Life insurance is a contract between the policy owner and the insurer, where the insurer agrees to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of the insured's death. In return, the policy owner (or policy payer) agrees to pay a stipulated amount called a premium at regular intervals.
As with most insurance polices, life assurance is a contract between the insurer and the policy owner (policyholder) whereby a benefit is paid to the designated Beneficiary (or Beneficiaries) if an insured event occurs which is covered by the policy. To be a life policy the insured event must be based upon life (or lives) of the people named in the policy.
Insured events that may be covered include:
Death and accidental death.
This is a system that provides financial compensation to individuals or family groups when the policyholder meets his demise. Some even assist in the finances of people who are incapacitated by incident or sickness that prevents them from going to work. The purpose of life insurance is "to provide a guaranteed death benefit to protect your dependents against financial loss."