a contract which is in form a contract of insurance or reinsurance and under which the insured ultimately recovers the premiums paid plus the interest earned on their investment less an amount designed to cover the insurer’s or reinsurer’s expenses and profit, the time value of money thus entering explicitly into the calculation of the premiums charged; the financial element of such contracts often does not involve the transfer of any underwriting risk so there is doubt whether they are in law contracts of insurance (see also finite risk insurance).