Whole Life

• Called “permanent” insurance because it remains in force for your lifetime as long as you pay the scheduled premiums
• Premiums are designed to remain level over the life of the policy
• You have the potential to build cash value that is tax-deferred and you may be able to access these funds on a tax-advantaged basis
• When you pass away, your beneficiaries will receive the amount of the death benefit, minus any outstanding loans and loan interest that may be due on the policy

Universal Life

• Another type of permanent life insurance that has flexibility built into it
• The flexibility allows you to adjust the face amount of your policy, and the premiums you pay4
• Build cash value without paying current income taxes on the increases and you can potentially access the funds using tax-free loans and withdrawals5
• Flexibility allows you to stop paying premiums if there is enough accumulated value in your policy to cover the cost of insurance each month. You can then pay additional premiums to build back up accumulated cash value
• You may be able to increase or decrease your death benefit depending on your life insurance needs. An increase may require additional underwriting

Two of the most popular types of Universal Life policies are Fixed Universal Life and Indexed Universal Life. One of the main differences between them is how the policy’s interest is credited. Both offer you varying degrees of guarantees and returns, based on your appetite for risk.

• Fixed Universal Life – the interest rate is declared by the company
• Indexed Universal Life – interest is based on the changes in the value of a market index