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Life insurance, at its core, is a means to protect the financial security of one's survivors. It is generally thought of as a way to provide income replacement for a wage earner's survivors in the event of death. Life insurance is purchased from an insurer by making regular payments of premiums during the life of the insured. Upon the death of the insured, designated beneficiaries receive a financial benefit.
Although all life insurance policies maintain those consistent characteristics, there are different means to achieving the same end. Four distinct types of life insurance have been developed and are in common usage.
*Term Life Insurance
Term life insurance is probably the most basic form of life insurance. Term insurance is purchased for a specific period of time (the term). The length of the term can vary considerably. There are term policies that are effective for well over twenty years, whereas some only involve a one-year term. A regular premium is paid throughout the term. If the insured dies at any point during the term, the designated beneficiary receives the death benefit. If one survives the term, however, there is no payout and the policy simply ends.
*Whole Life Insurance
Whole life insurance has a long history and maintains great popularity. The cost of premiums is guaranteed for the entire time the policy in place. As premiums are paid, the insured accumulates a cash value for the policy, with the insurer determining the interest rate applied to that cash value. One may either "cash out" their whole life policy, or maintain it so that benefits are paid to survivors upon the policyholder's death. Whole life insurance policies were long "the norm" in the insurance industry.
*Universal Life Insurance
Universal Life Insurance is considered a more flexible approach to life insurance. The required regular premium amount can vary as long as the policy has a cash value in excess of the policy's costs. The insured can alter the policy's future payout while the policy remains in force, making it a flexible insurance solution for those who may have more complicated or rapidly-changing needs than can be addressed with term or whole life solutions.
*Variable Universal Life Insurance
Variable Universal Life Insurance takes the flexibility of universal life coverage and adds to it by providing investment choices. The policy's cash value is not based simply on an interest rate determined by the insurer. Instead, the policy's value is based upon the performance of various investments. The insured allocates his premiums among a series of investment options with a variable universal life insurance policy.
Although all insurance policies do share common characteristics, the four different types of insurance policies have some marked differences. Each type of insurance policy has advantages and limitations. For some, a simple term policy will more than suffice to meet their life insurance needs. Others may benefit considerably from a more full-featured insurance policy that includes an investment component and the ability to alter the nature of benefits and the premium.
This may be a good time to rethink the types of life insurance policies you should buy. Until the market settles down many people don't want to be spending a lot of money. Everyone is looking for a safe place to put their money. We see some stocks, like Wachovia, slide then rise again. Others may take a longer time before they are again viable.
What of life insurance though? Which types of life insurance policies should we buy?
Term life insurance requires very little premium outlay and, for some, may be a good idea. Why would one want to put out money for the higher premium permanent policies at this time. You get the same death benefit with term insurance as as you would with the more costly universal life, variable universal life and whole life policies. You have a variety of term policies to choose from.
Yearly Renewable Term
This policy has a premium that increases every year so you would likely want to keep it for a very short period of time. The premium is very low, initially. The death benefit is level throughout.
Decreasing Term
This is a policy that is more often than not used to pay off a mortgage balance upon the death of the insured. The death benefit decreases with the mortgage balance and the premium is level throughout.
5 Year Term
If you are uncertain what type of life insurance policy you should buy you probably should take out a 5 year term policy now and convert to a permanent policy later on.
Other Level Term Policies
The 10 year term, 15 year term, 20 year term, 25 year term or 30 year term may be best for you now. You will have quite a while to think where you go from here. Your family, or business, will be protected meanwhile.
Permanent Policies
During a past recession I saw something I considered quite strange at the time. People were putting large sums of money in annuities but they also put considerable sums in single premium, limited payment and regular whole life policies. At that time I was with the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Now Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. When I asked why they said that they were not looking to make any big profit. They wanted safety and they knew the reputation of that company. They felt they would not loose their money. They were right.
There are other companies that you can feel safe with. Check out their performance with the A. M. Best company. There are also what may be arguably better types of life insurance policies to safely put your money in. I refer to the universal and the variable universal life policies. If you choose to do this, however, you should make it your responsibility to check out the performance history of the company and how well they do with these policies.
When everything settles down again some people will choose to switch to a term policy and invest your money in mutual funds or probably a money market plan.
More Info: www.life-insurance-answers.net/types-of-life-insurance.html