May 03 2012

Trip insurance. You know, the insurance your travel agent really wants you to get in case you cancel your trip (for listed reasons on the policy), the cruise line goes bust, and so on. While lots of stuff can be cancelled with little or no fees within a couple of days of reservation dates, other things are either non-refundable or have a long cancellation policy. So, you get travel insurance.

Let’s assume, for the sake of this discussion, you are taking a trip that has non-refundable costs of $5,000. Maybe a cruise. If you’re under 60, that would cost you about 4% of the trip cost (say, $200+). If you’re 60-69, up that to about 6-7% (say, $350+). If you’re over 70 (me), it’s about 12%+ (oh, about $730). And when you reach the ripe old age of 80, it is over double that!

Guess they think us old geezers get sick more often and have to cancel. Well, guess we do. So, it’s the old trade off of risk vs. return. Insurance premiums, like on your house and your car and your health, you pay hoping do so wards off the evil spirit and that you never have to collect on the policies.

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