which of these is not an element of life insurance premiums

The element that is not part of calculating life insurance premiums is interest credited (for example, the interest credited to a policy’s cash value).

Core elements of life insurance premiums

Life insurance premiums are usually built from three main actuarial elements:

• Mortality rate – the expected likelihood of death for people in a given risk group, based on age, sex, health, and other factors.

• Interest (investment earnings) – the assumed rate of return the insurer expects to earn by investing the premiums it collects.

• Insurer’s expenses – the operating costs of the insurer, such as commissions, salaries, rent, underwriting, and claims administration, loaded into the premium as an expense factor.

These three together form the technical or “gross” premium used to price life insurance policies.

Why “interest credited” is not an element

For many life insurance products (like whole life or universal life), there may be interest credited to the policy’s cash value as it grows over time, but:

• That credited interest is a feature of the policy’s savings/cash value , not a core actuarial ingredient used to build the premium formula itself.

• The interest used in pricing is the insurer’s assumed investment return on its overall portfolio (a discounting/valuation rate), not the interest that later appears as a credit to a specific policy account.

So when a multiple‑choice exam asks:

“Which of these is NOT an element of life insurance premiums?
– Mortality rate
– Insurer’s expenses
– Interest credited
– (etc.)”

the correct answer is “interest credited” , because the elements are mortality, interest (assumed earnings), and expenses , and “interest credited” describes a policy feature rather than a pricing element.

Answer in one line:
The option that is not an element of life insurance premiums is interest credited.