Two Life Insurance Policies for One Person

[WarrenBuffet]

Hi,

A quick question – a friend of mine has two life insurance policies – is this allowed? Can both be claimed on maturity?

Also, at the risk of sounding stupid, is there any difference between life insurance and life assurance?

Thanks,
WB

 

[ilovecheese]

Yes its allowed - though there may be an upper limit on the amount of cover she can have in total. When she took out her second policy she probably would have had to disclose the amount of cover she had with her first policy

as I understand it:

insurance covers things that 'might' happen - like theft,fire, illness

assurance cover things that will certainly happen - like death - hence life 'assurance'

 

[huskerdu]

To follow on from the previous post,
life insurance has a limited lifespan, so it is insurance against something which 'might' happen. An example of this is a policy attached to a mortgage which has the lifespan of the mortgage.
Life assurance is a whole of life policy, so it covers something which will definitely happen at some stage.

However, I have heard a lot of people use the terms incorrectly, so always best to check what is meant.