Life insurance refers to a specified amount of capital—the death benefit—that is paid to beneficiaries upon the death of the policyholder. There are many different forms of life insurance including term life, whole life and universal life. Term life is arguably the most basic form of life insurance and is intended to provide financial protection through income replacement in the event of the premature death of the policyholder. There are also many different uses of life insurance such as income replacement, estate planning and tax planning.
