If the policy is more than 20 years old, it's almost certainly a whole life policy, meaning it builds up cash value and can be borrowed against. (This is what reeled in your parents.)Another popular variation was the endowment policy, which pays face value at a specified age, such as 65.

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The shared appreciation feature gives the lender the right to the first, say, 40% of the appreciation of the collateral above the value of the debt over some specified future time period (say five or 10 years).

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It exists to stop shareholders enjoying their full ownership rights by threatening, if triggered, to dilute the value of those shares in certain circumstances specified by a firm's board.

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With a GRAT, the owner of a company can transfer stock in the firm into a trust for the benefit of heirs and take back an annuity representing the current value of that stock plus a government-specified interest rate, currently 1%.

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Value-at-risk is an analysis of the potential loss in its trading positions during a specified time frame.

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In exchange for the stock the grantor takes back a promissory note, again bearing a government-specified rate of interest (currently less than 1% for a nine-year note) that locks the value of the stock in at the time of the transfer.

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