Whole life insurance provides guaranteed insurance protection for the entire life of the insured, otherwise known as permanent coverage. These policies carry a “cash value” component that grows tax deferred at a contractually guaranteed amount (usually a low interest rate) until the contract is surrendered. The premiums are usually level for the life of the insured and the death benefit is guaranteed for the insured’s lifetime.

Term insurance can provide low-cost coverage for a specific period of time (the “term”) — most likely during an individual’s peak earning years when death can cause the greatest financial hardship. Term is also a good option for covering needs that aren’t permanent. For instance, you may decide that you only need coverage until your children graduate college or a particular debt is paid off, such as a mortgage, or a business responsibility is fulfilled. Generally the most affordable type of life insurance when initially purchased, term insurance generally pays a benefit only if you die during the select period of coverage.

What if you could get the flexibility of adjustable premiums and face value, and an opportunity to increase cash value; would you go for it? What if you could get this without the inherent downside risk of investing in the equities market? All of this is possible with an indexed universal life insurance policy.

Variable life insurance is designed to combine the traditional protection and savings features of whole life insurance with the growth potential of investment funds. This type of policy is comprised of two distinct components: the general account and the separate account. The general account is the reserve or liability account of the insurance provider, and is not allocated to the individual policy. The separate account is comprised of various investment funds within the insurance company’s portfolio, such as an equity fund, a money market fund, a bond fund, or some combination of these. Because of this underlying investment feature, the value of the cash and death benefit may fluctuate, thus the name “variable life”.

Policy owners who choose a life settlement typically receive an average of more than four times what they would receive from surrendering their policy back to the life insurance company?

Because your life insurance policy is an asset just like your home, car and jewelry, you can extract the maximum value from an existing policy and get access to those funds for immediate use. Policy owners now have the opportunity to transform an unneeded asset into one of significant value.

Guaranteed (GUL) no-lapse policies have one advantage, their performance is not correlated to the market. They provide a guaranteed death benefit for the insureds’ lifetimes, regardless of market performance. In addition, compared to fixed securities, they offer competitive after-tax rates of return (premiums to death benefit).