An endowment payable at the end of the policy period if the insured is alive. If the insured has died, there is nothing paid in the form of benefits. A life assurance policy where the sum assured is paid if the life assured survives the term but in the event of prior death nothing is payable.An endowment policy is a life insurance contract designed to pay a lump sum after a specified term (on its 'maturity') or on death. Typical maturities are ten, fifteen or twenty years up to a certain age limit. Some policies also pay out in the case of critical illness.Policies are typically traditional with-profits or unit-linked (including those with unitized with-profits funds).Endowments can be cashed in early (or surrendered) and the holder then receives the surrender value which is determined by the insurance company depending on how long the policy has been running and how much has been paid into it.A pure endowment policy is one in which benefits are payable on a specified date if the life assured is still alive at that time. If the person whose life is assured dies before that date, no benefits are payable under the policy.Pure endowment policies can be linked with term assurance policies for the purpose of avoiding Inheritance Tax. An endowment policy that is paid when the person in the endowment is still alive. An endowment policy runs for a set number of years than matures and is paid out to the person nominated.DefinitionAn endowment that is only paid if the designated payee is still living at the end of the predetermined endowment period.

The 'assured' is the legal owner of the policy. They are the person who applies for the policy and agrees to pay for the rights under it. In some policies the assured is referred to as the grantee or the policyholder. There might be more than one person shown as the assured, grantee or policyholder. If the policy is assigned or placed in trust, then the legal ownership passes to the assignee or the trustees of the trust.The 'life assured' is the individual upon whose life payment of the benefits under the policy depends. There might be more than one life assured. The assured and the life assured are often the same person but need not be.

life insurance policy under which its face value is payable only if the insured survives to the end of the stated endowment period; no benefit is paid if the insured dies during the endowment period. Few if any of these policies are sold today. Contrast with endowment insurance .A pure endowment is a one-payment annuity.Example: It has occurred to me that pure endowment insurance would be a perfect solution for dealing with the risk of outliving your finances in old age. A person could do financial planing assuming to live no more than age 90 for example, and then buy pure endowment at 90 just in case she outlives that assumption.