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7-10insurance-intro

When Insurance Is Useful

Identify the risks that would cause the most financial hardship if uninsured — and prioritise covering those over lower-impact risks when budget is limited.

In this lesson

When Insurance Is Useful is part of Sharing the Cost of Risk. This preview shows how insurance-intro connects to everyday family decisions such as earning, saving, spending choices, goals, approvals, or parent-guided money conversations inside Progress Penguin.

Think about this money choice

Ngozi's family is deciding whether to insure their old television or their health. They can only afford one right now.

How it works

When choosing what to insure first, prioritise the risks that would cause the most financial hardship if they occurred. Health risks — illness, injury, hospitalisation — are typically more financially devastating than property risks. An insured health risk means a major illness does not destroy the family's finances. An uninsured one can.

Try a real-life example

Real-life money moment: Ngozi's family can afford one insurance policy. Option A: health insurance at 3000 in local currency/month. Option B: television and electronics cover at 1500 in local currency/month. Their television is three years old and worth 80000 in local currency. A hospitalisation could cost 300000 in local currency+. Which risk is larger — and which insurance is more important? — Health. The potential loss is four times larger and cannot be funded by selling assets.

Activity preview

Choose the best money move

Use what you just learned. Choose the option you can explain.

Try one real money action

Open Tasks and submit proof for one task, or open Requests and make a deposit request. Parent approval can happen later.

Quiz preview

When Insurance Is Useful is when:

Any possible loss — no matter how small — could ever occur to you
You want to earn money from the insurer by making frequent claims
A potential loss is large enough that you could not easily afford it alone
Premium costs are lower than the monthly savings you would build without it

Which situation best justifies buying insurance?

A 500000 in local currency medical procedure your savings could not cover without insurance
A risk that has a 0% historical probability of occurring in your lifetime
A situation where you caused the loss through a deliberate choice
A 500 in local currency item that you could replace easily from next month's allowance