Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.A)

[fung_derf]

There is the rub, "legitimate" is a subjective term. I'm not saying that insurance companies are stealing your money, but in essence, they are.

What Is an Example of a Ponzi Scheme?
Imagine a very basic example where Adam promises 10% returns to his friend Barry. Barry gives Adam $1,000 with the expectation that the value of the investment will be $1,100 in one year. Next, Adam promises 10% returns to his friend Christine. Christine agrees to give Adam $2,000.

With $3,000 now on hand, Adam can make Barry whole by paying him $1,100. In addition, Adam can steal $1,000 from the collective pool of funds if he believes he can get future investors to give him money. For this plan to work, Adam must continually get money from a new client in order to pay back older ones.

So again, how does this differ from what an insurance company does with your money?

BTW, "what I was told", was told to me when contacting an insurance company trying to get info on policies. They refused to give me information on a policy's sustainability that was supposed to be self funding.