Assurance is insurance against events that will inevitably
occur. The common example of assurance is life assurance. There
is often no real difference between assurance and insurance, for
example with term life assurance (which only pays out in the
event of death during the term of the assurance) although the
long term over which life assurance is taken complicates all the
actuarial calculations linked to it. This means that than
insurance company's life business is harder to value, and has a
less certain value, than its general business. Some life
assurance policies are a blend of insurance and savings. These
are often complex making it difficult to value them, and returns
are unlikely to be better than market rates for funds with a
similar level of risk, however they can have tax advantages so
may be worth considering for some investors. Note that in many
countries the amount received by investors is tax free because
tax has already been paid by the fund.