When something unexpected happens, I want the household to absorb it, so one incident does not become years of debt.

Job context

Who

Whoever thinks about the household's risks

When

Before anything happens

Trigger

Someone nearby facing a crisis and unable to cope

Situation

Preparing for something that may never come

Constraints

Money set aside for this is money not used elsewhere

5 Pains

• No idea how much of a buffer is needed

  High

  Every figure heard is a rule of thumb.

  Root cause: The buffer depends on each household's own risks

• Insurance is hard to understand and compare

  High

  The exclusions are the important part.

  Root cause: Exclusions are written where few readers reach

• Preparing for what may not happen is hard to prioritise

  High

  There is always something more pressing.

  Root cause: The cost is certain and the benefit is a probability

• No confidence that a claim will be paid

  Medium

  Learned only when it is needed.

  Root cause: There is no public data on claims paid

• Whoever sells the policy also advises on it

  Medium

  So it is hard to know if you are over-insured.

  Root cause: Commission attaches to the policy sold

5 Desired Outcomes

• Know the buffer that suits their household

  Functional

• Understand what they are actually covered for

  Functional

• Give prevention a real place in the budget

  Functional

• Trust that a claim will be paid

  Emotional

• Know whether they are over-insured

  Functional

5 Existing Solutions

A solution is not the same thing as a product, a customer can hire a behaviour or a workaround too.

• Keep an emergency fund

  Behaviour

  The most flexible route, insufficient for a large event.

• Buy insurance

  Product

  The only way to absorb a large event, whose real value is decided by the exclusions.

• Read the exclusions carefully

  Behaviour

  The most important step, in a document written for insiders.

• Ask someone who has made a claim

  Behaviour

  The only real evidence about whether claims get paid.

• Rely on family when something happens

  Workaround

  How most households actually cope, transferring the risk to someone else.

2 Opportunity Gaps

• Whoever describes a policy earns commission on it, and the part that decides its value, the exclusions, is the part they speak of least.

  Why existing solutions fail: Buyers read the contract closely only when they need it, years after paying premiums, so no feedback loop obliges the seller to explain clearly at the start.

  Potential opportunity: A standardised summary stating what is not covered, given equal prominence with what is.

• The cost of preparing belongs to today and is certain while the benefit belongs to a day that may never come, so it loses to every other item in every household budget.

  Why existing solutions fail: The only mechanism that makes people prepare is witnessing someone else's crisis, and it works once and fades, so a household's preparedness tracks memory rather than risk.

  Potential opportunity: Making the buffer an automatic fixed item like a bill, rather than a decision remade every month.