Thatu2019s one way to look at it. However, keep in mind they have many people paying premiums every year. The amount they pay out on a policy will (hopefully for the insurance company) likely be less than the total of money they take in on premiums. This is similar to other insurances. They know they will have to pay out to policyholders for insured incidents (fire, hurricane, car accident) but hope that all the incoming premiums more than offset their loses. If someone signs up for a new auto policy with a new insurer and totals their brand new car a week later, the insurance company may be out a lot of money, despite not taking in much in the way of premiums from the newly insured client. Thatu2019s made up for by the person who has paid 200,000 dollars over a long driving career with zero claims. With life insurance, some will die relatively young, and some will die relatively old, but the basic principal is the same (and why if you are a smoker or obese your policy may cost more as they figure youu2019ll be paying in for a shorter period of timeu2026) Same with pensionsu2026Some will pay in for many years, retire, and die a year after they retire, never coming close to re-cooping all the money they put into the retirement system (or social security perhaps). Others will retire and live long enough to cost the pensions system more money than they contributed.