Whole-of-life assurance: Whole-of-life assurance is, as the name implies, designed to cover the life assured for the whole of that lifetime. It will pay out the amount of the life cover in the event of the death of the life assured, whenever that death occurs, provided that the policy remains in force.
Joint life second death policies: when whole of life policy is used to provide the funds likely to be needed to pay inheritance tax, it is normal to use a whole-of-life policy that will pay out on the death of the survivor of the husband or the wife (know as a joint life second death policy or a last survivor policy)
Term assurance: There is a wide variety of term assurances available, but they all share one common characteristic: that the sum assured is payable only if the death of the life assured occurs within a specified period of time (the term). Term assurance is the most basic form of life assurance- pure protection for a limited period with no element of investment. For this reason it is also the cheapest. It could be level term assurance, with the level term assurance the sum assured remains constant throughout the term, where as with decreasing term assurance the sum assured reduces over the term of the policy. Decreasing term assurance are Mortgage protection assurance and gift inter vivos cover.
