If permanent insurance with flexible premiums and options is important to you, youll want to choose a variable universal life insurance policy. This type of policy combines features of universal life insurance with investment options, so you have the potential for a larger death settlement than you would have with an ordinary policy. It is called a variable universal life insurance, because your investments and premiums are not fixed. They are variable because they depend on the current market conditions.

Variable universal life insurance has advantages over other life insurance policies, such as Globe Life Insurance or whole life insurance. With this type of life insurance you get to play the stock market and choose the investment funds where you want to put your money. With universal life insurance on its own, you cant control how your cash value is invested. When you combine it with variable life insurance, you can switch investments two or three times a year if you wish to get a higher life insurance settlement.

As with 30 year term life insurance and others, you do have a guaranteed death benefit. This amount could rise drastically if you have the right investments with a variable universal life insurance. The amount of the cash settlement varies, so that you could have lots of money one day and the minimum life insurance settlement the next.

The life insurance cost associated with variable universal life insurance is higher than other types. However, along with this comes the advantage that you have a tax shelter. The money you make through investments will not be taxed until you cash in the policy. The monthly premium you pay also varies, depending on market conditions. This may not appeal to you if you are on a fixed income and have to budget for the premiums.

Variable Universal life insurance is not for everyone. If you want to make sure that there is a death benefit to protect your family in the event of your death, then maybe you should look at a 30 year life insurance or ask for a whole life insurance quote. This way your money is guaranteed and you dont run the risk of losing it. The way market conditions are operating today, the many falls seem to indicate that the cash value of the life insurance policies are falling as well. Its better to be safe than sorry.

Variable universal life insurance gives you choices.

Before you decide to buy whole life insurance over its counterpart, Term Life Insurance, it is crucial for you to understand the basics about Whole Life Insurance in Texas.

The first type of whole life insurance is non-par or non-participating, whereas the second type is participating. The major difference between these two types of whole life insurance policies is that you cannot change them. In terms of a participating type of whole life insurance, the insurance firm will share the dividends with you.

While term life insurance only offers death benefits, whole life insurance creates money value and therefore, offers benefits while you are still alive. Usually, it takes around 10 years or more for whole life insurance to create a money value (also referred to as cash value) for the insurance buyer.

Another advantage of whole life insurance is that, you can lock the price of premiums, thereby paying the same for the coverage annually. Like term life insurance, you have a death benefit which will be given to your beneficiaries in the event of your death. However, with whole life, your cash value increases with time and can barrowed, barrowed against, or withdrawn for your retirement.

Further, depending on the type of whole life insurance that you select, your insurance premium may be able to be paid out of the monthly earnings of the cash value account attached to the whole life insurance policy.

Whole life insurance has higher premiums and offers higher pay out. Premiums are paid for the entire duration for which the person holds the insurance. However, there are certain types of whole life insurances that offer a set amount of payments, whereas the insurance continues for a lifetime, but the premium does not.

The best place to start is a life insurance agent who can explain in detail the differences between whole life insurance and term life insurance. Its also helpful to have an agent in Texas that is a phone call away and locally positioned to answer your questions after you purchase the policy.

Term life insurance is the easiest type of life insurance to understand. To put it simply, the insured person pays a minimal premium per thousand pounds of coverage on an annual, semi annual, quarterly or monthly basis. If he or she dies within the term of the policy, the life insurance company will pay the beneficiary the face value of the policy.

Distinctive Features of Term Life Insurance

To better understand some of the distinctive features of term life insurance consider the following points:

First, term life insurance is “pure insurance” because when you purchase a term insurance policy you are only buying a “death benefit”. Unlike with other types of “permanent insurance” such as whole life, universal life, and variable universal life, there is no additional cash value built up with this kind of policy. Term insurance only gives you a specific death benefit.

Second, the coverage is for a defined period of time (the “term”) such as 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, and so on. Once the policy is in force, it only remains in force until the end of the term — assuming you pay the premiums, of course.

Third, most term insurance policies are renewable at the end of the term. With what is known as “Level Term Life Insurance”, the death benefit remains the same throughout the term of the policy, but since the insured person is getting older, the premium will gradually increase. As time goes by the cost of a level term insurance policy may become greater than you are willing to pay for a simple death benefit. An alternative is the “Decreasing Term Life Insurance” policy in which the premium remains the same, but the death benefit goes down as time goes by.

Fourth, most term policies can be converted to permanent policies within a specific number of years. If you decide it is important to retain the insurance coverage, converting may be something you should plan for. You can anticipate the accelerating cost of term insurance premiums and convert your policy before the premiums become prohibitively high. It is true that in the short term the premium will usually be higher than if you stayed with the term policy. But over the long term this difference will decrease because of the rapid acceleration of the term insurance premium as you get older. A permanent policy also accumulates cash value which increases the total death benefit paid to your beneficiary.

Popular Uses of Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is most appropriate whenever you want to protect your beneficiaries from a sudden financial burden as the result of your death. Here are some of the most common uses of term life insurance.

Personal Costs Due to Death – When a spouse or family member dies there will be immediate costs. Many people purchase a relatively small term life insurance policy to cover these costs.

Mortgage Insurance – Banks and financial institutions often insist that mortgage holders retain a term life insurance policy sufficient to pay out their mortgage. Such policies make the bank the beneficiary of the policy. If the mortgage holder should happen to die before the mortgage is paid off, the insurance policy will pay it out. This is also a great benefit to a spouse whose earning power will likely be decreased due to the death of his or her partner.

Business Partner Insurance – Term insurance is also used by business people to cover outstanding loans with their bank, or to purchase a deceased partner’s shares on death, if they had an agreement to do so. Most partnerships have an agreement of this sort, and the policy premiums are paid by the business.

Key Person Insurance – When a company loses key individuals due to death, this can often result in hardship to the company. Key person insurance is purchased by the company for any individual it deems to be “key”. The company itself is made the beneficiary of the policy. So when a “key” person dies, the company receives a cash injection to handle the problems associated with replacing that person.

Getting a Term Life Insurance Quote

Here are some things to look for when getting a quote for term life insurance:

1. The cheapest rate today will not be the cheapest rate tomorrow. For instance, the cheapest premium today will likely be for a Yearly Renewable Term policy. This policy is renewed every year at which time your premium is also adjusted upwards. This is fine if you intend to convert to a longer term solution (permanent insurance) in a year or two, or if you have a very short term requirement for insurance. But if you think you will need this insurance for a longer period, you would be better to commit to something like a Ten Year Term Policy. This locks your premium and death benefit in for ten years. Your rates will not increase until you renew.

2. Compare coverage and premium projections for different policies. Think about the long term and get the coverage that saves you money in the long run.

3. Make sure you completely understand the conversion options built into the different policies you are considering. Most policies will let you convert part or all of your term insurance into permanent insurance within a specific period of time, and without the need of a medical examination.

4. For some situations you should consider options such as Decreasing Term Life Insurance in which the death benefit decreases as time goes by. This makes sense if the policy is being used to cover a mortgage or business loan.

Term life insurance is not the answer to all life insurance requirements, but it should be part of a sound plan for every person’s financial future.

Life Insurance Smokers and Overweights pay over 50% more!

The life insurance industry is becoming tougher on smokers and those of us who are overweight.

When an insurance company calculates its premiums, it has to work out the risk of you dying whilst the policy is in force. (Or with Critical Illness Insurance, the risk that you will become critically or seriously ill during the policy’s term.) In this context, smoking and obesity have become increasingly important issues.

The life insurance industry pointedly ignores the views of some Pro Smoking Pressure Groups which argue that smokers under the age of 40 have around the same probability of dieing as non smokers. David Pickett, Life Insurance Manager at Sainsbury’s spoke for the insurance industry when he confirmed Health risks associated with smoking can have a big effect on life cover costs. It is vital for those who have kicked the habit to review their policies.

Just how big an effect smoking has on life insurance costs was highlighted in a recent snapshot study by www.express-life-insurance.co.uk. This found that the average smoker paid 56% more than a non-smoker. The study was based on nine of the UK’s top insurance companies and examined the premiums quoted for two men aged 30 asking for 100,000 cover over 25 years. The only difference between the application details was that one was a smoker and the other wasn’t.

The life insurance industry has also recently tightened its belt on the overweight members of society. Previously, only people with a Body Mass Index of 33 or more were considered as overweight. This level has now been reduced by 16%. Now anyone with a BMI of 28 or more is likely to face premiums loaded by 50%. If you’re anxious to know whether that includes you, you’ll need a calculator! BMI is calculated by dividing your weight in kilos by your height in meters and the result squared.

So if you’re intending to apply for life insurance is may be as well to loose a few pounds first oops kilos – and they’re much harder to lose than pounds!

It’s not quite so straightforward for smokers. To qualify as a non-smoker, most insurance companies insist that you must not have smoked or otherwise consumed any form of nicotine products during the previous 12 months. Indeed, some companies go further and extend the qualifying period to 5 years!

Because premiums for smokers and chubbies are so high, it becomes even more important to seek out the cheapest possible prices. As you’re an internet surfer, the odds are you’ll land a good discount. Just search for cheap life insurance and let your fingers do the walking!! You’ll still pay more but the discount will soften the impact on the wallet. Expect online savings of 10% – 15%.

To begin with, you need to understand that life insurance falls into two very broad categories: Whole and term. The basic difference between term and whole life insurance is this: A term policy is life coverage only.
In whole life insurance policy, as long as one continues to pay the premiums, the policy does not expire for a lifetime. As the term applies, whole life insurance provides coverage for the whole life or until the person reaches the age of 100. Whole life insurance policies build up a cash value (usually beginning after the first year). With whole life, you pay a fixed premium for life instead of the increasing premiums found on renewable term life insurance policies. In addition, whole life insurance has a cash value feature that is guaranteed. In term and whole-life, the full premium must be paid to keep the insurance.

With level premiums and the accumulation of cash values, whole life insurance is a good choice for long-range goals. Besides permanent lifetime insurance protection, Whole Life Insurance features a savings element that allows you to build cash value on a tax-deferred basis. The policyholder can cancel or surrender the whole life insurance policy at any time and receive the cash value. Some whole life insurance policies may generate cash values greater than the guaranteed amount, depending on interest crediting rates and how the market performs. The cash values of whole life insurance policies may be affected by a life insurance company’s future performance. Unlike whole life insurance policies, which have guaranteed cash values, the cash values of variable life insurance policies are not guaranteed. You have the right to borrow against the cash value of your whole life insurance policy on a loan basis. Supporters of whole life insurance say the cash value of a life insurance policy should compete well with other fixed income investments.

Unlike term life policies, whole life insurance provides a minimum guaranteed benefit at a premium that never changes. One of the most valuable benefits of a participating whole life insurance policy is the opportunity to earn dividends. The insurance company based on the overall return on its investments sets earnings on a whole life policy. In addition, while the interest paid on universal life insurance is often adjusted monthly, interest on a whole life policy is adjusted annually. Like many insurance products, whole life insurance has many policy options.

Make sure you can budget for whole life insurance for the long term and do not buy whole life insurance unless you can afford it. You should buy all the coverage you need now while you are younger, and if you cannot afford whole life insurance, at least get Term. That is why whole life insurance policies have the highest premiums it is insurance for your whole life, no matter when you pass on. The level premium and fixed death benefit make whole life insurance very attractive to some. Unlike some other types of permanent insurance, with whole life insurance, you may not decrease your premium payments.

To begin with, you need to understand that life insurance falls into two very broad categories: Whole and term. The basic difference between term and whole life insurance is this: A term policy is life coverage only.
In whole life insurance policy, as long as one continues to pay the premiums, the policy does not expire for a lifetime. As the term applies, whole life insurance provides coverage for the whole life or until the person reaches the age of 100. Whole life insurance policies build up a cash value (usually beginning after the first year). With whole life, you pay a fixed premium for life instead of the increasing premiums found on renewable term life insurance policies. In addition, whole life insurance has a cash value feature that is guaranteed. In term and whole-life, the full premium must be paid to keep the insurance.

With level premiums and the accumulation of cash values, whole life insurance is a good choice for long-range goals. Besides permanent lifetime insurance protection, Whole Life Insurance features a savings element that allows you to build cash value on a tax-deferred basis. The policyholder can cancel or surrender the whole life insurance policy at any time and receive the cash value. Some whole life insurance policies may generate cash values greater than the guaranteed amount, depending on interest crediting rates and how the market performs. The cash values of whole life insurance policies may be affected by a life insurance company’s future performance. Unlike whole life insurance policies, which have guaranteed cash values, the cash values of variable life insurance policies are not guaranteed. You have the right to borrow against the cash value of your whole life insurance policy on a loan basis. Supporters of whole life insurance say the cash value of a life insurance policy should compete well with other fixed income investments.

Unlike term life policies, whole life insurance provides a minimum guaranteed benefit at a premium that never changes. One of the most valuable benefits of a participating whole life insurance policy is the opportunity to earn dividends. The insurance company based on the overall return on its investments sets earnings on a whole life policy. In addition, while the interest paid on universal life insurance is often adjusted monthly, interest on a whole life policy is adjusted annually. Like many insurance products, whole life insurance has many policy options.

Make sure you can budget for whole life insurance for the long term and do not buy whole life insurance unless you can afford it. You should buy all the coverage you need now while you are younger, and if you cannot afford whole life insurance, at least get Term. That is why whole life insurance policies have the highest premiums it is insurance for your whole life, no matter when you pass on. The level premium and fixed death benefit make whole life insurance very attractive to some. Unlike some other types of permanent insurance, with whole life insurance, you may not decrease your premium payments.