The Beginning and History of Life Insurance

The history of Life Insurance is not a very tough one to recognize. Today, Life insurance is only the agreement between a single person and an insurance company dictating that the company is to give the policy holder's receiver if the insured dies. But where did the thought of being insured at death come from? Who were the first people that implemented this idea? What did they do when the amounts of money were not as elevated as those of the companies in the life insurance business today? When did the definite life insurance industry started? All these are attractive interesting questions and the information of the matter is that some of them cannot be answered to a high level; however we do know a lot about the past of this superb thing that today covers people from all around the world.

Historians have been searching for the exact start of life insurance as we know it, but they have first deciphered the little one step that finally ended in the actual death advantage payment. According to the Financial Shopper Network in Ancient China sailors would stop pirates from burglary all their goods by carrying portions of other ships cargos, this way if a pirate stole the cargo of one ship, the entire load would not be lost. A little bit later in Babylon traders simply gave loans that had to be repaid when the contents of the trade were delivered safely.

So what does this have to do with life insurance? Well both of those civilizations were preventing losing it all. They were doing little one step that would help in the long run. Life insurance as we know it however; started in the city of Rome. The people of this extremely advanced society determined to form what they called "burial clubs". These clubs were proposed with one sole purpose, in case of an unforeseen death of a club member; everyone else would be keen to pay for their funerary operating cost and help the family of the survivor with some money. The idea of life insurance as they knew it ended significantly in the year 450 A.D. when the Roman Empirefell and its practices were deserted for a long period of time. It is also significant to highlight that many historians agree that about at the same time of Rome, the Indian Empire and its people also formed "burial clubs" in order to pay for funerals and assist people with operating cost. A clue of this according to the Financial Shopper Network is that the "yogakshema, the name of Life Insurance Corporation of Indian's Corporate Headquarters" refers to the Vedas.