Why is it called janitor or dead peasant insurance?
Unlike “key man” insurance which covers important executives, broad-based, corporate-owned life insurance policies generally insure the lives of vast numbers of a company’s employees. It is sometimes called “janitor” insurance because the policies cover everyone from the company’s upper management to its janitors. The phrase “dead peasant insurance” originated from an insurance brokerage firm that included a category of “dead peasants,” meaning a company’s deceased employees, on reports for companies that bought corporate-owned life insurance policies. Click here to learn how “dead peasant” insurance got its name. How many companies have corporate-owned life insurance? The exact number of companies that have some form of corporate-owned life insurance is unknown. A report conducted by the Unites States General Accounting Office, however, states that a substantial number of large companies, banks, and savings and loan institutions have the insurance on employees’ lives. The report cites
