Life Insurance

I recently did a lot of research on insurance, specifically health insurance, for my math IA. This was a very interesting project, and as a student considering a medical field, health insurance has been a topic of interest for me for a while. Another type of insurance brought up in The Ascent of Money that I know very little about is life insurance. I found it very interesting that, according to the book, life insurance was the first type of insurance. I wanted to do some more research on the evolution of life insurance from this early form to what it is now. 
Just like other types of insurance, modern life insurance comes in several shapes and sizes. A plan depends on how much money you want your beneficiaries to receive, how long-term you want your life insurance to last, how old you are and any underlying health conditions, what you want the money for, and etc (Nerd Wallet). 
According to AIG Direct, the idea of life insurance dates back as far as ancient greece. Proper burials were very important to their culture, so they would create “burial societies” to pool money so that everyone could have a proper burial when they died. Life insurance “companies” and “plans” were a much more recent invention, dating to the 18th century. I mainly researched the US, where the first formal life insurance came from the Presbyterian Ministers' Fund, who gave money to the wives and children of ministers when they died. Later, life insurance regulation was taken over by the federal government, and then eventually given to the states. In the late 1800s, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners was created, paving the way for modern life insurance. This made life insurance more transparent, regulated prices, and along with some later laws, allowed women to purchase life insurance and also take control of land, businesses, etc. if their husbands died (AIG Direct).  
Overall, life insurance has had a very interesting history, and paved the way for several other types of insurance and the way insurance is typically managed today. 
Sources:
“Take care of what matters most.” Nerd Wallet. https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/life-insurance/. 
“The History of Life Insurance.” AIG Direct. 

https://www.aigdirect.com/about-life/why-life-insurance/history-of-life-insurance. 

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