Business Development Concept

In general, may people understand that having life insurance in any form is a necessity. The policy of life insurance is an excellent method of providing protection for your family members in the event of your death. While many people understand that is important to have life insurance they may not understand that there are many different types of policies available in the world today.

One type of life insurance policy is called “Whole Life Insurance”, this type of life insurance is effective provided you continue to make the monthly payments upon the premium. This is a very popular type of life insurance because it allows you to build a cash value on the policy and is on a basis that is tax-deferred. The way this works is that a portion of the premium you are paying is put into an account of savings that the policy invests into. All interest that is earned upon the policy is put into the savings and helps to build the cash value. Once the cash value reaches a higher level, you could be required to pay the premium after age or you could be allowed to borrow against that cash value.

Another attractive benefit of having a whole life insurance policy is that your premium will always remain the same. At no time will the amount change at all, therefore as long as you continue to pay the premium each month, you will remain at the same amount for the entire time. If you choose to take a loan out on the cash value you have earned, the only difference you will have to pay is paying back that loan. One downside to this policy is the fact that you will have no control whatsoever over how the company chooses to invest the dollars you pay on your premium.

Another type of life insurance is the term life insurance policy. This policy is selected for a specified amount of time. If you should happen to pass away during the term of this specified time, then your family would then receive payment in the form of a lump sum as the contract specifies. Typically, the premiums upon this type of policy is far cheaper than other types and it does not allow you to build any type of cash value. With this type of life insurance, your premium can change or increase on a yearly basis and it generally does increase each year. It is the more expensive type of insurance that is available however it will provided your family with complete protection in the event of your death.

With life insurance, the insured is transferring the risk of death on to the insurer. It is not always the case that the insured is insuring their own life. Therefore there are three parties in a life insurance contract, the insurer, the insured person, and the owner of the policy. The other vitally important party is the beneficiary; this is the person who receives the insurance money if the insured’s death does occur. One or more of these parties could be the same person, for example, if I insure my own life and make my spouse the beneficiary, then I am the insured and the owner. Likewise, if my wife insures my life and makes herself the beneficiary, then she is the owner and the beneficiary.

An important concept in this regard is insurable interest. You must have what is known as an insurable interest in the life of the person you are insuring. Believe it or not there was a practice in the nineteenth century whereby people would take out speculative insurance policies on the life of another.

For example, if I knew you were going on a dangerous voyage, I might take out a life insurance policy on you in the hope that you wouldn’t make it and I would get a big payout. These days you cannot insure anybody’s life. You must show that you have an interest in that person being alive. You are presumed always to have an interest in the life of your spouse and guardians, if you are a minor, but all other relationships will have to prove the insurable interest. If employers have a very highly valued employee, or sports teams have a star player, or a famous actor contracts to make a film, their employers will be able to insure their lives.

Most life insurance policies will have a suicide clause stating that if the insured commits suicide, usually within a period of two years, the policy will not pay out. There is also a contest period. This will also be approximately two years and if the insured dies within this period, the insurance company has greater rights to investigate the death before deciding whether or not to pay out.

The value of the insurance policy will be subject to the principle of insurable interest also. For example, if your spouse provides you with $10,000 per year in support, you probably will not be able to take a $50 million insurance policy on their life. The premium will be calculated based on the amount to be paid out and the assessed risk of the insured’s death.