Insurance & Risk Terms
Insurance vocabulary covers the policies that protect your income, health, home, and family — and the fine-print terms inside them: premiums, deductibles, riders, exclusions, and benefit triggers. It also includes the health-coverage system’s own language, from open enrollment to out-of-pocket maximums.
Insurance is bought infrequently and sold with unfamiliar words, which is exactly the environment where misunderstanding costs money. These definitions explain what each term means, how the mechanics work in dollars, and where the honest trade-offs sit — including when a product tends to fit and when it doesn’t.
5 terms published
- Annuity
An annuity is a contract with an insurance company: you pay a premium, and the insurer promises a stream of payments, often for life. It is the only private product that insures against outliving your money, but costs, surrender charges, and commission-driven sales make careful evaluation essential.
- Disability Insurance
Disability insurance replaces part of your income if illness or injury keeps you from working. It protects the asset most working people never think to insure: their ability to earn a paycheck for the next few decades.
- Health Savings Account (HSA)
A health savings account (HSA) is a tax-advantaged account for people with high-deductible health plans that offers a triple tax break--deductible contributions, tax-free growth, and tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses.
- Long-Term Care Insurance
Long-term care insurance pays for extended help with daily living—home aides, assisted living, nursing care—that health insurance and Medicare largely do not cover. Policies pay out when you can no longer perform basic activities of daily living or suffer cognitive impairment.
- Term Life Insurance
Term life insurance is pure death-benefit coverage: you pay a level premium for a set period (commonly 10, 20, or 30 years), and if you die during that term, the insurer pays your beneficiaries a tax-free lump sum. Outlive the term and the coverage simply ends.
Related topics
The decisions behind these terms
Definitions get you oriented; an advice-only advisor helps you apply them to your situation — for a transparent flat fee, with no products, no commissions, and no asset management.
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