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Insurance Terms
You'll find everything you need to know about life insurance here. Our Research Center is different because we only offer material which is explained in "Plain English".

To get started, let's take a look at common Insurance terms, and make it easy to understand what they mean:

These definitions are courtesy of the American Council of Life Insurers

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Lapsed policy An insurance policy terminated at the end of the grace period because of nonpayment of premiums. See nonforfeiture value.

Level premium life insurance Life insurance for which the premium remains the same from year to year. The premium is more than the actual cost of protection during earlier years of the policy and less than the actual cost in later years. The initial overpayments build a reserve which, together with interest to be earned, balances the underpayments of later years.

Life annuity A contract that provides an income for life.

Life expectancy The average years of life remaining for a group of persons of a given age, according to a mortality table.

Life insurance in force The sum of the face amounts, plus dividend additions, of life insurance policies outstanding at a given time. Additional amounts payable under accidental death or other special provisions are excluded.

Limited payment life insurance Whole life insurance on which premiums are payable for a specified number of years, or until death if it occurs before the end of the specified period.

Long-term care insurance Insurance that provides financial protection for individuals who become unable to care for themselves because of chronic illness, disability, or cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's disease.

Lump-sum distribution The nonperiodic withdrawal of money invested in an annuity.