Permanent Insurance

Whole life insurance policies provide long-term protection. Your premiums will be based on your age, so the younger you start your policy the better. Your whole life insurance policy premiums will stay level with this policy type. Because the premiums stay level, the yearly premium cost is much more expensive. Besides the long term protection, another benefit of permanent life insurance is that you can borrow against it.

The proceeds of many whole life insurance policies can be used to ease the financial burden of serious illness, terminal illness, or long-term care. These accelerated benefits may be offered as part of the basic policy or as a rider to an existing policy.

Whole Life Insurance
This whole life insurance policy is also known as your main type of “life” policy. This policy has a fixed rate and develops a cash value over time with regular premium payments.

There are two variations on traditional whole life:

Survivorship Life: The policy insures two people and pays a death benefit only when the second person has died. It is designed for married couples who want to provide funds to pay estate taxes that may be due after their deaths.

Joint Whole Life: The policy insures two lives instead of one. Also called first-to-die coverage, the policy pays the death benefit to the surviving insured person when the first one dies. This is usually purchased by married couples.

Whole Life Insurance and Estate Planning

Settling an estate can be devastating to a family’s finances. Heirs are often left with many unanticipated expenses, ranging from debts to administrative fees. Heirs are often forced to liquidate assets, like the family home or the family business. Court records show that in 75% of the cases, the estates do not have the cash to pay for these costs. Whole life insurance or standard life insurance is important in estate planning, because the benefits from life insurance are payable immediately and can be used to meet these expenses. Life insurance helps to ensure that your family is financially taken care of.

Universal Life Insurance

Universal life insurance allows you to invest the cash values that accumulate and select an investment mix that is as individual as you are. Your money can be invested in guaranteed interest accounts, fixed-income or equity-linked investments.

Universal is a powerful combination of permanent life insurance protection and tax-advantaged savings options. As you journey through life, you can adapt your policy to assist you in meeting many of the financial responsibilities and opportunities that may develop. It can grow with you and your financial situation, whether you need:

• protection for your family
• cash for future opportunities and emergencies
• business insurance
• an additional source of retirement income
• to maximize your estate passing to your heirs

Universal Insurance can be customized to help meet your needs. Flexibility is a key component and you can:

• increase your insurance coverage without evidence of insurability if you have elected the guaranteed purchase option.
• decrease your insurance coverage.
• increase funding to build up the cash in the savings options in your policy to take advantage of future opportunities or help you deal with emergencies.
• change your savings options to reflect your current risk and return preferences.