Life insurance is a legal contract between an insurance company and the policy owner. The life insurance company pays a sum of money upon such event like death of the person insured. The amount of money is paid to the respective beneficiary in case an insured event covered by the policy is occurred. The terms and conditions in the contract describe the limitations of the events insured.

Some of the major reasons people buy life insurance are as follows:

- Replacement of income needed in case of the death of a wage earning family member.

- Payment of a mortgage loan or any other major debts.

- To get the necessary fund for the child's higher education in universities.

- Payment for expenses like taxes and others like funeral costs.

- Creation of a fund for a member family who may be in need of a big sum of money in the future.

Life insurance policies can be categorised in 2 types: Protection and investment. For the protection policy, payment is normally done in a lump sum in case of any specific event. However, the investment policy is designed to protect and the capital grows over a certain period via a single premium or regular payments.

To build huge amount of wealth can take a long time, but one can lose everything in a short period of time. Illness like cancer, heart attack or stroke can occur at any time and prove dangerous. Thus it's of utmost importance to protect the family. Below are some life insurance tips one should be aware.

- Buy enough cover so large debts like paying a mortgage or the child's education can be paid.

- On life plans, do check the terminal illness benefit as this pays the assured amount if one is diagnosed with less than twelve months to stay alive.

- As compared to income protection, critical illness protection just covers the conditions that are listed under the plan. You should understand and verify well what is covered and what is not covered.

- Do ensure that at certain stages in your life, you can upgrade your policy, in circumstances like buying a new home, marriage or birth of a child.

- Be aware of the coverage you presently have to avoid over insuring. In your employee benefit package, life insurance, income protection and even critical illness insurance may be provided.

As much information should be given to the insurer. Non-disclosure of habits of smoking or regular pains can result in your policy not paying out. Thus it is clear to disclose even minor heath issues to be on the safe side. It's also wise to check the cost of premiums from time to time. Also it is good to shop around to see if there better deals among the different life insurance companies.