PARTIES TO CONTRACT

There are three parties to a life insurance transaction: the insurer, the insured, and the policy owner (policy holder), although the owner and the insured are often the same person.The policy owner is the grantee and he or she will be the person who will pay for the policy. The beneficiary receives policy proceeds upon the insured's death. The owner designates the beneficiary, but the beneficiary is not a party to the policy. The owner may change the beneficiary unless the policy has an irrevocable beneficiary designation. With an irrevocable beneficiary, that beneficiary must agree to any beneficiary changes, policy assignments, or cash value borrowing.

TYPES OF LIFE INSURANCE

Life insurance may be divided into two basic classes – temporary and permanent or following subclasses - term, universal, whole life, variable, variable universal and endowment life insurance.

TEMPORARY

Term life insurance provides for life insurance coverage for a specified term of years for a specified premium. The policy does not accumulate cash value. Term is generally considered "pure" insurance, where the premium buys protection in the event of death and nothing else. Term insurance premiums are typically low because both the insurer and the policy owner agree that the death of the insured is unlikely during the term of coverage.

PERMANENT

Permanent life insurance is life insurance that remains in force until the policy matures (pays out), unless the owner fails to pay the premium when due (the policy expires). The policy cannot be cancelled by the insurer for any reason except fraud in the application, and that cancellation must occur within a period of time defined by law (usually two years). Permanent insurance builds a cash value that reduces the amount at risk to the insurance company and thus the insurance expense over time. This means that a policy with a million dollars face value can be relatively inexpensive to a 70 year old because the actual amount of insurance purchased is much less than one million dollars. The owner can access the money in the cash value by withdrawing money, borrowing the cash value, or surrendering the policy and receiving the surrender value. The three basic types of permanent insurance are whole life, universal life, and endowment.

WHOLE LIFE COVERAGE

Whole life insurance provides for a level premium, and a cash value table included in the policy guaranteed by the company. The primary advantages of whole life are guaranteed death benefits, guaranteed cash values, fixed and known annual premiums, and mortality and expense charges will not reduce the cash value shown in the policy. The primary disadvantages of whole life are premium inflexibility, and the internal rate of return in the policy may not be competitive with other savings alternatives. Riders are available that can allow one to increase the death benefit by paying additional premium. The death benefit can also be increased through the use of policy dividends. Dividends cannot be guaranteed and may be higher or lower than historical rates over time. Premiums are much higher than term insurance in the short-term, but cumulative premiums are roughly equal if policies are kept in force until average life expectancy.

UNIVERSAL LIFE COVERAGE

Universal life insurance is a relatively new insurance product intended to provide permanent insurance coverage with greater flexibility in premium payment and the potential for a higher internal rate of return. A universal life policy includes a cash account. Premiums increase the cash account. Interest is paid within the policy (credited) on the account at a rate specified by the company. This rate has a guaranteed minimum but usually is higher than that minimum. Mortality charges and administrative costs are charged against (reduce) the cash account. The surrender value of the policy is the amount remaining in the cash account less applicable surrender charges, if any.

LIMITED PAY

Another type of permanent insurance is Limited-pay life insurance, in which all the premiums are paid over a specified period after which no additional premiums are due to keep the policy in force. Common limited pay periods include 10-year, 20-year, and paid-up at age 65.

ENDOWMENTS

Endowments are policies in which the cash value built up inside the policy, equals the death benefit (face amount) at a certain age. The age this commences is known as the endowment age. Endowments are considerably more expensive (in terms of annual premiums) than either whole life or universal life because the premium paying period is shortened and the endowment date is earlier.

ACCIDENTAL DEATH

Accidental death is a limited life insurance that is designed to cover the insured when they pass away due to an accident. Accidents include anything from an injury, but do not typically cover any deaths resulting from health problems or suicide. Because they only cover accidents, these policies are much less expensive than other life insurances.

RIDERS

Riders are modifications to the insurance policy added at the same time the policy is issued. These riders change the basic policy to provide some feature desired by the policy owner. A common rider is accidental death, which used to be commonly referred to as "double indemnity", which pays twice the amount of the policy face value if death results from accidental causes, as if both a full coverage policy and an accidental death policy were in effect on the insured. Another common rider is premium waiver, which waives future premiums if the insured becomes disabled.

WITH-PROFIT POLICIES

Some policies allow the policyholder to participate in the profits of the insurance company these are with-profits policies. Other policies have no rights to participate in the profits of the company, these are non-profit policies. With-profits policies are used as a form of collective investment to achieve capital growth. Other policies offer a guaranteed return not dependent on the company's underlying investment performance; these are often referred to as without-profit policies which may be construed as a misnomer.

PENSIONS

Pensions are a form of life assurance. However, whilst basic life assurance, permanent health insurance and non-pensions annuity business includes an amount of mortality or morbidity risk for the insurer, for pensions there is a longevity risk. A pension fund will be built up throughout a person's working life. When the person retires, the pension will become in payment, and at some stage the pensioner will buy an annuity contract, which will guarantee a certain pay-out each month until death.

INSURANCE BOND

An insurance bond is a single premium life assurance policy for the purposes of investment. Due to tax laws they are a common form of investment in the UK and some offshore centres. Traditionally insurance bonds were with-profits policies and were often called with-profit(s) bonds. Since the introduction of unitised insurance funds they have often been marketed as unit-linked bonds or investment bonds.

INVESTMENT TRUST

Investment trust, a company that invests in other companies or properties

• Income trust, a Canadian collective investment scheme.
• Royalty trust
• Real estate investment trust, a corporation investing in property
• Unit trust, a general collective investment scheme

TAXATION OF LIFE INSURANCE

In the United States: An insurance bond (or investment bond) is a single premium life assurance policy for the purposes of investment. Due to tax laws they are a common form of investment in the UK and some offshore centres. Traditionally insurance bonds were with-profits policies and were often called with-profit(s) bonds. Since the introduction of unitised insurance funds they have often been marketed as unit-linked bonds or investment bonds.Also, other income tax saving vehicles (i.e. IRA, 401K or Roth IRA) appear to be better alternatives for value accumulation, at least for more sophisticated investors who can keep track of multiple financial vehicles. The combination of low-cost term life insurance and higher return tax-efficient retirement accounts can achieve better performance, assuming that the insurance itself is only needed for a limited amount of time.

In United Kingdom: Premiums are not usually allowable against income tax or corporation tax, however qualifying policies issued prior to 14 March 1984 do still attract LAPR (Life Assurance Premium Relief) at 15% (with the net premium being collected from the policyholder). Non-investment life policies do not normally attract either income tax or capital gains tax on claim. If the policy has as investment element such as an endowment policy, whole of life policy or an investment bond then the tax treatment is determined by the qualifying status of the policy.Although this is complicated, the taxation of life assurance based investment contracts may be beneficial compared to alternative equity based collective investment schemes (unit trusts, investment trusts and OEICs).