Month: October 2020

The Best Insurance Companies In Every State 2020

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When the Coronavirus pandemic forced millions of Americans to work from home to curtail the spread of the virus, cars sat idle in garages and the U.S. economy ground to a halt. There was one silver lining: Traffic and traffic-related accidents plunged.

San Antonio, Texas-based USAA Insurance, America’s fifth largest property-casualty insurer, used the sudden change in driving patterns and accident logs as a cue to return money to its policyholders. In 2020, USAA has returned over $1 billion to its policyholders through “auto insurance dividends,” which are helping to keep

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Protect the economy or the population? The coronavirus dilemma facing governments as protests escalate

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Governments trying to contain the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic are facing increased political opposition to the measures they think are necessary to control an alarming new wave, with the number of new infections nearing all-time-highs in many countries.



a chair sitting in front of a building: A closed terrace of a restaurant in Marseille, southern France.

© Getty Images
A closed terrace of a restaurant in Marseille, southern France.

– In France, one of Europe’s countries worst affected by the new spike, the local lockdowns decided by the government are criticized by local authorities. In Marseille, the newly-elected mayor indicated the local police wouldn’t slap fines on restaurants that remain open in violation of a recent government decree.

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– U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing unrest within his own camp over his handling of the crisis. Steve Baker MP, a leading right-winger of the ruling Conservative Party, has asked for Parliament to have “prior approval” of “major measures (…) which take away people’s liberties.”

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Insider Intelligence launches financial services market research

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Insider Intelligence, the combined research firm of BII and eMarketer, will be launching Financial Services coverage in Q4 after much preparation throughout 2020. We spoke to Research Director Dan Van Dyke to discuss what clients and readers can expect from Financial Services.

Q: What’s new with Financial Services coverage from Insider Intelligence? 

DVD: We’ve been hard at work on a new Financial Services research vertical focus that we’re gearing up to launch to clients soon. I’m excited to finally talk publicly about it. 

Earlier this year, eMarketer joined with Business Insider Intelligence to launch our combined company: Insider Intelligence. Since then, priority No. 1 has been launching a larger financial services offering, which will include our best research from both of these teams.

This year has brought a lot of change, but our commitment to expand our financial service research has only grown. We’ve nearly doubled our team to bring

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Advising Capitol Hill on insurance

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While other companies have been asking lawmakers for aid and support during the coronavirus pandemic, insurance company Allstate has spent its time lobbying against government intervention in their work.

The head of Allstate’s D.C. office, Saat Alety, successfully lobbied Congress against retroactively rewriting business interruption insurance contracts to cover lost income due to COVID-19 closures, an idea Democrats were pushing.

“The COVID-19 story that we have to tell in the insurance industry and for Allstate is a fascinating one. I would categorize this concept of government retroactively rewriting insurance policies as one of the worst ideas that emerged as a solution to the pandemic,” Alety told The Hill in a recent interview.

“Obviously the small-business community is in pain in this country, and Congress has tried to give them some relief and probably needs to do more, but having government rewrite our policies is to the extreme detriment of our

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Can I get a personal loan if I have student loans?

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When you have student loans, getting a personal loan can be tricky. Lenders may see you as a risk. But there are ways to improve your chances of qualifying. (iStock)

If you’re a student loan borrower, it likely that you have significant student debt — even with the forbearance options currently available.

In the 2018-2019 academic year, the average student loan at private for-profit colleges and universities was $7,614. The average student loan was $8,100 at private non-profit schools and $6,483 at public schools, according to Statista. Total student loan debt in the U.S. for the 2018-2019 school year totaled a whopping $106.2 billion. When you consider that it takes about 52 months to graduate with a bachelor’s degree, it’s easy to see how debt can really add up.

With all that student debt, you may not want to take on more — but you may have to,

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Trump’s boasts about pre-coronavirus economy aren’t relevant, economists say

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As President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden trade boasts and barbs over the former and current state of the economy, analysts have zeroed in on Trump’s claims of record-high job creation — which comes saddled with significant caveats.

“The job market is still a shadow of what it was prior to the pandemic,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

The White House bragged about the jobless rate falling from a peak of 14.7 percent in April to 8.4 percent in August, but that decrease obscures the sobering deficit that still remains of more than 11 million jobs, compared to the pre-pandemic labor market.

The picture is even grimmer for some worker subgroups: By February, Black unemployment had already begun to creep up from the 5.5 percent low it hit in the fall of 2019. Black unemployment skyrocketed to 16.7 percent in April and then rose

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Why Innovation Department Looks For The Overlooked Pockets Of Opportunities In Consumer Brands

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The founders of Innovation Department believe that in the search for the next billion-dollar exit, there are pockets of opportunities being overlooked in consumer brands. Through a unique application of linear commerce, they have built brands like Wellpath by following a different approach to brand building. I sat down with Colin Darretta, the co-founder of the Innovation Department, and James Shalhoub, the CEO and founder of their newest brand Finn, to learn about this approach and how they are applying it with their newest launch.

Dave Knox: What is the background of starting the Innovation Department?

Colin Darretta: My co- founder, Alex, and I started Innovation Department several years ago with the belief that many of the core competencies integral to building digitally native brands could be scaled across several brands if you house them under one

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Those Dying From Covid-19 Are Least Likely to Own Life Insurance

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U.S. life insurers are paying out far fewer Covid-19 death claims than initially expected, largely because the virus is disproportionately killing people with little to no insurance.

In the past few weeks, many life-insurance companies have sharply reduced estimates of their exposure, as measured by payouts per 100,000 U.S. Covid-19 fatalities. Estimates have come down by an average of 40% to 50%, according to Credit Suisse stock analyst Andrew Kligerman.

Driving the rapid reduction in exposure are two groups: older Americans and minorities.

Older people often have smaller policies than people who are still in the workforce. The latter typically buy policies to protect spouses and children against the loss of a breadwinner’s income, aiming to cover home mortgages and fund college tuition. Based on data through mid-September, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculates that approximately four-fifths of U.S. deaths involving Covid-19 have been of people at

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To Revive Demand Ahead of Festive Season, SBI Offers Personal Loans With Big Benefits

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a close up of a sign in front of a brick building

© Manmath Nayak | India.com Business Desk



New Delhi: At this time of corona crisis when the economy and demand are going through a rough phase, a number of financial institutions, including banks, are offering various kinds of benefits on loans to customers to revive demand in the market in the upcoming festive season. The State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday has floated one such initiative with massive benefits. As per updates, the SBI has announced a 100 per cent waiver in the processing fee for all customers applying for auto, gold and personal loans through its Yono application platform. In a notification, the SBI stated that there will be a complete waiver of processing fees on home loans for homebuyers in approved projects. Moreover, the bank is also ready to provide concessions in interest rates up to 10 bps for select customers however, this will be based on
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Want to know how the economy is doing? Use some walking around sense

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Matthew A. Treskovich
 |  Special to The Ledger

It’s easy to get lost in the news when you’re trying to understand what’s happening in the stock market and in the economy.

The novel coronavirus pandemic and the upcoming election dominate the headlines. Talking heads on television and the Internet talk about things like bond yields, unemployment, Federal Reserve policy and what stimulus packages might or might not be passed by Congress. All the noise can make it difficult to understand what’s happening in the economy.

In the long run, fundamentals drive the stock market. Understanding where the economy is headed will help you understand the long-term outlook for stocks.

Fortunately, it doesn’t take an advanced degree in economics to understand how the economy is doing and what that means for the stock market. Stock market indexes like the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are composed of the

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