What Is Life Insurance
A life insurance policy is designed to provide its beneficiaries with a death benefit payment upon the insured’s death. The payment is issued by the insurer, and the death benefit amount is agreed upon by the insured and the insurer at the time of signing the contract. Some life insurance policies allow the policyholder to adjust their death benefit amount throughout the course of their policy.
Types Of Life Insurance
There are several types of life insurance currently available to the average consumer; term-life, whole life, and universal life. Each type of plan comes with its own set of unique benefits and drawbacks. These are the core differences between each plan:
- Term-life insurance – Term-life insurance offers the insured coverage for a set period of time, rather than their entire life span.
- Whole-life insurance – This type of insurance policy spans the length of the insured’s entire life. Therefore, they can maintain the policy for as long as they are able to continue making premium payments. In many cases, whole-life insurance policies will also generate cash value over time, which can be borrowed from in times of need.
- Universal life insurance – A universal policy is somewhat different than a whole-life insurance policy, though both offer lifetime coverage. The key difference is that a universal policy allows the insured to make changes to their death benefit and adjust their premium rates throughout the course of their lifetimes. Some consumers dislike universal policies because the premiums often increase parallel to increases in the value of the death benefit in order to keep up with large coverage volumes.