If every picture tells a story, as Rod Stewart once sang, can numbers likewise tell a tale?

The answer is yes, albeit a somewhat more complicated one. The farther you go down the rabbit hole of data, the more important it becomes to put those numbers in context; numbers themselves tell only half the story. The data is just the starting point.

Consider the fact that when a P&C insurer exits a line of business after re-evaluating its portfolio (and such decisions are never made lightly), the premiums paid by those clients — risks that are, after extensive analysis, deemed not worth insuring any longer — disappear. In most cases, this is a shrewd, sound move by a carrier to move away from clients or markets that are not part of its forward-looking vision; however, the loss of those premiums is still reflected on balance sheets. Or, in the case of the data found in our cover feature this month, NAIC statements.

Providing context

Which is why I reach out to various companies when we compile this report, in order to provide the appropriate context around what readers are seeing. While I can always appreciate solid data, I know enough to realize that endless numbers are enough to bore the pants off many readers — with the possible exception of those on the actuarial side of the P&C business — without explaining some of the outliers.