The Funny Thing in Life Insurance 1- The Mayonnaise, Yuck

By Mely Lerman, October 31, 2009
In Holland instead of ketchup they put mayonnaise on the french fries, in France they have PERP, in Israel they have Adif and in Brazil they have lottery...
The funny thing in Life Insurance and Pensios are the little differences. Vincent in Pulp Fiction should be an insurance broker: according to him the funniest thing about Europe is the little differences. (see the whole excerpt at the end of this blog). It is exciting to learn the little differences in the different retirement and life insurance plans. It crosses countries and companies in the same countries. Even in those days of globalization, even in face of the efforts for standartization of the Europen Union from one side and the OECD from another, every Life Insurance company is a whole culture in itself.
The basis for everything is one: the actuarial mathematics. What actuaries and regulators do with this is another thing.
There are some products that gain popularity all over th World - the American IRA, Universal Life, the Chilean Pension Model, Unit Link and other.
However, most of the time companies are lauching completely different products almost every day and even the similar products receive a local color.
In Europe, for example, there is a real need for some standard in life insurance and pensions in order to facilitate the mobility of workers from one country to the other. But if somebody compares the employers savings of England to the one in Greece it will be very difficult to find something in common. In Brussels they are trying to put some order on things but, in fact, every country develops its own products completely with no synchronization with the others. The PERP in France (2005) has absolutely no similar product in Europe. The same is possible to say about the Riester pension in Germany.

In those blogs - The Little Differences in Life Insurance - I am going to describe some of those little differences that I know. I would be grateful if anybody out there wants to contribute.
I have no intent to criticize, nor to analyse the social implications or any other second intentions.
Like Vincent I just thing those little differences are funny.


Vincent:.....but you know the funniest thing about Europe is?
Jules: What?
Vincent: It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same sh*t over there that they got here, but it's just, it's just their's a little different
Jules: Example
Vincent: Alright, well you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam, and buy a beer. And I don't mean just like no paper cup, I'm talking about a glass of beer. And in Paris, you can buy a beer in McDonald's. And you know what they call uh...a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
Vincent: nah man they got the metric system, they wouldn't know what the a quarter pounder is
Jules: Then what do they call it?
Vincent: They call it, uh, Royale with Cheese
Jules: Royale with Cheese?
Vincent: That's right
Jules: What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: A Big Mac is a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac
Jules: Le Big Mac, (laughs) what do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I don't know, I didn't go into
Burger King.....You know what they put on french fries in Holland instead of ketchup?
Jules: What?
Vincent: Mayonnaise
Jules: Damn
Vincent: I seen them do it man, they
f**ckin drown them in that sh*t
Jules: Yuck