Dean Analytic Schedule

When you get right down to it, insurance is basically gambling against future events for a possible payoff in the case unforeseen negative events hit you. An insurance broker is your bookie, your insurance company is the casino, and the actuary is the oddsmaker.

In the history of the insurance industry, the bulk of research and study went into life expectancies, and the only non-life insurance research was directed toward cargo insurance, since the Roman merchants wanted to protect against loss at sea.

A.F. Dean was the first to create a schedule in the early 1900s for rating policies by analyzing a host of factor related to fire hazards, thus earning him rights to the title of the “first property and casualty oddsmaker.”

So the Dean Analytic Schedule is kind of the NFL Playbook of the insurance industry which outlines the structure and "game plan" for the world in which to assess risk.