Most of what was shared about insurance premiums at the last
presbytery was also shared by Doug Weims when we switched to Brotherhood Mutual,
but we decided not to act on any cost-saving choices at that time.
One thing worth considering is building funds to a level of
self-insurance to minimize our cost. I don’t think we can ever go
insurance-free because of liability issues and some presbytery requirements.
But we could start moving that way.
If we take out a second CD, we should add to it with
whatever we save by increasing our deductible. So, if we save $500 each premium,
we don’t put that in the general operating fund; we obligate it for the
CD and add it to the CD upon renewal.
I suggested something like this when we paid off the loan we
took out for the building. We would continue to budget the $2000 each month for
our savings/CD/capital program (whatever name we had at the time), with the
intent of having some self-insurance fund. We opted not to do that at that
time.
To the current situation, savings on insurance and
investment in a CD will seem like small savings in comparison to the very large
amount needed to adequately insure the buildings that we have, but it’s that inertia
thing again. Nothing happens until something is put in motion. A body at
rest remains at rest—you know the spiel.
It’s the "he buried his talent in the ground"
thing. The risk of putting the money in a CD is minimal. If we needed it
before it matured, the most we could lose is the interest. The principal is not
at risk. We get about 10-16 times the interest on the CD than we do on the savings
account, where a fair amount of money now resides.
It’s also that discipline thing. Disciples should
have discipline. In the case of insurance savings and what to do with it, that
means if we do this, we do this with each premium. This is not a when we
feel like it deal. It is a call for discipline. Our children or
grandchildren might be the ones who realize a level of savings where we can significantly
reduce our premiums and add to the savings.
What is the risk? If we had to cash it in early, the actual
loss to us would be the quarter percent interest that leaving it in savings
would earn. Yes, we could potentially lose ten times that amount, but only if
we put the funds in a CD. If we leave them where they are, we have no chance at
potential gains.
It’s the you miss 100% of the shots you never take thing. It won’t lose anything if we do nothing differently, but we gain very little.
I did not put this on the agenda as you will surely need
time to assess it and weigh it against your risk tolerance, but I wanted you to
think about it. I know it historically goes against our tendencies as a session.
If you subscribe to Covey’s four quadrants, this is a
quadrant II decision. Maybe it will prompt us to action at some point.
If we don’t do this, it should be a deliberate decision and
not a passive oversight.
Please think and pray about this.
