BG> Furthermore, I think life insurance is a complete waste of
 BG> money.

 BL> Yair... it's better to either save your money or spend it.

 BG> Damn right, although I'll concede that there may be times when
 BG> term insurance can be useful, say whilst you have a mortgage,
 BG> so that if you drop dead before the house is paid out, your
 BG> wife isn't stuck with an unrepayable debt.

  Yep. Insurance is a pool like the TAB, and as long as you realise
that you're getting lousy odds and are supporting the other no-hopers
with your money, it's just a personal choice of how best to balance
risks. If you don't insure, then you have to be prepared to pay the
penalty if you lose. I insure the house because I can't afford to
replace a house or pay damages if a tree falls on a passing dickhead.

  I'm not really a Socialist as you may have noticed, but the two
things I would nationalise are banking and insurance. There is no real
competition in either, they both work on a pool, and I think the
nation would be best served if it had control of that pool directly.

 BL> Aaarrgh! I don't insure contents because I can afford to carry
 BL> it,

 BG> Given that few burglars are more than simple opportunists,
 BG> you're not likely to be losing too much anyway

  That's my theory... plus I don't have anything much of value. If the
burglar dropped his wallet I could even show a profit!

 BG> , although I still remember the time that the people who lived
 BG> opposite us on the Comenarra Parkway at West Pymble came home
 BG> from holidays to an empty house. Even the light and water
 BG> fittings had been removed, and the house was just an empty
 BG> shell. Poor bastards. Just as well that they were insured on
 BG> that occasion. 

  Jeeze! My brother built his first house there... off Evans street.

 BL> but betting the house is too much for me. Even so, I am
 BL> tempted. It's a double-brick house, and if it burned it'd
 BL> probably only cost $30K to restore.

 BG> Exactly. And you don't smoke from memory, nor do you have any 2
 BG> year olds who like to play with lighters, so the risk is
 BG> extremely low. 

  It's 45 years old... so the wiring is a bit of a worry, perhaps.

 BL> It's bloody lousy odds! I'm getting 130/1 on a 4,000/1 risk!
 BL> I'll back Octagonal...

 BG> I note that this was posted several hours before Octagonal won
 BG> too. I hope you DID manage to get a few dollars on. :) 

  He, he, he! I *LOVE* that horse. I put him on my Champions List when
he won the Cox Plate; now I just back him every time he runs. I don't
even have to study form... and some day soon he'll end up in a race he
*can't* win at 10/1 and I'll win a fortune. Champions are the best
part of horse racing.

  It's funny. Beadman went too soon. You *never* start a run on the
corner at Randwick, and I was just saying "If he wins this he's a
champion," when I remembered he was a champion so I just watched him
win. This is the best horse since Superimpose or Kingston Town and
maybe Gunsynd. Maybe Tulloch!

 BG> Agreed. The only accident I've ever had which could be
 BG> classified as my fault was when I hit a kangaroo (which is why
 BG> all of my cars since have had huge bull bars fitted to them).
 BG> If I hadn't been carrying comprehensive insurance then, it
 BG> would have cost me $4500, but premiums have been rising every
 BG> year, and I jacked up when it reached $300, and told them to
 BG> fuck off.

  Funny... in my case it was a cow. I had full insurace and the bloody
cow managed to damage every panel on one side of the car. But imagine
my horror when I discovered that by the time I'd lost my no-claim
bonus (I'd never claimed in 20 years), I wasn't actually insured! It
cost me the same in no-claim bonuses as if I paid for it myself... 20
years of insurance payments, for what? So I made them pay, and dumped
insurance forever. I've only had one claim since, and I found that I
could do a good deal for cash. I paid an assessor $75 (money well
spent in a $5,000 claim IMO), beat the guy down from $6,000 to $5,000
cash, and they put it back as good as new, loaner car and all.

  I'm a believer!

Regards,
Bob
  
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
@EOT:

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