Death Benefit

Categories: Insurance

Talk about the ultimate oxymoron...much more pointed than ones like "jumbo shrimp" or even "Congressional responsibility."

As you might guess, the person dying doesn’t get the benefit here (whether they get a benefit at all depends on your religious/metaphysical beliefs).

The benefit goes to a person named in the dead person's life insurance. It's a payment that the insurance company makes, with the amount decided by the provisions of the policy. That still-living recipient of the death benefit is known as (no originality here) the beneficiary. That is, the death benefit is the benefit that accrues to the beneficiary after the person making the gift...dies.

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)