Grace Period

The length of time (usually 31 days) after a premium is due and unpaid during which the policy, including all riders, remains in force. If a premium is paid during the grace period, the premium is considered to have been paid on time. In Universal Life policies, it typically provides for coverage to remain in force for 60 days following the date cash value becomes insufficient to support the payment of monthly insurance costs.

General Liability Insurance

Insurance designed to protect business owners and operators from a wide variety of liability exposures. Exposures could include liability arising from accidents resulting from the insured's premises or operations, products sold by the insured, operations completed by the insured, and contractual liability.

Assets

Assets refer to "all the available properties of every kind or possession of an insurance company that might be used to pay its debts." There are three classifications of assets: invested assets, all other assets, and total admitted assets. Invested assets refer to things such as bonds, stocks, cash and income-producing real estate. All other assets refer to nonincome producing possessions such as the building the company occupies, office furniture, and debts owed, usually in the form of deferred and unpaid premiums. Total admitted assets refer to everything a company owns. All other plus invested assets equals total admitted assets. By law, some states don't permit insurance companies to claim certain goods and possessions, such as deferred and unpaid premiums, in the all other assets category, declaring them "nonadmissable."

Whole Life Insurance II

A non-participating policy does not earn dividends, but premium payments may only be due for a certain number of years. The investment portion of your premium will be guaranteed to earn some interest rate, such as 4%; it may be higher than the guarantee. Since stock companies sell the non-participating policies, the share-holders of the corporation expect a return from your business. In counterpoint to this, the premium payments for non-participating policies is generally lower.

Whole Life Insurance

A kind of permanent insurance which is designed for low risk. Over time it will build up a cash value. There are two primary sorts, participating and non-participating. A participating policy is eligible to earn dividends -- it "participates" in the core earnings of the company. Payment of dividends is never guaranteed, however. Presuming they are paid, the policy will eventually become self-supporting (the annual dividends will be high enough to pay the premiums). Premiums are generally due for the life of the policy. Mutual Insurance Companies generally offer participating policies, and the policyholders of the mutuality are the owners of the company.