Here’s a quick look at the most commonly used life insurance terms. Premium: Premium refers to the periodical payments made by the policyholder to the insurance company in exchange for purchasing the policy. Premiums can be one-time payments, limited-term payments, or regular outlays made over the entire tenure of the policy. Sum assured: This is the amount that the insurance service provider will pay to the nominee in the event of the policyholder’s death. Maturity benefit: This term refers to the sum that the insurer pays the policyholder if the latter survives the policy tenure. Term insurance plans do not offer any maturity benefits, but life insurance plans do. Surrender value : In case the policyholder decides to discontinue premium payments before the policy matures, there’s always the option of surrendering the policy back to the insurer. On doing this, the insurance company pays the policyholder the surrender value, which is typically a certain percentage of the total basic premiums paid till surrender.