What Is an Aleatory Contract?

Insurance policies

As one of the most popular types of aleatory contracts, insurance policies don’t give any benefits to the policyholder until a specific event (death, an accident, or natural disaster) happens. This means that the insured party or policyholder will continue paying premiums without receiving anything in return other than coverage until the event occurs.

Once the event does happen, the insured party will receive a payout that can outweigh the sum of the payments they had previously made to the insurer.

There are five main types of insurance policies:

1. Life insurance: Life insurance protects people who are financially dependent on a particular family member. These policies give dependents, such as spouses, children, and parents, large payouts upon the death of the insured family member.
2. Homeowner insurance: This type of insurance covers damages and losses to your home and assets in the event of a disaster such as a fire.
3. Health insurance: Health insurance pays for potential surgical and medical expenses that you may incur in the future. Without health insurance coverage, you may have to pay exorbitant amounts to receive emergency care or an expensive treatment plan.
4. Long-term disability (LTD) insurance: Some people want to protect themselves in case they face an LTD in the future. LTD policies provide coverage so that you can continue your standard of living even if you can’t work anymore.
5. Automobile insurance: This type of insurance is required in most jurisdictions. Even if you’re not required to have it, you should get it. Without automobile insurance, you could lose all of your belongings if you are held liable for causing someone’s injuries.

Annuities

Annuities are contracts that give investors a steady income stream in the future. They are considered a type of insurance policy and are widely offered and distributed by financial institutions.

These contracts are mostly used for retirement purposes and help retirees tackle the risk of outliving their pension and savings. Annuities have two phases:

1. The accumulation phase:This is when investors purchase or invest in annuities with lump-sum or monthly payments.
2. The annuitization phase: This is when the financial institution starts issuing a guaranteed income stream for a period of time or for the rest of the investor’s life.

There are two main types of annuities:

1. Immediate: Immediate annuities allow you to convert a lump-sum contribution (i.e., a lottery win or settlement) into an ongoing income stream so you can immediately receive income. An immediate annuity allows you to:
   1. Pay taxes only on the earnings part of your immediate annuity payments, meaning you won’t be taxed on the initial deposit
   2. Supplement your income
2. Deferred: Deferred annuities provide investors with an income stream that begins on a date of their choice. They are great for long-term retirement planning because:
   • There are no limits on annual annuity contributions.
   • There’s a death benefit, which means that if you die before collecting the annuity, your family will get the amount you contributed. They will also receive investment earnings.
   • Income tax payments are deferred until you withdraw money.

Both types of annuities can be fixed or variable. Fixed annuities provide the investor with regular periodic payments, while variable annuities enable the investor to receive larger future payments if the annuity funds’ investments do well. However, it will provide smaller payments if the investments do poorly.

Guarantees

Guarantees are agreements issued by banks that the bank (the guarantor) will pay a specific amount to a party (beneficiary) of a contract as protection against the risk of the other party’s failure to perform.

If the other party fails to perform according to the contract, the beneficiary can demand payment from the guarantor, who can then seek payment from the other party, known as the principal.

There are many types of guarantees, including:

• Demand guarantees: Typically issued by banks, demand guarantees are a great way to manage, transfer, and price non-performance risk.
• Personal guarantees: These are agreements between business owners and lenders that state the lender will be responsible for paying back a loan if the business is unable to make payments.
• Upstream or subsidiary guarantees: An upstream or subsidiary guarantee is a financial guarantee in which the subsidiary company guarantees its parent company’s debt. Parent companies often require these guarantees when most of their assets are in their subsidiaries.