Definition of "Large loss principle"

Brian Blake, Associate Broker real estate agent

Written by

Brian Blake, Associate Brokerelite badge icon

Charles Rutenberg Realty

Transfer of high severity risks through the insurance contract to protect against catastrophic occurrences. While insurance is generally not the most cost-effective means of recovery of minor losses, an insured cannot predict catastrophes and thus set aside enough money to cover losses on a mathematical basis or to self-insure. Actuarial tables are based on the large loss principle: the larger the number of exposures, the more closely losses will match the probability of loss. In essence, a large number of insureds, each paying a modest sum into an insurance plan, can protect against the relatively few catastrophes that will strike some of their numbers.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Insurance Terms

Rule for accounting for contingencies that has application for the accounting of liabilities under the comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act of 1980 ...

Retirement arrangement in which contributions are divided between allocated (insured) and unallocated funding instruments (an uninsured plan). It seeks to combine the advantages of ...

Combination of an interest rate cap and an interest rate floor, creating a band within which interest rates can range. For example, if an interest rate band is between 6% and 10%, the ...

Charitable planning strategy in which a donor sells an asset to the charity for an amount less than its fair market value. Internal Revenue Service regulations require that the tax basis ...

property insurer that distributes its products through a direct selling system. Traditionally, insurers often were known as direct writers if they used either a direct selling system or an ...

Funding of an employee's benefits in a pension plan for his or her beginning past service of employment. This is a significant cost factor in pension planning and financing of future ...

Bulletin issued June, 1993, with disclosure requirements that strongly suggest that insurance companies establish reserves or add to current reserves for asbestos and environmental risks to ...

Agency formed as the result of bank failures in the 1930s to insure the deposits of customers of member banks. The FDIC, an agency of the federal government, is self-supporting in that it ...

Liability created when an individual who offers services to the general public claims expertise in a particular area greater than the ordinary layman. Today, suits are frequently brought ...

Popular Insurance Questions