
The Peculiar History of Life Insurance - benbreen
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-peculiar-history-of-life-insurance/
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swehner
This sounds more convincing in terms of the history of life insurance.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_insurance#Life_insu...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_insurance#Life_insurance)

Maybe the article means to talk about the history of life insurance in the
USA.

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basicplus2
for those who wish to know...

Life Assurance (as opposed to insurance) is an excellent investment vehicle..
and often provides a tax free investment after a specified period, providing
life cover up until it is cashed in.

[http://taxplanet.com/magazine/other-
topics/107-miscellaneous...](http://taxplanet.com/magazine/other-
topics/107-miscellaneous/467-difference-between-life-insurance-and-life-
assurance)

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ghshephard
"Life Assurance" isn't a phrase commonly used in the United States. It's just
called Life Insurance. And, as long as the organization backing it doesn't go
under (counterparty risk), and you can live with being locked in for a period
of time (there are usually pretty significant penalties for early withdrawal)
it certainly offers a higher yield than most savings accounts you can get
these days.

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spacehome
The proper comparison is stock investments, not savings accounts.

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ghshephard
Not sure how life assurance/insurance works in the United States, but in
Singapore, the principal is 100% guaranteed by the SDIC (Singapore Deposit
Insurance Corporation) - so, kind of a hybrid between Savings (Guaranteed by
Government), and Stock (ROI linked to underlying equities.)

The major difference is significant penalties for early withdrawal.

