Saturday, August 1, 2009

All About Universal Life Insurance By Insurance Experts

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Universal Life Insurance - A Flexible Life Insurance

By Vincent Funfatt Yeong

When you think of buying life insurance, you might have term life and whole life insurance come to mind. However, you should consider the mix of these two policies before you start looking for life insurance quotes. This is universal life insurance.

Definition

This policy also called universal life, it is a type of permanent life insurance that has additional features and advantages; it accumulates cash value through investment of the premium payments, it is similar in some ways and was developed from whole life insurance.

The attractive feature of this policy is that it has flexibility of premium payments, and has greater potential for cash value growth; the buyer has the chance to change the policy to suit his changing needs. In another word, this policy allows the buyer to decide how much of his premiums will be used for the insurance benefits and how much for investment. If things go well, he can increase the investment part of the policy if the market is good, so that he can gain more profit, or if he has financial difficulties, he can use the accumulated cash value to pay for his premium. As a result, the buyer benefits protection and at the mean time can have his premium invested in the market.

Advantages

Flexible protection - it provides the buyer the flexibility to choose the amount of protection he wants, and allows him to increase or decrease the coverage, but increased coverage may subject to underwritten requirements.

Flexibility of premiums - it offers the buyer the flexibility to pay either lesser or more premium depending on the circumstances.

Guaranteed return of money - if the insurance company made profit on investments, the interest return of the cash value will increase, but no matter how bad the investments were, the buyer is guaranteed a certain minimal return on the cash portion.

Tax free death benefits - life insurance proceeds are generally income tax free to the beneficiary in most of the countries.

This policy also has its disadvantages, such as fewer guarantees than whole life insurance, no investment flexibility; the growth in cash value of the policy is limited.

It is said this policy is illegally sold as an investment, and some insurance agents recommended it to their customers because they earned more commission on this product compared to others, buyers are advised to know this product thoroughly before they purchase.

Life insurance is a complicated industry, especially if the product has some involvements in investments, therefore it is advisable not to commit blindly. Find out more or seek advice and information from reliable sources, make your money return, invest sensibly, please log on to universal life insurance or visit us at http://www.indianapolislifeinsurance.net

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

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Get a Universal Life Insurance Policy
By Frank Rodriguez Platinum Quality Author

You've probably seen the commercials on television that talk about having a friend or loved one die unexpectedly. Until it happens to you, you may not give it much thought. Unfortunately, when it comes to life insurance, once your loved one passes away, it's too late to do anything. If you act now, no matter how young or old you are, you can make sure everything is taken care of when you die. Universal life insurance may be the best policy for you to purchase, depending on your financial situation.

Just like all other policies, you must pay in monthly to the policy. This is paying a premium just like any other insurance policy you have on your home or vehicles. You can get either a term or whole life insurance policy. Universal life protection is one kind of whole life insurance policy. With this kind of policy, you actually add value to your account over time.

Whole life policies allow you to borrow from the premiums you've been paying in if you have an unexpected financial set back and have nowhere else to turn for money.

It is not advisable to do this if you have any other means of procuring money when you need it the most. It's imperative that you pay this money back as quickly as possible when you have to use it.

With a Universal life policy, your insurance provider will be taking part of your monthly payments and investing them in the market. Even when the market is in decline, you'll have a set amount to expect as a return on your investment. This makes universal policies very attractive to some people.

Over time, your policy can fluctuate when related to death benefit. Make sure that you understand all of the terms of this kind of policy before purchasing one. A universal insurance policy will see your family through the storm, even after you're gone. You can get a universal life insurance quote or whole life insurance quote relatively easily online these days.

You can get a universal life insurance quote or find a whole life insurance quote easily enough by searching online. Make sure to get a number of quote for the best rate.

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

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What Are the Advantages of Variable Universal Life?
By Joseph L Wilson

Variable universal life insurance is growing in popularity every year. One of the biggest reasons for this is because it is being recommended and sold more and more by financial planners. Why are these financial professionals so high on variable universal life insurance policies? Because if it's used right, this is one of the most powerful financial assets you can own.

Now, life insurance was always intended to be a bridge between your younger years when you're just starting out and first gathering assets, and your later years when you've become, hopefully, well-off and have plenty of money in the bank and amassed assets. There are also special circumstances for using life insurance such as with estate planning. But what this all comes down to is that the kind of life insurance known as "term" is the kind that the vast majority of people should have.

Around the middle of the 20th century, the life insurance industry invented a new kind of life insurance that it called whole life. The idea was for this to be a permanent policy that could build cash value--tax-sheltered cash value, too. The idea also was to keep this policy for a very long time--possibly, your "whole life". The industry was trying to cater to the public's desire to have things that last, that they own, and that give back to them. So, the whole life policy was supposed to be analogous to owning your own house in which, over time, you build equity, whereas the term policy was merely a "rental" which, when you stopped paying the rent (premiums) on it, simply expired; you don't build equity in a home you are renting.

But whole life had problems. It was very expensive compared with term, and cash value accumulation was, well, not all that. And people began to slowly realize that they could "buy term and invest the difference", instead of own whole life. This meant they could buy cheap life insurance (term), then use the money they saved as the difference in price with that and whole life, and invest in the stock/bond market and make MORE money than with whole life.

Well, this could cost the life insurance industry a lot of money--so, nearly 20 years ago, they invented a new product that allowed people to "buy term and invest the difference", but with THEM. This was Universal Life, which quickly evolved into Variable Universal Life.

Variable Universal Life is a term life insurance policy bundled together with a normal investment portfolio, which the insured can customize to their own risk tolerance and financial goals. Like other "permanent" life insurance policies, these policies can eventually build enough cash value to pay for themselves. But, while the term life premiums, the choices with investments, and the greater financial return potential are all advantages--here's most the incredible advantage of this powerful financial product: those (potentially) more powerful financial investment returns all accumulate TAX SHELTERED. Now, there may be tax consequences if and when a withdrawal is made from the policy's cash value, but there are no taxes paid on accumulation, because this is a life insurance product. Any financial professional will tell you that if you can ever grow your money tax-free, do it!

So, there you have it: buy term and invest the difference--and beat the tax man--with Variable Universal Life.

To see this article and to learn more about what's the best life insurance policy for you, visit http://www.GetBetterLifeInsurance.com

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Teaches You Surprising and Viable Strategies
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Veterans Universal Life Insurance
By Julie Shields Platinum Quality Author

For our brave and dedicated military servicemen (and women), the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs makes sure that there is life insurance coverage for all active and retired military men, regardless of whether or not they ever saw active duty in a war, which branch of the military they were in, or how long they served (those who received court martialing or dishonorable discharge are usually a different case, however). Those who serve(d) in the Coast Guard and the Reserves are also eligible for this military group life insurance.

This group life insurance is low-cost. The Servicemembers Group Life Insurance program (SGLI) is that which is for the active duty members of the U.S. military forces. When one of these retires, he can extend this government life insurance coverage by converting the SGLI coverage to VGLI (Veterans Group Life Insurance program) which is for the retired members of the U.S. military.

VGLI is renewable term life insurance. VGLI coverage can be purchased in $10,000 increments but not to exceed $400,000 in face amount or exceed any coverage limits that the service member had with his SGLI policy. Service members need to convert to a VGLI policy within 485 days after their discharge date, or lose their eligibility for it. If they convert right away (within 120 days after their discharge date) they are guaranteed the requested VGLI coverage regardless of current health status (there is no physical or medical questioning within this time frame).

VGLI policy premiums get calculated based on the age of the service member at the time of conversion. There is no need to give proof of income or any credit score information. The spouses and dependent children of service members are also eligible to buy VGLI polices.

However, a service member can convert his VGLI term insurance policy to a private insurance company permanent policy at any time. Over 45 private companies now offer a conversion policy.

Veterans policies are fundamentally the same as the usual Universal Life Policies, but there are a couple of very important differences that are there solely for military personnel. VULI policies have lower premiums than the same face amount (assuming similar risk factors) would for non-veteran citizens. There are also less strict eligibility and issuance requirements. These qualities enable veterans who are just returning to, or starting out in, civilian life to afford quality permanent life insurance that they otherwise might not be able to afford. U.L. policies offer benefits to policy holders that term life insurance does not, such as the building of cash value. So while the long term advantages of VULI should be obvious, there are short term advantages, too. Many veterans are just finding or starting up in jobs and did not receive the greatest pay while in the military. VULI policies don't require the usual level of premiums for the face amount, and the income required to qualify for them is not as high as normal, either.

Veterans Universal policies are a great thing for military veterans. But they are also a shining statement about the goodness, in general, of providers. Insurance salesman and the industry have been ripped apart by the media for decades. Life insurance is seen as an "unnecessary" expense that just takes away from your lifestyle and could make you "insurance poor". Insurance salesmen are seen as people who disrupt dinner time and family time with rude calls or high pressure sales tactics. And it's true that some life insurance bad seed agents have definitely tarnished the industry image with their evil ways. But for the most part, life insurance salesmen and companies feel that they are truly helping people--and they truly are.

Why do they offer these lesser requirements and lower premiums for VULI policies? It's nothing more than their small way of saluting military veterans.

The author lives with her husband in Maryland, with their two dogs and cat. She put together the website http://www.affordable-life-insurance-guru.com in order to help the everyday person navigate the often confusing world of life insurance

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