance

• This McKinsey & Company report is huge, but if you’re interested in AI’s potential to change financial industries, here’s how they forecast changes to insurance.

For your students: Yanely explored one aspect in a FinCap Friday about telemetrics and auto insurance premiums.  

Homeowners Insurance

• Allstate and State Farm both stopped issuing new homeowners insurance policies in the state of CA, claiming wildfires, inflation, high building costs, among other reasons. Turns out many large insurers have also pulled out of Florida as well due to storm costs, according to The New York Times. 

About the Author

Jessica Endlich

When I started working at Next Gen Personal Finance, it's as though my undergraduate degree in finance, followed by ten years as an educator in an NYC public high school, suddenly all made sense.