You may have recently come across a relatively new product called  Term UL.  Term UL is a creation by insurance companies in response to higher reserve requirements on term insurance policies and pressure to keep term insurance rates low to compete with other life insurance companies.  Several well known term insurance companies have introduced or are planning on introducing so called Term UL products.  Genworth Life Insurance Company has a product called Colony Term UL.  West Coast Life has a Term UL product called the Secure-T. 

While these products are universal life products they look and smell like term products.  Just like term insurance, these products have guaranteed level term periods, which last for a specific period of time (10, 15, 20 and 30).  During this level term period your premiums are guaranteed to remain level.  Just like term insurance the death benefit is also guaranteed to remain level.

Because these are universal life policies, there are some advantages over term policies.  Some of the advantages are:

• You can adjust your premium or length of coverage up or down if your needs change.
• You will know up front what it will cost you to extend your coverage in the future without any proof of insurability.  Most term policies allow you to convert to a permanent policy without evidence of insurability, but the cost is not known until the time of conversion.
• You can pay with a single premium or a specified period of years.
• You will typically have a longer grace period before the policy lapses due to non-payment.

Genworth’s Colony Term UL seems to be the most competitively priced so far, but that could change at any time.  We are seeing term and universal life insurance rates changing constantly.  Please feel free to run your own term or universal life insurance quotes by clicking on the upper right hand corner and filling out the instant online quote form.  If you prefer to speak with a licensed life insurance specialist, please call 1-888-950-TERM or you can email us at info@insuranceglobe.net.

A Return of Premium Rider (ROP) is available on some term insurance policies.  This rider returns the sum of all annual premium paid(including base policy fee and ROP rider premium) at the end of the initial term period, provided the policy owner is still living and the policy remains in force. If the policy is surrendered before the end of the initial term period, less than 100 % of the premium will be returned.  The longer you wait the higher percentage you will get back.  Adding the return of premium rider will increase the overall cost of the policy.

To determine if the additional cost is worth it, you need figure out what you would earn if you invested the difference.  To make a fair comparison, you need to compare this with other guaranteed investments such as fixed annuities or CD’s, because the return on a return of premium policy is also guaranteed.  However, if you are an aggressive investor you can use a hypothetical rate of return for your analysis, assuming you would invest the difference in a non-guaranteed vehicle.

Keep in mind that if the policy owner dies at any time during the term period, simply buying traditional term coverage and investing the difference will always provide the greatest return, because the policy owner’s estate would receive the death benefit and can also distribute the invested cash.

One of the most common reasons people buy life insurance is for income replacement.  PacLife has a handy insurance calculator that you can use as a guide http://www.pacificlife.com/Channel/Educational+Information/Calculators/How+much+life+insurance+do+I+need.htm

Life insurance is nothing more than a contract with an insurance company that promises to pay a specified amount of money to your designated beneficiaries upon your death.  In exchange, you agree to make periodic payments to the insurance company called premiums.  How much your premiums will be depend on several factors such as your age, gender, smoking status, height and weight, health, lifestyle and the amount of life insurance.

You can get a preliminary quote by filling out our quote request form.

Just choose a death benefit level and make your regular planned premium payments knowing that your death benefit is guaranteed.  You beneficiaries will receive a death benefit that generally avoids probate and is received free of state and federal income taxes.  If structured properly, it may also be distributed free of estate taxes.

One of the nice things about universal life insurance, is that it has a flexible premium.  If your financial situation changes, you can adjust your premium payments or increase or increase or decrease your death benefit.  Some companies even allow you to make catch-up payments to restore your policy to it’s original guarantee period.

You can also access policy cash values through withdrawals or loans.  Some policies even allow you to access part of the death benefit under certain conditions.  Some companies even guarantee that if you surrender your policy after the surrender charge schedule, they will return a percentage of your premium as high as 100% in some cases.

So, if you are looking for a policy that is guaranteed for the rest of your life no matter how long you live, universal life insurance may be the right choice.