What is Life Insurance?

Definitions of LIFE INSURANCE:

Life insurance is protection against financial loss resulting from death. It is an insurance company's promise to pay your beneficiary a specific amount of money when you die in exchange for timely payment of premiums.
www.statefarm.com/insuranc/life/faqlife.htm

To put it simply, life insurance protects those who depend on your paycheck. If you die prematurely, life insurance provides your dependents with ongoing income to replace yours, until (or unless) they can live comfortably without it. It can also provide a timely emergency fund for medical, legal, and funeral costs, should family savings not be adequate to cover them.
www.fool.com/insurancecenter/life/life01.htm

Life insurance is a contract, often called a “policy”, between you and an insurance company to provide money to a person you designate, in the event that you die during the time the contract is in force. In essence, during your lifetime you pay money, known as the insurance “premium”, to the insurance company. It promises to pay money to the persons you name, the “beneficiaries”, at your death. Some types of life insurance also give the policy owner the right to “borrow” a portion of the “cash value” within a policy, or to receive an “accelerated death benefit” if you become terminally ill or require confinement in a long term care facility.
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Life insurance helps you provide financial security for your loved ones if you die or become terminally ill during the course of the plan.
www.norwichunion.com/life-insurance/

Life insurance is a contract between you and an insurance company and is a way to protect your family in case of your death, by providing funds to pay outstanding bills, taxes and income loss. Under a Term Life contract, the insurance company promises to pay your beneficiaries a sum of money in the event that you die within a period of time defined in the contract (such as 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 years). Under a Permanent Life contract, a portion of the money you pay in premiums is invested in a fund that earns interest on a tax-deferred basis. Over time, your policy will accumulate a "cash value" that you can use. For instance, you can borrow against the value of your policy. Moreover, you can design a Permanent Life contract that will accumulate enough cash so as to be "paid up" by a certain age (e.g., "Paid Up Age 65").
Your need for life insurance can change over a lifetime. At any age, you should consider your individual circumstances and the standard of living you wish to maintain for your dependents. In most cases, you need life insurance only if someone depends on you for support. Your life insurance premium is based on the type of insurance you buy, the amount you buy and your chance of death while the policy is in effect.
www.lifeinsurance.net/life-insurance-101.htm

Simply put, it's money that the insurance company will pay to the person you designate, when you die. A life insurance policy can be a very inexpensive way to replace your income in the event of your death. It could be viewed as a long-term investment to provide for your child's future expenses or your expenses, post retirement. However, there are better investment options for people looking for higher returns in a short span of time.
in.insurance.yahoo.com/010626/90/1010z.html

You may buy many kinds of insurance during your lifetime, but life insurance probably will cost the most. All too often, people who buy life insurance know less about it than anything else they buy. The basic idea of life insurance is simple, but the details can be hard to understand. Learning these details helps you get the most for your dollar. It also helps you know your family will have income when you die.

www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/H/HE-0656/

Life insurance is a financial resource for your loved ones in the event of your death. You enter into a contract with an insurance company, which promises to provide your beneficiary(ies) with a certain amount of money upon your death. In return, you make periodic payments, known as premiums. The amount of the premiums generally depends on factors such as your age, gender, occupation, medical history and whether you intend to build up cash value in your policy. Some policies may require a medical exam.

Certain types of life insurance may also provide benefits for you and your family while you're still living. Such policies accumulate cash value on a tax-deferred basis that can be used for future needs such as supplementing your retirement income or helping provide for a child's education.
www.metlife.com/Applications/Corporate/WPS/CDA/PageGenerator/0,1674,P2496,00.html

A life insurance policy is a contract stating that an insurance company will pay a benefit when the insured person dies. If you are the insured, this benefit will be paid to your family or business (called beneficiaries).
www.conseco.com/conseco/selfservice/products/product_detail.jhtml?prod_id=100002&faq=true

A policy that will pay a specified sum to beneficiaries upon the death of the insured.
www.msagroup.com/underterms/

Insurance in which the risk insured against is the death of a particular person, the insured, upon whose death while the policy is in force, the insurance company agrees to pay a stated sum or income to the beneficiary.
www.farmers.com/FarmComm/WebSite/html/glossary/glossaryL.jsp

insurance paid to named beneficiaries when the insured person dies; "in England they call life insurance life assurance"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Life insurance policies, including pensions and life annuity policies, provide payments depending on the life or the death of a particular person or persons.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_insurance