Financial LiteracyEllen Roseman: Insurance is personal finance’s blind spot
There's a big education gap when it comes to insurance and that can lead people to make very costly mistakes.
Meet Wawanesa home insurance.
Wawanesa, or The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co., was founded in Wawanesa, Man. in 1896 and is today headquartered in Winnipeg.
Today Wawanesa is considered one of the top 10 property and casualty insurance companies in Canada, but initially, founders Alonzo Fowler Kempton and Charles Kerr launched it as a mutual insurance company for farmers.
According to Wawanesa’s company history, Kempton realized that the Western settlers faced numerous natural disasters including drought, fires and hail as well as the high cost of transportation, equipment damage and fire damage.
Kempton, who was already an insurance salesman, wagered that farmers wouldn’t have as much difficulty paying their premiums if they weren’t required to cash in until after the harvest.
About 20 local farmers invested $20 each to help finance Kempton and Kerr’s idea, and in September 1896, Wawanesa came to be.
Wawanesa serves Canada, California, and Oregon. It also has a history of maintaining ties to the farming community and has been known to forgive a debt or two.
According to Wawanesa, a Quebec man sent the company eight post-dated cheques for $368, which was tied to a fraudulent auto accident claim. A company representative found the man, who was the unfortunate victim of two industrial accidents and living with his wife and seven children in what was described as a shack. The representative relayed the man’s circumstances to the company, which in turn forgave the debt.
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