All About Universal life Insurance: All About Universal Life Insurance By Insurance Experts

Definition
Unlike term and whole life insurances, this policy blends term insurance and an investment account into one contract. Also its premiums can be increased or decreased, paid when due or at unscheduled dates, or stopped entirely and restarted at the owner's will provided the policy value is adequate to maintain the cost of the insurance.
This type of policy is adapted well to satisfy the changing insurance and investment needs of its owner.
1. Flexible coverage
The prime attraction of the universal life policy lies with its flexibility that allows owner of universal life insurance policy to increase or decrease the policy's face amount and evidence of insurability is usually needed for the increases. Its flexible coverage also established a life insurance contract that (subject to an insurability requirement) allowed the policy owner to:
a. Increase or decrease the face amount of insurance
b. Add more lives insured
c. Substitute one life insured for another
(By Kyle J. Norton)

2. Flexible investments
Unlike traditional plans, where the policy account value was invested in a portfolio by the insurance company's investment managers, universal life offers the policy owner the option to choose the weighting of investment within the account value from a wide range of options: from savings accounts, to guaranteed term deposits, to funds that track specific market indices and mutual fund-like investments. All universal life contracts are subject to annualized expense charges of various natures that are deducted monthly, on a pro data basis
a) Provincial or State premium taxes
b) Mortality deductions
c) Rider charges
d) Annual administration fees
e) Insurance mortality deduction Increase or decrease each year or level term rate

We provide your with information and insurance experts Pro and Con opinion about universal life. It is up to you to decide to see if it is suitable to you. It is your benefit to talk to your insurance agent before applying.

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Variable Universal Life Insurance
By Kevin Stith

Are you looking for a life insurance policy that is permanent but with flexible premiums and options? If you are searching for this type of policy, then variable universal life insurance might just be the right policy for you.

A variable life insurance policy combines features of universal life insurance with several investment options, so you will be able to claim a larger amount for a death settlement than what you can receive from an ordinary policy. This is called variable universal life insurance, because the premiums and investments in this type of policy are not fixed. These are variables because both depend on the present market conditions.

Getting a variable life insurance policy has advantages over other types of policies. If you compare this to universal life insurance, you will be able to see that on the latter, you cannot control your invested cash value. But if you combine universal and variable, you can switch these investments if you want to get a higher life insurance settlement. You can do this two or three times a year.

Another advantage of having a variable universal life insurance policy is that you can have a tax shelter. This means that the money you make through investments is tax-free. This amount will only be taxed when you cash in the policy.

Even with these advantages at hand, you must keep in mind that variable universal life insurance is not for everyone. So the best thing for you to do is to consult an insurance agent and have the policy pros and cons explains to you. You must be able to understand not only the advantages of this type but the drawbacks as well.

Universal Life Insurance provides detailed information on Universal Life Insurance, Universal Life Insurance Quotes, Variable Universal Life Insurance, Universal Life Insurance Policy Definitions and more. Universal Life Insurance is affiliated with Free Life Insurance Leads.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Stith

Equity Indexed Universal Life Insurance - The Best of Both Worlds?
By Amy Danise

Although equity indexed annuities have been around for a number of years, equity indexed universal life (EIUL) insurance is a relative newcomer to the life insurance marketplace. EIUL is a spin on universal life (UL) insurance, a popular policy type because you can increase or decrease your death benefit as your needs change and your premiums can be adjusted accordingly. UL policies also build a cash value against which you could borrow or even use to pay your premiums.

The equity indexed concept is relatively simple: the amount of interest credited to your policy's cash value is tied to the performance of a particular index (the S&P 500 is one of the most popular), so that in years where the index performs well your interest crediting rate will rise, and in years where the index performs poorly, your interest crediting rate will fall.

Most policies guarantee that your interest crediting rate will never fall below zero so that you won't lose money (you just won't make it). They also have a cap as to how high a crediting rate they will pass on to you. This range of possible rates is often described as offering "upside potential with downside protection."

How It Works

Typically, the big choice facing life insurance buyers is whether to go with a "safe" universal life policy that offers a minimum guaranteed rate but limited potential for cash accumulation or to go with a more "risky" variable life policy that offers greater potential for earnings but no protection against losses in the market.

EIUL insurance is an attempt to fill the gap between these two approaches. EIUL is universal life insurance in which the cash value is linked to a certain index. If the index is higher at the end of the year, your cash value may go up. If the index stays flat or goes down, your cash value earns the minimum guaranteed interest rate (say, 2 percent). You should note, however, that when your index goes up it

Universal Life Insurance Compared to Term Insurance
By Frank Rodriguez Platinum Quality Author

It's always a good idea to make sure that your family will be taken care of, if anything should happen to you. If you're the bread winner, there's a good chance your wife and kids would be lost without you. Unfortunately, during these tough economic times, it's hard to get the things we need paid for, let alone anything above and beyond. What you need to realize is that you simply cannot afford to not have a life policy. There are several kinds of life insurance. Universal life or term insurance may be the best solution for you.

Universal life policies require a monthly premium be paid, from the time the policy takes effect until the time the policy pays out. Another name for this kind of policy is a flexible premium adjustable life insurance policy.

Universal life policies have been around since the 80s and came about as a more affordable means to whole life policies.

With a universal life insurance policy, you will pay in a set amount of money each month to pay your premium. The insurer will take a portion of this money and invest it. It's usually a small amount, but it guarantees you that you'll have a return on your premiums, no matter how the market behaves. Term insurance on the other hand is the most affordable policy around.

As you continue to pay in on your premiums, your policy builds up value. Many times with universal life insurance, it's best to pay a little extra in or to ask for a raise in your premiums. Paying just the minimum will not yield a very high return.

Unlike other policies, universal life policies offer two options for payment when the policy must pay because of the death of the insured. You can get a cash value option or a face value option because the actual death benefit is flexible throughout the life of the policy. Term insurance carries no value, but offers reasonably priced straight insurance.

If you are interested in universal life it's important that you understand these insurance products. If you are looking for affordability term insurance is probably more appropriate for you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Frank_Rodriguez

The Benefits of Universal Life and Whole Life Insurance
By Frank Rodriguez Platinum Quality Author

Whole Life Insurance is permanent insurance protection, as is Universal life. It provides a benefit in the event of a person's death to maintain their loved one's lifestyle. It also has living benefits through the accumulation of cash value. This makes Whole life different from term insurance.

The accumulation feature allows for net premiums paid to grow inside the policy. The net premium is derived from the total premium paid, less the cost of insurance and mortality expense. This net amount becomes available to the policy owner during the life of the policy to pay for present needs.

Mutual insurance companies, which are owned by policy owners, pay policy dividends. These dividends are applied to participating policies issued by the insurer. The dividend varies year to year and is not guaranteed. It is a return of a portion of paid premiums given to the policyholder. The dividend may be taken as cash, used to offset the premium or increase the face amount. If taken as cash it is treated as income that is subject to taxation.

The basis for the premium's calculation includes the insured individual's age, health situation and gender, among other factors. The premium itself is payable until the insured reaches age 100 at which time the policy matures. Premiums may be paid in a shorter period of time although endowment still occurs at 100. The shorter the premium payment period, the greater the annual premium. This is where the use of dividends, when declared, provides valuable assistance in reducing out of pocket cost.

When compared to the cost of term insurance, whole life and universal life costs 10 times more. This pricing difference should be viewed by considering the fact that whole life has cash accumulation where term does not. Term insurance is temporary coverage that provides benefits for the term period, usually up to 30 years. When the term period has been reached, no more coverage exists. Term is priced based on the pure cost of protection purchased and is considerably less than whole life.

Whole life and universal life use non-forfeiture values as a way to derive value or maintain protection. If a person were unable to continue paying for the insurance for a brief period, the policy may access the cash value to pay premiums. This is known as the automatic premium loan feature, which is standard. The policy may also allow a surrender of the accumulated cash value to the policy owner if necessary. The coverage may be extended for a term of years or reduced in face amount on a fully-paid basis as well.

Endowment occurs at age 100, which is the maturity date for the insurance. This means that if death has not occurred by that point, the policy owner receives the full benefit amount. This is accomplished through the investment of net premiums plus interest earnings over the period. At age 100, this amount equals the face amount.

Whole life insurance and universal life is a valued component of most everyone's insurance portfolio. A comparison of costs as well as complete analysis of needs will help determine the appropriateness of purchasing this insurance. Sitting down with a licensed professional or using any of the online needs based tools is a good place to start.

You can find life quotes for universal life rather easily via the internet. However, make sure you completely understand permanent insurance products like whole life, before committing.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Frank_Rodriguez

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