As members of the insurance industry, we are in the business of protecting our clients from risk. Recently we took a look at some of the annual risks that we face (and insure against).

Fires are a pretty common fear for many homeowners. However, information from the National Fire Protection Association reveals that there were 339,500 residential fires in 2019, and according to the American Housing Survey, there were 124,135,000 residential households in 2019. That means that 0.27% of American households suffered a fire in 2019.

The Society of Actuaries shows that the chance of death for a 55-year-old male in 2020, including COVID-19 data, was right around 0.672%.

Car accidents resulting in death are seen as a common occurrence. However, using information from the U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, your chance of getting in a car accident is 2.17% as of 2019. This number was found by dividing the number of accidents in 2019 (6,000,000) by the number of registered vehicles in the United States in 2019 (276,491,174).

These are all commonly feared events that can cause a significant financial burden. Perhaps most interesting, though, is your chance of losing money in the stock market. Over the last 20 years (2000 – 2020) the S&P 500* has declined five times on an annual basis. This means that an individual investor’s risk of losing money in the stock market is 25% of this 20 year period. Losses can be significant, with the average annual loss being -16.89%.

We have homeowners, life, and car insurance to protect ourselves against many of these risks, but we do not have insurance against market loss. Fixed index annuities offer that market protection, while still giving you upside potential based on market returns.

What to learn more about how losses in the market can overpower gains and how fixed index annuities can help protect your portfolio? Download our Bear Market Insurance whitepaper!

Home Structure Fires https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/research/nfpa-research/fire-statistical-reports/home-structure-fires

American Housing Survey Data https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/ahs/data/interactive/ahstablecreator.html?s_areas=00000&s_year=2019&s_tablename=TABLE1&s_bygroup1=1&s_bygroup2=1&s_filtergroup1=1&s_filtergroup2=1

Society of Actuaries https://www.soa.org/globalassets/assets/files/resources/research-report/2021/excess-deaths-gen-population.pdf

Facts + Statistics: Highway safety https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-highway-safety#Motor%20vehicle%20crashes

Office of Highway Policy Information https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2019/mv1.cfm

Number of U.S. Aircraft, Vehicles, Vessels, and Other Conveyances https://www.bts.gov/content/number-us-aircraft-vehicles-vessels-and-other-conveyances

*S&P 500 returns are excluding dividends. Data taken from Yahoo! Finance. The analysis was conducted using the adjusted market close on the last trade day of each year.