Who are these people who take your money every month?

Big bad insurance companies.

The basics stay the same in every case—you pay them a premium and they pay whoever you owe money to if something bad happens—but there are a bunch of different types of insurance companies out there:

• Captive Insurance Companies. These companies are designed for one specific group of people or provide one specific type of insurance. Like, say, insurance against bad haircuts. Yeah, it might be a thing.
• Admitted Carriers. Sometimes called standard lines, these companies are allowed to sell certain types of insurance in a given state. They have to follow a bunch of rules created by the state where they are open for business.
• Excess Lines. These companies insure people whom admitted carriers don't. For example, if you can't get standard health insurance because you've been really unwell in the past, you might still get health insurance through excess lines.
• Alien Lines. Insurance for Star Trek fans. Wait, no. Alien lines are insurance companies that offer insurance in the U.S. or in your state but have their main offices somewhere else.
• Domestic Lines. These insurance companies are open for business in one state and only offer their services to the residents of that state without crossing any borders.
• Lloyd's of London. Lloyd's is one of the oldest insurance companies in the world, and it's in a class by itself. Lloyd's is famous for its weird insurance coverage: this is the company that insured America Ferrera's smile for $10 million and also insures Adam Lambert's crotch. We are not kidding even a little.

You're most likely to work with a standard line, but if you make it big as a singer and want to insure your vocal cords, or uh, other parts, you might want Lloyd's of London on your speed dial just in case.