JK Galbraith was attacked as a communist for his red covered book on the great crash of 1929 – an event my Grandfather recalls well. This is a good reminder that folly springs eternal in human affairs, especially with regard to the money, which happens to be how we keep score in so many of our affairs.

A group of brokers told me the other day of a fire and general company – who shall remain nameless – that appears to have suddenly got a lot tougher around claims, and in a way that goes beyond mere prudence.

Conventional wisdom has it that when you buy in bulk you get a better deal. Once again, the insurance industry confounds this notion. This is because insurance relies on the ability to discriminate between risks.

Do you know how much life insurance business was sold last year? What about the amount paid in claims? How about how many people died? Then what they died of…

As people study the new adviser legislation harder and contemplate exactly what it means, a question has emerged around needs analysis.

If you want Mr. Sensitive – talk to an insurance broker. In this wonderful world of acceptance and tolerance, the very words we use to describe difference are frowned upon.

Insurance makes you feel wealthy – in ways that credit never could.

Over the years I often see stats that show more people own life insurance than disability insurance. I had not thought, until recently, to ask why – duh.

One broker who was recently incarcerated in a hospital awaiting a by-pass operation got acquainted with a fellow inmate.

Disability insurance has the same problem that mobile phone companies have. Your cover can go out of date – you can even end up holding insurance which will never pay out.

I would be roundly derided if I declared life companies are generally sound, and then there was a string of massive failures. But, relatively speaking, life companies don’t give up the ghost quite as easily as others types.

For all the exasperation the industry felt at insurance being left out of the KiwiSaver party, it turns out that it has had a boost from the scheme.

Is there any plain reason why you pay road user charges for diesel and a license fee for petrol? Not really. You can argue about it, quote the history, but the argument is evidence for the question – not against it.

There is a saying about pizza that runs, "even when it's bad, it's good". It could also be applied to sex – assuming an adequate level of consent and protection. But occasionally some people are so scarred by their first love they take a long time to learn to trust again.

If you walk into a shoe shop, pick up a shoe with a scratch on it, and you wouldn't buy it. The problem with insurance is that this is harder to do – not usually life insurance, but more likely the murkier world of disability insurance. You can't always see the scratch until it's too late.

"It's a profession," and "it's complicated" is heard a lot. That's a sort of defensive mechanism against those who say advisers are paid too much. They aren't – they are paid the price that clears the market, and in economic terms, that's efficient.