“What a waste of money. I have been paying insurance for 15 years and nothing ever happened to me.”
This is probably the most common sentence you will hear when someone mentions insurance. And I completely understand the frustration — you pay €200 a month, and what did you get? Nothing. No burglary, no car accident, no illness.
But it is precisely because nothing happened that insurance worked. I know, it sounds like an oxymoron — paying for something that did not happen and being happy about it. But insurance is not an investment. It is risk transfer. You pay so that someone else worries instead of you.
What is insurance, really?
Insurance is a mechanism for protection against financial catastrophe. It does not protect you from something happening to you — it protects you from something happening to you and ending up with nothing.
Example: You have an apartment worth €150,000. The annual property insurance premium is €150. If your apartment burns down, you get €150,000. If you have no insurance, you get — nothing. Same logic applies to car, health, and life insurance.
Why do we feel like we wasted money?
Because people do not like paying for things they cannot see. A new kitchen — you see it, feel it, use it. Insurance — you only see the bill. That is a psychological problem: the human brain prefers instant gratification over long-term protection.
Here are three ways to stop seeing insurance as a waste of money:
- Think of it as paying for peace of mind. You pay so you do not have to think about “what if”.
- Compare it to other expenses. €200 a month is €2,400 a year. If your apartment burns down or you need surgery, that cost is laughable in comparison.
- Stop counting what you “lost”. You did not lose money. You paid for a service — protection. No different from paying for Netflix even when you do not watch it every day.
How much does insurance actually cost?
In Croatia, premiums are relatively low compared to Western Europe:
- Car (mandatory + comprehensive): €300-€1,200/year
- Home: €100-€300/year
- Life: €300-€1,000/year
- Additional health: €200-€600/year
- Travel: €20-€100/year
Total: €1,000-€3,000 per year. Sounds like a lot? That is the price of one average vacation or two months of rent in Zagreb.
Conclusion
Insurance is not meant to pay off. It is meant to make sure you are not ruined if something happens. You hope you never have to use the policy — and that is the best outcome.
Think of it this way: when you buy a fire extinguisher for your kitchen, you hope you never use it. But you do not call it a waste of money.
This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute insurance advice. Consult a licensed insurance agent before purchasing a policy.