Life insurance

The foundation of life insurance is the recognition of the value of a human life and the possibility of indemnification for the loss of that value.

—F. C. Oviatt, Economic place of insurance and its relation to society[1]

Life insurance (or commonly life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth) is a contract between an insured (insurance policy holder) and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money (the "benefits") in exchange for a premium, upon the death of the insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness may also trigger payment. The policy holder typically pays a premium, either regularly or as a lump sum. Other expenses (such as funeral expenses) are also sometimes included in the benefits.

Life policies are legal contracts and the terms of the contract describe the limitations of the insured events. Specific exclusions are often written into the contract to limit the liability of the insurer; common examples are claims relating to suicide, fraud, war, riot, and civil commotion.

Life-based contracts tend to fall into two major categories:

• Protection policies – designed to provide a benefit in the event of specified event, typically a lump sum payment. A common form of this design is term insurance.
• Investment policies – where the main objective is to facilitate the growth of capital by regular or single premiums. Common forms (in the US) are whole life, universal life, and variable life policies.

History

Insurance began as a way of reducing the risk to traders, as early as 2000 BC in China and 1750 BC in Babylon^{[citation needed]}. An early form of life insurance dates to Ancient Rome; "burial clubs" covered the cost of members' funeral expenses and assisted survivors financially.

Modern life insurance policies were established in the early 18th century. The first company to offer life insurance was the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance Office, founded in London in 1706 by William Talbot and Sir Thomas Allen.^[2][3] The first plan of life insurance was that each member paid a fixed annual payment per share on from one to three shares with consideration to age of the members being twelve to fifty-five. At the end of the year a portion of the "amicable contribution" was divided among the wives and children of deceased members and it was in proportion to the amount of shares the heirs owned. Amicable Society started with 2000 members.^[4][5]

The first life table was written by Edmund Halley in 1693, but it was only in the 1750s that the necessary mathematical and statistical tools were in place for the development of modern life insurance. James Dodson, a mathematician and actuary, tried to establish a new company that issued premiums aimed at correctly offsetting the risks of long term life assurance policies, after being refused admission to the Amicable Life Assurance Society because of his advanced age. He was unsuccessful in his attempts at procuring a charter from the government before his death in 1757.

His disciple, Edward Rowe Mores, was finally able to establish the Society for Equitable Assurances on Lives and Survivorship in 1762. It was the world's first mutual insurer and it pioneered age based premiums based on mortality rate laying “the framework for scientific insurance practice and development”^[6] and “the basis of modern life assurance upon which all life assurance schemes were subsequently based”.^[7]

Mores also specified that the chief official should be called an actuary - the earliest known reference to the position as a business concern. The first modern actuary was William Morgan, who was appointed in 1775 and served until 1830. In 1776 the Society carried out the first actuarial valuation of liabilities and subsequently distributed the first reversionary bonus (1781) and interim bonus (1809) among its members.^[6] It also used regular valuations to balance competing interests.^[6] The Society sought to treat its members equitably and the Directors tried to ensure that the policyholders received a fair return on their respective investments. Premiums were regulated according to age, and anybody could be admitted regardless of their state of health and other circumstances.^[8]

The sale of life insurance in the U.S. began in the late 1760s. The Presbyterian Synods in Philadelphia and New York City created the Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of Presbyterian Ministers in 1759; Episcopalian priests organized a similar fund in 1769. Between 1787 and 1837 more than two dozen life insurance companies were started, but fewer than half a dozen survived.

Market trends

According to a study by Swiss Re, the EU was the largest market for life insurance premiums in 2005, followed by the USA and Japan.

Overview

Parties to contract

There is a difference between the insured and the policy owner, although the owner and the insured are often the same person. For example, if Joe buys a policy on his own life, he is both the owner and the insured. But if Jane, his wife, buys a policy on Joe's life, she is the owner and he is the insured. The policy owner is the guarantor and he will be the person to pay for the policy. The insured is a participant in the contract, but not necessarily a party to it. Also, most companies allow the payer and owner to be different, e. g. a grandparent paying premiums for a policy on a child, owned by a grandchild.

The beneficiary receives policy proceeds upon the insured person's death. The owner designates the beneficiary, but the beneficiary is not a party to the policy. The owner can change the beneficiary unless the policy has an irrevocable beneficiary designation. If a policy has an irrevocable beneficiary, any beneficiary changes, policy assignments, or cash value borrowing would require the agreement of the original beneficiary.

In cases where the policy owner is not the insured (also referred to as the celui qui vit or CQV), insurance companies have sought to limit policy purchases to those with an insurable interest in the CQV. For life insurance policies, close family members and business partners will usually be found to have an insurable interest. The insurable interest requirement usually demonstrates that the purchaser will actually suffer some kind of loss if the CQV dies. Such a requirement prevents people from benefiting from the purchase of purely speculative policies on people they expect to die. With no insurable interest requirement, the risk that a purchaser would murder the CQV for insurance proceeds would be great. In at least one case, an insurance company which sold a policy to a purchaser with no insurable interest (who later murdered the CQV for the proceeds), was found liable in court for contributing to the wrongful death of the victim (Liberty National Life v. Weldon, 267 Ala.171 (1957)).

Contract terms

Special exclusions may apply, such as suicide clauses, whereby the policy becomes null and void if the insured commits suicide within a specified time (usually two years after the purchase date; some states provide a statutory one-year suicide clause). Any misrepresentations by the insured on the application may also be grounds for nullification. Most US states specify a maximum contestability period, often no more than two years. Only if the insured dies within this period will the insurer have a legal right to contest the claim on the basis of misrepresentation and request additional information before deciding whether to pay or deny the claim.

The face amount of the policy is the initial amount that the policy will pay at the death of the insured or when the policy matures, although the actual death benefit can provide for greater or lesser than the face amount. The policy matures when the insured dies or reaches a specified age (such as 100 years old).

Costs, insurability, and underwriting

The insurer (the life insurance company) calculates the policy prices with intent to fund claims to be paid and administrative costs, and to make a profit. The cost of insurance is determined using mortality tables calculated by actuaries. Actuaries are professionals who employ actuarial science, which is based on mathematics (primarily probability and statistics). Mortality tables are statistically based tables showing expected annual mortality rates. It is possible to derive life expectancy estimates from these mortality assumptions. Such estimates can be important in taxation regulation.^[9][10]

The three main variables in a mortality table are commonly age, gender, and use of tobacco, but more recently in the US, preferred class-specific tables have been introduced. The mortality tables provide a baseline for the cost of insurance, but in practice these mortality tables are used in conjunction with the health and family history of the individual applying for a policy to determine premiums and insurability. Mortality tables currently in use by life insurance companies in the United States are individually modified by each company using pooled industry experience studies as a starting point. In the 1980s and 1990s, the SOA 1975–80 Basic Select & Ultimate tables were the typical reference points, while the 2001 VBT and 2001 CSO tables were published more recently. The newer tables include separate mortality tables for smokers and non-smokers, and the CSO tables include separate tables for preferred classes.^[11]

Recent US mortality tables predict that roughly 0.35 in 1,000 non-smoking males aged 25 will die during the first year of coverage after underwriting.^[12] Mortality approximately doubles for every extra ten years of age, so the mortality rate in the first year for underwritten non-smoking men is about 2.5 in 1,000 people at age 65.^[13] Compare this with the US population male mortality rates of 1.3 per 1,000 at age 25 and 19.3 at age 65 (without regard to health or smoking status).^[14]

The mortality of underwritten persons rises much more quickly than the general population. At the end of 10 years the mortality of that 25 year-old, non-smoking male is 0.66/1000/year. Consequently, in a group of one thousand 25-year-old males with a $100,000 policy, all of average health, a life insurance company would have to collect approximately $50 a year from each participant to cover the relatively few expected claims. (0.35 to 0.66 expected deaths in each year x $100,000 payout per death = $35 per policy). Other costs, such as administrative and sales expenses, also need to be considered when setting the premiums. A 10 year policy for a 25-year-old non-smoking male with preferred medical history may get offers as low as $90 per year for a $100,000 policy in the competitive US life insurance market.

Most of the revenue received by insurance companies consists of premiums paid by policy holders, with some additional money being made through the investment of some of the cash raised from premiums. Rates charged for life insurance increase with the insured's age because, statistically, people are more likely to die as they get older. The insurance company will investigate the health of an applicant for a policy to assess the likelihood of incurring a claim, in the same way that a bank would investigate an applicant for a loan to assess the likelihood of a default. Group Insurance policies are an exception to this. This investigation and resulting evaluation of the risk is termed underwriting. Health and lifestyle questions are asked, with certain responses or revelations possibly meriting further investigation. Life insurance companies in the United States support the Medical Information Bureau (MIB),^[15] which is a clearing house of information on persons who have applied for life insurance with participating companies in the last seven years. As part of the application, the insurer often requires the applicant's permission to obtain information from their physicians.^[16]

Underwriters will determine the purpose of insurance; the most common being to protect the owner's family or financial interests in the event of the insured's death. Other purposes include estate planning or, in the case of cash-value contracts, investment for retirement planning. Bank loans or buy-sell provisions of business agreements are another acceptable purpose.

Life insurance companies are never legally required to underwrite or to provide coverage to anyone, with the exception of Civil Rights Act compliance requirements. Insurance companies alone determine insurability, and some people, for their own health or lifestyle reasons, are deemed uninsurable. The policy can be declined or rated (increasing the premium amount to compensate for a greater probability of a claim).^{[citation needed]}

Many companies separate applicants into four general categories. These categories are preferred best, preferred, standard, and tobacco.^{[citation needed]} Preferred best is reserved only for the healthiest individuals in the general population. This may mean, that the proposed insured has no adverse medical history, is not under medication for any condition, and his family (immediate and extended) have no history of early-onset cancer, diabetes, or other conditions.^[17] Preferred means that the proposed insured is currently under medication for a medical condition and has a family history of particular illnesses.^{[citation needed]} Most people are in the standard category. People in the tobacco category typically have to pay higher premiums due to the inherent health problems that smoking tobacco creates.^{[citation needed]} Profession, travel history, and lifestyle factor into whether the proposed insured will be granted a policy, and which category the insured falls. For example, a person who would otherwise be classified as preferred best may be denied a policy if he or she travels to a high risk country.^{[citation needed]} Underwriting practices can vary from insurer to insurer, encouraging competition.

Death proceeds

Upon the insured's death, the insurer requires acceptable proof of death before it pays the claim. The normal minimum proof required is a death certificate, and the insurer's claim form completed, signed, and typically notarized.^{[citation needed]} If the insured's death is suspicious and the policy amount is large, the insurer may investigate the circumstances surrounding the death before deciding whether it has an obligation to pay the claim.

Payment from the policy may be as a lump sum or as an annuity, which is paid in regular installments for either a specified period or for the beneficiary's lifetime.^{[citation needed]}

Insurance vs assurance

The specific uses of the terms "insurance" and "assurance" are sometimes confused. In general, in jurisdictions where both terms are used, "insurance" refers to providing coverage for an event that might happen (fire, theft, flood, etc.), while "assurance" is the provision of coverage for an event that is certain to happen. In the United States both forms of coverage are called "insurance" for reasons of simplicity in companies selling both products.^{[citation needed]} By some definitions, "insurance" is any coverage that determines benefits based on actual losses whereas "assurance" is coverage with predetermined benefits irrespective of the losses incurred.

Types

Life insurance may be divided into two basic classes: temporary and permanent; or the following subclasses: term, universal, whole life, and endowment life insurance.

Term insurance

Term assurance provides life insurance coverage for a specified term. 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.

There are three key factors to be considered in term insurance:

1. Face amount (protection or death benefit),
2. Premium to be paid (cost to the insured), and
3. Length of coverage (term).

Annual renewable term is a one-year policy, but the insurance company guarantees it will issue a policy of an equal or lesser amount regardless of the insurability of the applicant, and with a premium set for the applicant's age at that time.

Another common type of term insurance is mortgage life insurance, which usually involves a level-premium, declining face value policy. The face amount is intended to equal the amount of the mortgage on the policy owner's property, such that any outstanding amount on the applicant's mortgage will be paid should the applicant die.

Permanent life insurance

Permanent life insurance is life insurance that remains active until the policy matures, unless the owner fails to pay the premium when due. The policy cannot be cancelled by the insurer for any reason except fraudulent application, and any such cancellation must occur within a period of time (usually two years) defined by law. A permanent insurance policy accumulates a cash value, reducing the risk to which the insurance company is exposed, and thus the insurance expense over time. This means that a policy with a million dollar face value can be relatively expensive to a 70-year-old. 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 four basic types of permanent insurance are whole life, universal life, limited pay, and endowment.

Whole life coverage

Whole life insurance provides lifetime death benefit coverage for a level premium in most cases. Premiums are much higher than term insurance at younger ages, but as term insurance premiums rise with age at each renewal, the cumulative value of all premiums paid across a lifetime are roughly equal if policies are maintained until average life expectancy. Part of the insurance contract stipulates that the policyholder is entitled to a cash value reserve, which is part of the policy and guaranteed by the company. This cash value can be accessed at any time through policy loans and are received income tax free. Policy loans are available until the insured's death. If there are any unpaid loans upon death, the insurer subtracts the loan amount from the death benefit and pays the remainder to the beneficiary named in the policy.

While the marketing divisions of some life insurance companies often explain whole life as a "death benefit with a savings component", this distinction is artificial according to life insurance actuaries Albert E. Easton and Timothy F. Harris. The net amount at risk is the amount the insurer must pay to the beneficiary should the insured die before the policy has accumulated an amount equal to the death benefit. It is the difference between the current cash value amount and the total death benefit amount. Because of this relationship between the cash value and death benefit, it may be more accurate to describe the policy as a single, indivisible product, as no actual separation of the cash value and death benefit is possible.

The advantages of whole life insurance are guaranteed death benefits, guaranteed cash values, fixed, predictable annual premiums, and mortality and expense charges that will not reduce the cash value of the policy. The disadvantages of whole life are inflexibility of premiums and the fact that the internal rate of return in the policy may not be competitive with other savings alternatives. The death benefit can also be increased through the use of policy dividends, though these dividends cannot be guaranteed and may be higher or lower than historical rates over time. According to internal documents from some life insurance companies, like Mass Mutual, the internal rate of return and dividend payment realized by the policyholder is often a function of when the policyholder buys the policy and how long that policy remains in force. Dividends paid on a whole life policy can be utilized in many ways.

The life insurance manual defines policy dividends as a refund of overpayment of premiums. It is NOT the same as stock dividends.

Universal life coverage

Universal life insurance (UL) is a relatively new insurance product, intended to combine permanent insurance coverage with greater flexibility in premium payment, along with the potential for greater growth of cash values. There are several types of universal life insurance policies which include interest sensitive (also known as "traditional fixed universal life insurance"), variable universal life (VUL), guaranteed death benefit, and equity indexed universal life insurance.

A universal life insurance policy includes a cash value. Premiums increase the cash values, but the cost of insurance (along with any other charges assessed by the insurance company) reduces cash values.

Universal life insurance addresses the perceived disadvantages of whole life – namely that premiums and death benefit are fixed. With universal life, both the premiums and death benefit are flexible. Except with regards to guaranteed death benefit universal life, this flexibility comes with the disadvantage of reduced guarantees.

Flexible death benefit means the policy owner can choose to decrease the death benefit. The death benefit could also be increased by the policy owner, but that would typically require the insured to go through a new underwriting. Another feature of flexible death benefit is the ability to choose from option A or option B death benefits, and to change those options during the life of the insured. Option A is often referred to as a level death benefit. Generally speaking, the death benefit will remain level for the life of the insured and premiums are expected to be lower than policies with an Option B death benefit. Option B pays the face amount plus the cash value. If cash values grow over time, so would the death benefit which is payable to the insured's beneficiaries. If cash values decline, the death benefit would also decline. Presumably, option B death benefit policies would require higher premiums than option A policies.

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 the policy in force. Common limited pay periods include 10-year, 20-year, and are paid out at the age of 65

Endowments

Endowments are policies in which the cumulative cash value of the policy equals the death benefit at a certain age. The age at which this condition is reached 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.

In the United States, the Technical Corrections Act of 1988 tightened the rules on tax shelters (creating modified endowments). These follow tax rules in the same manner as annuities and IRAs.

Endowment insurance is paid out whether the insured lives or dies, after a specific period (e.g. 15 years) or a specific age (e.g. 65).

Accidental death

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

It is also very commonly offered as accidental death and dismemberment insurance (AD&D) policy. In an AD&D policy, benefits are available not only for accidental death, but also for the loss of limbs or bodily functions, such as sight and hearing.

Accidental death and AD&D policies very rarely pay a benefit, either because the cause of death is not covered by the policy, or the coverage is not maintained after the accident until death occurs. To be aware of what coverage they have, an insured should always review their policy for what it covers and what it excludes. Often, it does not cover an insured who puts themselves at risk in activities such as parachuting, flying, professional sports, or involvement in a war (military or not).

Accidental death benefits can also be added to a standard life insurance policy as a rider. If this rider is purchased, the policy will generally pay double the face amount if the insured dies due to an accident. This used to be commonly referred to as a double indemnity policy. In some cases, insurers may even offer triple indemnity cover.

Related products

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 (see above). Another common rider is a premium waiver, which waives future premiums if the insured becomes disabled.

Joint life insurance is either a term or permanent policy insuring two or more persons with the proceeds payable on either the first or second death.

Survivorship life is a whole life policy insuring two lives with the proceeds payable on the second (later) death.

Single premium whole life is a policy with only one premium which is payable at the time the policy matures.

Modified whole life is a whole life policy featuring smaller premiums for a specified period of time, after which the premiums increase for the remainder of the policy.

Group life insurance

Group life insurance (also known as wholesale life insurance or institutional life insurance) is term insurance covering a group of people, usually employees of a company, members of a union or association, or members of a pension or superannuation fund. Individual proof of insurability is not normally a consideration in the underwriting. Rather, the underwriter considers the size, turnover, and financial strength of the group. Contract provisions will attempt to exclude the possibility of adverse selection. Group life insurance often includes a provision for a member exiting the group to buy individual coverage.

Senior and preneed products

Insurance companies have in recent years developed products to offer to niche markets, most notably targeting the senior market to address needs of an aging population. Many companies offer policies tailored to the needs of senior applicants. These are often low to moderate face value whole life insurance policies, to allow a senior citizen purchasing insurance at an older issue age an opportunity to buy affordable insurance. This may also be marketed as final expense insurance, and an agent or company may suggest that the policy proceeds could be used for end-of-life expenses.

Preneed life insurance policies are limited premium payment whole life policies that, although available at almost any age, are usually purchased by older applicants. This type of insurance is designed to cover specific funeral expenses when the insured person dies, which the applicant has designated in a preneed funeral goods & services contract with a funeral home. The policy's death benefit is initially based on the total funeral cost at the time of prearrangement, and it then typically grows as interest is credited. In exchange for the policy owner's designation of the funeral home as the primary beneficiary, the funeral home will typically guarantee that the death benefit proceeds will cover the future cost of the selected goods & services no matter when death occurs. Excess proceeds may go to either the insured's estate, a designated beneficiary, or to the funeral home, as set forth in the prearrangement funeral contract. Purchasers of these policies usually make a single premium payment equal to the funeral amount at the time of prearrangement, but companies offering these products also allow premiums to be paid over as much as ten years.

Investment policies

Unit Linked Insurance Plans

These are unique insurance plans which are basically a mutual fund and term insurance plan rolled into one. The investor doesn't participate in the profits of the plan per se, but gets returns based on the returns on the funds he or she had chosen.

The premium paid by the customer is deducted by initial charges by the insurance companies (basically the distribution and initial costs) and the remaining amount is invested in a fund (much like a mutual fund) by converting the amount into units based upon the NAV of the fund on that date.

Mortality charges, fund management charges, and a few other charges are deducted in regular intervals by way of cancellation of units from the invested funds.

A Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) offers high flexibility to the customer in form of higher liquidity and lower term.

The customer has the choice of choosing the funds of his choice from whatever his/her insurance provider has to offer. He can switch between the funds without the necessity to opt out of the insurance plan.

ULIPs got extremely popular in the heyday of the equity bull run in India, as the returns generated in equity linked funds were beating any kind of debt or fixed return instrument. However, with the stagnation of the economy and the equity market this product category slowed down.

With-profits policies

Some policies afford the policyholder a share of the profits of the insurance company – these are termed with-profits policies. Other policies provide no rights to a share of the profits of the company – these are non-profit policies.

With-profits policies are used as a form of collective investment scheme 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.

Investment bonds

Pensions

Pensions are a form of life assurance. However, whilst basic life assurance, permanent health insurance, and non-pensions annuity business all include an amount of mortality or morbidity risk for the insurer, pensions pose 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.

Annuities

An annuity is a contract with an insurance company whereby the insured pays an initial premium or premiums into a tax-deferred account, which pays out a sum at pre-determined intervals. There are two periods: the accumulation (when payments are paid into the account) and the annuitization (when the insurance company pays out). IRS rules restrict how money can be withdrawn from an annuity. Distributions may be taxable and/or penalized.

Taxation

Australia

Where the life insurance is provided through a superannuation fund, contributions made to fund insurance premiums are tax deductible for self-employed persons and substantially self-employed persons and employers. However where life insurance is held outside of the superannuation environment, the premiums are generally not tax deductible. For insurance through a superannuation fund, the annual deductible contributions to the superannuation funds are subject to age limits. These limits apply to employers making deductible contributions. They also apply to self-employed persons and substantially self-employed persons. Included in these overall limits are insurance premiums. This means that no additional deductible contributions can be made for the funding of insurance premiums. Insurance premiums can, however, be funded by undeducted contributions. For further information on deductible contributions see "under what conditions can an employer claim a deduction for contributions made on behalf of their employees?" and "what is the definition of substantially self-employed?". The insurance premium paid by the superannuation fund can be claimed by the fund as a deduction to reduce the 15% tax on contributions and earnings. (Ref: ITAA 1936, Section 279)^{[citation needed]}

India

Premiums paid by the policy owner are deductible from the taxable income of the policy owner under section 80 (C) up to a maximum limit of Rs.1,00,000. Any proceeds from an Insurance Plan in form of maturity proceeds, claims, partial withdrawal is exempt from taxation under section 10 (10) D of Income Tax law of India.

United States

Premiums paid by the policy owner are normally not deductible for federal and state income tax purposes, and proceeds paid by the insurer upon the death of the insured are not included in gross income for federal and state income tax purposes.^[18] However, if the proceeds are included in the "estate" of the deceased, it is likely they will be subject to federal and state estate and inheritance tax.

Cash value increases within the policy are not subject to income taxes unless certain events occur. For this reason, insurance policies can be a legal and legitimate tax shelter wherein savings can increase without taxation until the owner withdraws the money from the policy. In flexible-premium policies, large deposits of premium could cause the contract to be considered a modified endowment contract by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which negates many of the tax advantages associated with life insurance. The insurance company, in most cases, will inform the policy owner of this danger before deciding their premium.

The tax ramifications of life insurance are complex. The policy owner would be well advised to carefully consider them. As always, both the United States Congress and state legislatures can change the tax laws at any time.

United Kingdom

Premiums are not usually deductible 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.

Qualifying status is determined at the outset of the policy if the contract meets certain criteria. Essentially, long term contracts (10 years plus) tend to be qualifying policies and the proceeds are free from income tax and capital gains tax. Single premium contracts and those running for a short term are subject to income tax depending upon the marginal rate in the year a gain is made. All UK insurers pay a special rate of corporation tax on the profits from their life book; this is deemed as meeting the lower rate (20% in 2005–06) of liability for policyholders. Therefore a policyholder who is a higher rate taxpayer (40% in 2005-06), or becomes one through the transaction, must pay tax on the gain at the difference between the higher and the lower rate. This gain is reduced by applying a calculation called top-slicing based on the number of years the policy has been held. 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). One feature which especially favors investment bonds is the '5% cumulative allowance' – the ability to draw 5% of the original investment amount each policy year without being subject to any taxation on the amount withdrawn. If not used in one year, the 5% allowance can roll over into future years, subject to a maximum tax-deferred withdrawal of 100% of the premiums payable. The withdrawal is deemed by the HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) to be a payment of capital and therefore the tax liability is deferred until maturity or surrender of the policy. This is an especially useful tax planning tool for higher rate taxpayers who expect to become basic rate taxpayers at some predictable point in the future (e.g. retirement), as at this point the deferred tax liability will not result in tax being due.

The proceeds of a life policy will be included in the estate for death duty (in the UK, inheritance tax) purposes. Policies written in trust may fall outside the estate. Trust law and taxation of trusts can be complicated, so any individual intending to use trusts for tax planning would usually seek professional advice from an Independent Financial Adviser and/or a solicitor.

Pension term assurance

Although available before April 2006, from this date pension term assurance became widely available in the UK. Most UK insurers adopted the name "life insurance with tax relief" for the product. Pension term assurance is effectively normal term life assurance with tax relief on the premiums. All premiums are paid at a net of basic rate tax at 22%, and higher rate tax payers can gain an extra 18% tax relief via their tax return. Although not suitable for all, PTA briefly became one of the most common forms of life assurance sold in the UK until, Chancellor Gordon Brown announced the withdrawal of the scheme in his pre-budget announcement on 6 December 2006.

Stranger originated

Stranger originated life insurance or STOLI is a life insurance policy that is held or financed by a person who has no relationship to the insured person. Generally, the purpose of life insurance is to provide peace of mind by assuring that financial loss or hardship will be alleviated in the event of the insured person's death. STOLI has often been used as an investment technique whereby investors will encourage someone (usually an elderly person) to purchase life insurance and name the investors as the beneficiary of the policy. This undermines the primary purpose of life insurance, as the investors would incur no financial loss should the insured person die. In some jurisdictions, there are laws to discourage or prevent STOLI.

Criticism

Although some aspects of the application process (such as underwriting and insurable interest provisions) make it difficult, life insurance policies have been used to facilitate exploitation and fraud. In the case of life insurance, there is a possible motive to purchase a life insurance policy, particularly if the face value is substantial, and then murder the insured. Usually, the larger the claim, and the more serious the incident, the larger and more intense the ensuing investigation, consisting of police and insurer investigators.^[19]

The television series Forensic Files has included episodes that feature this scenario. There was also a documented case in 2006, where two elderly women were accused of taking in homeless men and assisting them. As part of their assistance, they took out life insurance for the men. After the contestability period ended on the policies, the women are alleged to have had the men killed via hit-and-run car crashes.^[20]

Recently, viatical settlements have created problems for life insurance providers. A viatical settlement involves the purchase of a life insurance policy from an elderly or terminally ill policy holder. The policy holder sells the policy (including the right to name the beneficiary) to a purchaser for a price discounted from the policy value. The seller has cash in hand, and the purchaser will realize a profit when the seller dies and the proceeds are delivered to the purchaser. In the meantime, the purchaser continues to pay the premiums. Although both parties have reached an agreeable settlement, insurers are troubled by this trend. Insurers calculate their rates with the assumption that a certain portion of policy holders will seek to redeem the cash value of their insurance policies before death. They also expect that a certain portion will stop paying premiums and forfeit their policies. However, viatical settlements ensure that such policies will with absolute certainty be paid out. Some purchasers, in order to take advantage of the potentially large profits, have even actively sought to collude with uninsured elderly and terminally ill patients, and created policies that would have not otherwise been purchased. These policies are guaranteed losses from the insurers' perspective.

See also

References

Specific references

Sources

• Oviatt, F. C. "Economic place of insurance and its relation to society" in American Academy of Political and Social Science; National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection (Library of Congress) (1905). Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science XXVI. Published by A.L. Hummel for the American Academy of Political and Social Science. pp. 181–191. Retrieved 8 June 2011. 

Group Insurance Group insurance

External links

• Learn About Life Insurance - Insurance Information Institute Life Insurance Learning Center
• A History of Life Insurance in the United States through World War I

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