Bakersfield California Life Insurance
Universal life insurance Unlike traditional cash-value policies known as whole life universal life policy returns were freed from long-term fixed-rate contracts and replaced with policies whose returns were tied to short-term interest rates and periodically adjusted. In addition premiums and death benefits can be changed by the policyholder.Whole life insurance A plan of insurance for life with premiums payable for a person's entire life.Universal life insurance Unlike traditional cash-value policies known as whole life universal life policy returns were freed from long-term fixed-rate contracts and replaced with policies whose returns were tied to short-term interest rates and periodically adjusted. In addition premiums and death benefits can be changed by the policyholder.To Quote Wikipedia Term life insurance is the original form of life insurance and can be contrasted to permanent life insurance such as whole life universal life and variable universal life. Unlike permanent life insurance policies guarantee coverage at fixed premiums for the lifetime of the covered individual. Additionally many permanent life insurance products build a predetermined cash value over the life of the contract available for later withdrawal by the client under specific conditions.
Universal Life Insurance
Universal Life (UL), also called "Flexible Premium Adjustable Life Insurance," entered the life insurance market in the early 1980s as a more flexible version of Whole Life Insurance. Like Whole Life, UL features a savings element that grows on a tax-deferred basis. A portion of your premiums are invested by the insurance company in bonds, mortgages and money market funds. The return on the investments is credited to your policy tax-deferred. A guaranteed minimum interest rate applied to the policy (usually around 4%) means that, no matter how the investments perform, the insurance company guarantees a certain minimum return on your money. If the insurance company does well with its investments, the interest rate return on the accumulated cash value will increase. Universal Life allows you to choose from two death benefit options. Option A pays the death benefit out of the policy's cash value; the more cash value you build up means the company is on the hook for less insurance (and therefore costs less). Option B pays the face amount stated in the contract, plus any cash values you accumulated over the years (costs more). Many UL policies today offer a no-lapse guarantee: as long as you pay the minimum designated premium, the policy will stay in force to age 100 (or even to age 120). However, paying the minimum guaranteed premium is rarely sufficient to build up significant cash values.
Pros:
Universal Life gives you the flexibility to adjust the death benefit as your needs change, as well as the flexibility to pay smaller or larger premiums - depending on your financial circumstances. This is often an important feature for families who may have fluctuations in their ability to pay.Cons:
If your premium payments are too small for too long, the policy could lapse, leaving you without insurance protection. Also, if the insurance company does poorly with its investments, the interest return on the cash portion of the policy will decrease (but never below the minimum interest rate guaranteed in the contract). In this case, cash values will probably fall, forcing you to pay more premium in the later years.