What people do not realize is that about 90 percent of life insurance policies lapse. Most people pay into a term or whole life policy for years, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then allow those same policies to lapse - and the insurance company never pays out a penny. If the insured passes away, then the company pays a death benefit, but this is a fairly rare occurrence due to the high lapse rates. Some sources suggest that less than two percent of term policies ever result in a death claim.

DR DAVID MARTIN – THE ILLUSION OF KNOWLEDGE