Definition of "Tontine"
Early life insurance that provided benefits only to survivors who lived to the end of a certain period of time. In the mid-17th century, Lorenzo Tonti, an Italian, devised a scheme to raise money for the French government of Louis XIV. It involved a state lottery in which the oldest survivor would collect the pot. One woman, age 96, hit the jackpot shortly before her death. Tontine policies were introduced in the U.S. in the 1860s, but condemned in the Armstrong investigation in 1905 in New York State and subsequently outlawed everywhere 45 years later.
Popular Insurance Terms
Excess funds above the amount required to establish legal reserves for the policies in force. These excess funds are generated as the result of mortality savings, excess interest earned on ...
Cash value of life insurance that accumulates according to a table in a policy. It reflects premiums in the early years that exceed the pure cost of protection during that period. If a ...
Legislation that raised taxes on life insurers and further defined life insurance. Because the tax equity and financial responsibility act of 1982 and 1983 (TEFRA) failed to raise the ...
Group whole life insurance policy designed to reduce an employee's exposure to income tax on the value of life insurance provided by the employer. The policy separates the term element from ...
Retirement plan under which benefits are fixed in advance by formula, and contributions vary. The defined benefit plan can be expressed in either of two ways: Fixed Dollars: Unit benefit ...
Premium that remains unchanged over time, regardless of any change in the nature of the risk. ...
Annuity that begins payments after a single premium is paid. For example, the annuitant pays a single premium of $100,000 on June 1 of the current year and begins receiving a monthly income ...
Insurance company that does not utilize the rates and policies of a rating bureau. ...
Coverage usually written as an endorsement to property policies such as the Standard Fire Policy. A loss must be by the intentional acts of vandals. This peril is of particular importance ...
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