Taking too long? Close loading screen.
Life insurance is a crucial part of financial planning, providing peace of mind and securing the financial future of your loved ones. Within the broader spectrum of life insurance, there’s one variant that stands out for its comprehensive features and lifelong coverage – Permanent Life Insurance. PolicyHub is here to help you make sense of all things insurance related.
Understanding permanent life insurance, its benefits, costs, and associated conditions can be complex. But worry not! This comprehensive guide will take you on a deep dive into its mechanisms, benefits, and applications, simplifying and demystifying every aspect.
Life insurance is a contract between an individual (the policyholder) and an insurance company. The policyholder pays premiums to the insurance company in exchange for a guaranteed payment to the policyholder’s designated beneficiaries upon their death. The aim is to provide financial security to the policyholder’s beneficiaries.
While all life insurance policies are designed to provide financial protection, they can be broadly divided into two categories: term and permanent.
Permanent life insurance provides a lifetime of protection, ensuring that a death benefit will be paid no matter when the policyholder dies, as long as premiums are paid. The added advantage of cash value accumulation makes it a valuable asset in long-term financial planning, providing a source of funds that can be tapped into if necessary.
Definition: Whole life insurance is the most traditional form of permanent life insurance. It provides a guaranteed death benefit, premium amounts that do not increase over time, and a cash value component that grows at a guaranteed rate.
Features: The key features of whole life insurance include guaranteed death benefits, fixed premium payments, and a cash value component. The policyholder can borrow against the cash value or choose to surrender the policy for its cash value.
Cost Structure: Whole life insurance typically has higher premiums than term insurance due to the lifelong coverage and cash value component. The premiums are used to pay for the insurance cost, administrative expenses, and to contribute to the policy’s cash value.
Definition: Universal life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that offers more flexibility. It provides a death benefit and a cash value component, similar to whole life insurance, but allows the policyholder to adjust their premiums and death benefit within certain limits.
Features: Key features of universal life insurance include adjustable premiums, adjustable death benefits, and an interest-earning cash value component. The interest rate is set by the insurance company and can vary over time.
Cost Structure: The cost of universal life insurance includes the cost of insurance (mortality risk, policy administration, etc.), and a cash component. If sufficient, the policyholder can use the cash value to cover the cost of insurance.
Definition: Variable life insurance is a permanent life insurance policy with an investment component. The policy has a cash value account that can be invested in a variety of different accounts, similar to mutual funds, which can go up or down in value.
Features: The key features of variable life insurance are a fixed premium, a minimum death benefit guarantee, and the ability to allocate cash value into separate investment accounts.
Cost Structure: The cost of variable life insurance is generally higher due to the investment risk and administrative costs associated with managing the investment accounts.
Definition: Indexed universal life insurance is a variant of universal life insurance that allows the policyholder to tie the growth of the cash value to a stock market index, such as the S&P 500.
Features: It offers flexible premiums, a death benefit, and a cash value component which can grow based on the performance of the linked index. However, it typically includes a guarantee that the cash value will not drop below a certain minimum, even if the index performs poorly.
Cost Structure: The cost of indexed universal life insurance includes the cost of insurance, policy fees, and potentially a cap on index returns. The growth in cash value is determined by the performance of the linked index, subject to a minimum and maximum return.
Definition: Variable universal life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that combines the features of variable and universal life insurance. It offers the flexibility of universal life with the investment opportunities of variable life.
Features: Key features include adjustable premiums, adjustable death benefits, and a cash value component that can be invested in separate accounts.
Cost Structure: The cost of variable universal life insurance can be higher due to the investment risk and administrative costs. The policyholder bears the investment risk, and the cash value and death benefit can fluctuate based on the performance of the investment choices.
Explanation: The cash value in a permanent life insurance policy is a savings component that accumulates over time. The insurance company often invests a portion of your premium to grow this cash value.
Growth: The cash value grows on a tax-deferred basis, which means you do not pay taxes on any earnings as long as the policy remains active. The rate at which the cash value grows depends on the type of permanent life insurance policy.
Usage: You can borrow or withdraw funds from the cash value for a variety of purposes such as paying policy premiums, supplementing retirement income, or funding large purchases. However, it’s important to note that withdrawals and loans will reduce the policy’s cash value and death benefit.
Explanation: The death benefit is the amount of money the beneficiaries receive from the insurance company upon the policyholder’s death.
Calculation: The death benefit is determined when you purchase the policy. It can be influenced by a number of factors such as the type of policy, the premiums, the policyholder’s age and health, among other factors.
Distribution: Upon the policyholder’s death, the death benefit is paid out tax-free to the beneficiaries. The payout can be in the form of a lump sum, annuity, or other structured payment plans.
Explanation: Premiums are the payments made by the policyholder to the insurance company in exchange for the life insurance coverage.
Structure: The structure of premium payments can vary based on the type of permanent life insurance policy. They can be fixed as in whole life insurance, or flexible as in universal life insurance.
Flexibility: Some policies allow policyholders to pay premiums out of the policy’s cash value or to adjust premium amounts and frequency, as long as there is enough cash value to cover the costs of insurance and other expenses.
Explanation: Most permanent life insurance policies allow policyholders to borrow against the policy’s cash value. This loan isn’t like a typical bank loan, and there’s no approval process or credit check.
Conditions: The interest rates on these loans are often lower than traditional loans. However, any outstanding loan amount (plus interest) will be deducted from the death benefit when the policyholder dies.
Implications: If the policyholder doesn’t repay the loan and the interest accumulates, it’s possible for the policy to lapse if the total debt exceeds the cash value.
Choosing between term and permanent life insurance depends on individual needs, life stages, and financial situations. If you have a temporary need and limited budget, term insurance may be a good choice. However, if you have a long-term need, can afford higher premiums, and want a policy that accumulates cash value, permanent life insurance may be a better fit.
Policy illustrations are used to show how your permanent life insurance policy could perform over time. It includes information about premiums, death benefits, cash value, potential dividends, and other policy features. The illustration is based on certain assumptions about future interest rates, cost of insurance, and company dividends, which may not remain constant over time.
Insurers use various assumptions to project the future performance of a policy, which are reflected in the illustration. It’s important to understand that these are merely projections and not guarantees. For example, the projected cash value growth rate may assume a certain interest rate or investment return, which could vary over time.
Policy illustrations often show both guaranteed and non-guaranteed elements. Guaranteed elements are contractually guaranteed by the insurer and include items like the death benefit and premium amount in certain types of policies. Non-guaranteed elements are not guaranteed and may change. This includes dividends, interest rates, and cost of insurance in some cases. A licensed insurance agent can help you understand policy illustrations
Compare Policies
Get started in as little as 5 mins.
Compare Life Insurance Policies
Get started today and compare over 37 life insurance providers in as little as 15 minutes.
© 2024 PolicyHub - all rights reserved