How Does Life Assurance Differ From Life Insurance?

Many companies selling these products now use the terms 'life assurance' and 'life insurance' completely interchangeably and in truth, most policies are a hybrid , having element of both in them, and often having a savings element as well.

Strictly speaking, the difference is that 'insurance' is a policy that insures against something that may happen, such as an accident, illness or incapacity to work, but equally, might never happen. On the other hand, 'assurance' is for something that will definitely happen, but you don't know exactly when and how it might happen, for example, death or retirement.