Before mentioning life insurance, let's explore what is meant by "insurance." It really is not a bad word! Insurance is an interesting concept. In fact, it is a brilliant concept. Early French usages of words related to insurance often involved an engagement to wed. If that represented a

promise (a pledge), then it is accurate to say the idea of insurance involves a pledge. In its essence (even legally), insurance is a contract. It is a promise of the pledging party to fulfill  an agreed obligation to another -- a "pledged"  -- party. This pledge guarantees a certain, assured outcome in specified circumstances.

The birth of insurance was more than mere centuries ago. Evidence suggests an ancient origin in Babylonian days, up to 4,000 years in the past. The concept of insurance is documented with the Greeks and Romans of 600 BCE, in 13th-century

Italy and medieval Europe, in the 1600s with ships sailing to the new world, and in the early colonial days of the United States. In most of these accounts, the concept of insurance was to protect against losses in commerce and from the perils of daring ventures.

If life insurance, commercial insurance, or auto insurance worked the same as health/medical insurance, perhaps we'd submit claims whenever we changed or lost a job, experienced various types of financial misfortunes, bought or fixed up a property, changed the tires, needed mechanical repairs, or went for an oil change or tire rotation. The business of insurance takes many forms but the type of coverage that is most long-term and is based on the life (or longevity) risk of a

person -- and most subjective and flexible in terms of dollar value -- is life insurance. While other insurance types cover only the assessed value of an actual loss, life insurance can be written for many multiples of thousands of dollars above and beyond the cost of the final arrangements at a person's death. This feature alone gives life insurance so many possible descriptors. This feature also contributes to the greatest misconceptions about the many ways to benefit from life insurance while living.

COLLATERAL

In the simplest terms, you serve as the guarantee for your own policy. Once life insurance is underwritten and properly funded, the insurer is under contract to you. Borrowing from your own policy does not result in additional risk to the company.

SELF-INTEREST

Keeping your policy properly funded is beneficial because the contract stays in force, providing you all the benefits guaranteed -- including your choice to borrow from your policy up to an available amount when you see fit, without qualification.

POWER

Your access, during life, to your policy's cash value means making your own loans for funding your dreams, planned investments, unexpected expenses, emergencies, education, and even for supplementing retirement income.