Fundamentals of Risk and Insurance [Hardcover]

Emmett J. Vaughan (Author), Therese M. Vaughan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1996 | ISBN-10: 0471055964 | ISBN-13: 978-0471055969 | Edition: 7

Retaining the purpose, organization and approach of its successful predecessors, this consumer-oriented update summarizes the pervasive nature of pure risk on the individual and society, illustrating the way in which insurance can be used to deal with problems posed by such risk. It is both a book on insurance theory and how students can use insurance personally. Features two new chapters: "Managing Personal Risks" and "Managing the Retirement Risk."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 720 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 7 edition (January 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471055964
• ISBN-13: 978-0471055969
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,929,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How Do I Write a Review about an Insurance Book?, March 3, 2003

By 

NDH (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fundamentals of Risk and Insurance (Hardcover)

Well, I guess I can try to review this book from the only perspective I read it from: that of a student. I had to read it for my CFP class on Insurance, and, as an introduction to most forms of insurance, it explains the forms in a very methodical and systematic way; it was very easy to follow and tough to get completely lost.

Honestly, I was never really fascinated with insurance. My life-licensing class was 24 hours of classroom time spread out over one weekend, so maybe that has created some insurance-related intellectual scars. The sections on Life Insurance and the basic components of any insurance contract and the whole insurance process were already familiar to me, so I found those sections incredibly uninteresting. The other forms of insurance were much more interesting and gave me a great foundation for other insurance studies I've done since.

The prose of the book, too, flows extremely well. In fact, I usually just lightly read passages explaining computations and formulas because I come back later to review them in-depth; however, while reading this book, I actually felt I fully understood most of the computations even while I read (which almost never happens because most formula-explaining reads much like Kant's "Metaphysics of Morals").

Just one closing point... I guess you'd have to be either Insurance Commissioner or a professor of insurance to be really interested in this material, but the authors write in a way that allows even the average CFP or insurance student to come away from the book with a good sense of how insurance works and where it fits into an individual's financial plan.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good, January 17, 2007

By 

S. drey "bookworm" (MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fundamentals of Risk and Insurance (Hardcover)

I thought it would be a sleeper,but quite the contrary..I wish I would have read this book 20 years ago.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful, November 15, 2007

By 

Future CFP (Glastonbury, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fundamentals of Risk and Insurance (Hardcover)

My insurance class was unanimous in their disappointment with this textbook. Why?

1) VERBOSE - Takes twice as long to explain a concept as the concise authors in the Kaplan or Bisys book series. Also recommended is Principles of Risk Mgt. and Insurance by George Rejda (http://www.aw-bc.com/rejda/). I found out about these alternates mid-semester after it was too late to switch - don't get stuck like I did.

2) NO ONLINE QUIZZES OR POWERPOINT SUMMARY SLIDES - Kaplan, Bisys and George Rejda offer these helpful study aids.

3) POOR FORMATTING - definitions are not bolded, italicized or presented as bullet points; sample problems are incorporated within long paragraphs, rather than separated out; margins are razor thin on the top and sides, allowing no room for notes.

4) BIASED - The authors generously sprinkle the text with their obvious bias favoring the insurance industry, especially regarding health care coverage. New approaches to health care and access are characterized as "attacks" (p.369 & 382) and "crusades" (p.382); "Patients rarely object to more testing because it might do them some good, even if it is not cost effective for society as a whole." (p.367); and "the debate over availability and affordability is a thinly veiled demand for cross-subsidies in the insurance market." (p.114). That's just the tip of the iceberg.

If it was possible to give this book zero stars, I would. Whatever you do, don't buy the book new - it's so poorly written that my entire class is offloading theirs at the end of the fall 2007 semester, so it will be on Amazon soon.