Movie “Taken” an appropriate wake up call for Personal Kidnap and Ransom Insurance
A trusted and professional resource sighting a Hollywood movie as a reason for a high net worth family to buy Kidnap and Ransom insurance… yes. Of course, it would be ridiculous to apply most of the movie “Taken” to the everyday needs of a high net worth individual or expatriate family living abroad. Very few of us have a father that has CIA and FBI connections and is on a private plane 4 hours after the first ransom call going to Paris to “kick ass.”
However, the kidnap and ransom scenario is the classic “it will never happen to me case.” No matter how much one reads up on the need for kidnap and ransom insurance for the expatriate family, there is that little voice inside us that says, it will never happen and that is the next guy’s problem. A movie like Taken is one of the few things that can get the adrenaline pumping and can make us actually consider, “what if that was my child.”
We find it amazing how many high net worth individuals take their entire family to places like Kuwait, Mexico, Philippines, Egypt and 20 other highly dangerous places without even checking up on kidnap and ransom insurance. Many won’t even question their own employer about what security plans may be in place in the event of an incident.
Of course, under a real kidnap and ransom insurance program the company is not at liberty to discuss the particulars and even inform the expatriate about the existence of a kidnap and ransom insurance plan, but the point is very few even ask, at least this is our experience.
It’s too late to make plans once something happens. A private kidnap and ransom insurance plan may only cost a family $2,000 a year. If you are a high net worth individual working away from home, this is money well spent.
