A Closer Look at Universal Life Insurance

By David M Downs

Universal life insurance is a kind of continual life insurance. As a policyholder, you have the ability to be able to determine the value of the policy. You can alter the benefit or the amount of money you put in throughout the duration of the policy to accommodate certain life events.

With a universal life insurance policy part of your premium is posted toward your death benefit payments and the rest of your premium is invested to create an income generating policy. During the course of the policy the policy holder can change the values of the death benefits, premium payments and investment portions of the policy. This can not be done with other types of investments.

People have used universal life insurance policies frequently as collateral because they are a particular type of income. Certain policies also allow the insured person to withdraw money from the policy in order to pay for an unforeseen expense.

These policies are often preferred because of the potential to do well with the investments being made with the policy. While no form of investment is ever guaranteed completely, universal life insurance policies generally perform very well. Policy holders are often guaranteed a certain minimum rate of return.

Universal life insurance policies also offer a few tax incentives that other policies do not offer. The policies are Federal tax deferred until the policy is cashed out. This has great advantages during the course of the policy. Also, beneficiaries, under current tax laws, receive their payouts after your death income tax free.

Since the rate of insurance usually increases each year, getting a universal life insurance policy would serve your interests well. In this way, you can control the rates and payouts during the term of your policy.

You should research your life insurance options carefully with a loved one and a professional. These are very important decisions that need to be considered carefully. As with anything else that is this important, keep yourself well informed and only deal with a reputable insurance company. Verify all fees and commission payments, these will be different from company to company.

And, finally, only sign for the policy after you have become well informed. Universal life insurance policies are great, but not for everyone. - 29955

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