In Estate of Barr (1951) 104 Cal.App.2d 506, the decedent purchased a retirement income bond from Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of California. She paid an annual premium of $590.40 until the "maturity date" when she was thereafter paid a $100 monthly benefit. When the decedent died, the proceeds of the bond were paid to her named beneficiaries. (Barr, supra, 104 Cal.App.2d at p. 507.) The issue was whether the bond was "insurance" for inheritance tax purposes, since the relevant tax statute exempted the proceeds of a policy of "life or accident insurance" that was payable "by reason of the death of the insured." (Ibid., quoting fn. at p. 507.) The Barr court first noted that the statutory definition of insurance is "'a contract whereby one undertakes to indemnify another against loss, damage, or liability arising from a contingent or unknown event.' (Ins. Code, 22.)" (Barr, supra, 104 Cal.App.2d at p. 508.) Hence, the bond contract, which the court characterized as an "annuity," was not a life insurance policy. "In a life insurance policy the risk assumed is to pay upon the assured's death; in a pure annuity contract the risk assumed is to pay as long as the assured may live. For a contract to be one of insurance it is essential that there be hazard and a shifting of the incidence. If there is no risk, or if there be one and it is not shifted to another or others, there can be no insurance." (Barr, at p. 508.) Noting that the insurance company "did not assume any risk of loss on the decedent's death," the court concluded that the policy was not a contract of insurance. (Id. at p. 509.)