If you are considering purchasing life insurance, an overview of the available types should prove helpful. This article will briefly discuss the difference between whole and term life insurance, as well as some variations on whole life insurance.
The easiest way to understand the difference between whole life insurance and term life insurance is to look at what is meant by their names. When you purchase whole life insurance, you are covering your “whole” life – as long as you own the policy, it will pay a benefit when you die. The value of the policy at the time of your death is what that benefit will depend on but even if you are no longer making payments on it, you still own the policy. Whole life also accumulates a cash value on a tax-deferred basis. Also, throughout the life of the policy, whole life insurance can pay dividends.
On the other hand, term life insurance is purchased for a certain term or period. As long as you die within that period, term life insurance will pay an agreed upon amount to your beneficiaries. It will not pay if you cease to make payments or if you die after the term has expired. Another thing to keep in mind is that term life insurance has no cash value.
Two other aspects of whole versus term life insurance should be pointed out. The first aspect you need to know is that premiums for whole life insurance remain steady over time but they are higher to begin with. As for term life insurance, its premiums are lower near the beginning of the policy but over time it will increase.
Being able to borrow against the cash value of a whole life insurance policy is another aspect. Since it does not have a cash value, this is not possible with term life insurance.
There are two variations of whole life insurance that need to be mentioned. The first is universal life insurance which is a more flexible form of whole life insurance. With universal life insurance, you can adjust (within certain limits) the premiums as well as the benefit amount over time to suit your financial situation. By placing premiums in a fund that accumulates based on the interest rate, this is then made possible. As with normal whole life insurance, this type of policy has a cash value that can be borrowed against.
On whole life insurance, the second variation is called variable life insurance. Similar to universal life is this type of insurance except for the fact that the premiums in the fund are tied to the financial markets and not to interest rates. The potential for loss is greater in this type of insurance but the potential for growth is greater as well.
As you can see, there are some choices to be made when considering the purchase of a life insurance policy.
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