Thinking about a few basic questions will help you identify what type of life insurance coverage you need.
- How longwill you need the coverage? Until the mortgage is paid? Until the kids are out of the house? If you were to die, your family has just sustained an incredible financial loss because you are no longer there to provide an income to your family.
- How muchfinancial coverage do you need? For a general idea, first look at how much income you will generate before you retire. You can also look at how much unpaid debt you have and your future expenses, like your children’s college education.
Life insurance is offered in so many forms that it can be designed to accommodate your preferences and to accomplish a variety of purposes. Do you want life-long insurance protection? Do you want your policy to accumulate cash on a tax-deferred basis? Do you need your policy to allow you to withdraw or borrow against accumulated cash? Do you have flexibility in your budget?
Term Life
The simplest form of life insurance.
You choose a coverage level, a term (usually 5, 10, 15, or 20 years), and name a beneficiary. (A beneficiary is the person you want to receive the benefit if you die.) If you die while your term life insurance policy is in force, the death benefit is paid to the beneficiary you chose. Term Life provides affordable protection for a specific period of time at a scheduled premium level. At the end of that specified period, you can renew your coverage at a higher premium without having to provide evidence of good health. You can also convert it to a permanent life insurance policy. Permanent life insurance policies build cash value and may earn dividends.
Term insurance can help you meet a number of personal and business needs and is often a good choice:
- when life insurance is essential but dollars are scarce
- for a well-defined period of time
- to protect your family (insurance benefits can help pay a mortgage or fund a child’s education)
- to protect your business (benefits can ensure business continuation by helping to cover business expenses)
Whole Life
Life insurance with a lot of bang for the buck.
A permanent policy that remains in effect from the day you purchase it until you die, as long as premiums are paid. The policy’s death benefit can be used for:
- Survivor needs
- Mortgage protection
- Wealth transfer
- Charitable giving
- Business needs
The cash value that accumulates in whole life policies can also be accessed during your lifetime through a policy loan and used for:
- Supplementing retirement income, as your need for life insurance decreases
- College tuition expenses
- A down payment on a home
- Emergency and other needs
Loans against your policy accrue interest at the current variable loan interest rate and decrease the death benefit and cash value by the amount of the outstanding loan and loan interest.
Whole life policies are not a one-size-fits-all product:
- Standard whole life provides death protection benefits, accumulates cash value, and offers the potential for the policy to earn dividends.
- Custom Whole Life insurance offers the same basic insurance/death protection as whole life, while also allowing you to select how long you pay premiums. It is designed to build the cash value more quickly which can be accessed once the policy is paid up.
Universal Life
A flexible life insurance policy that combines the benefits of permanent life insurance protection and cash values with the convenience of adjustable premiums and payment schedules.
Within a Universal Life insurance policy, cash value accumulations grow tax-deferred at competitive interest rates. Generally less expensive than other permanent life insurance but more expensive than term insurance, universal life gives you the flexibility to choose the amount of protection that best suits your family or business, and it enables you to increase or decrease your coverage level as your business or personal insurance needs change.
Universal Life provides a permanent, cost-effective and flexible solution to your life insurance planning needs. This product provides a lifetime of life insurance protection for your family or business. Should your protection needs grow, you have the ability to increase your policy’s coverage amount. You can also tailor your premium payments and your life insurance benefit to help meet your financial goals.
Universal Life policies may be written as Survivorship policies. Survivorship and “second-to-die” are words that go together in life insurance. A survivorship policy provides an immediate source of funds to address a variety of estate and business needs and can also be used to provide long-term financial care for a dependent with special needs. Should your protection needs grow, you have the ability to increase your policy’s coverage amount. You can also tailor your premium payments and your life insurance benefit to help meet your financial goals.
Custom Universal Life Guarantee can help you meet your planning needs with life insurance coverage that is guaranteed for life, or as long as you choose. It provides lifetime coverage that can be more cost-effective than other permanent life insurance plans. And, by allowing you to choose the duration of your guarantee period, it can provide a personalized solution to your needs. These policies are often used with estate planning, wealth transfer, or business continuation. These can be written as survivorship policies.
(For all Universal Life policies, the cash surrender value can be used to pay premiums, but if the cash surrender value is insufficient to pay the premium and the premium is not otherwise paid, the policy will terminate.)
Variable Universal Life
A type of permanent life insurance that provides a death benefit in exchange for premium payments.
These are designed for those are also investment-minded and desire the potential for greater cash value accumulation than generally available in a fixed insurance product. Through the investment options you select, the policy has the potential for tax-deferred cash value accumulation. However, any assets allocated to the underlying funds are subject to the market risk and will fluctuate in value. Any decrease in the policy’s cash value could reduce the policy’s death benefit.
Corporate Sponsored Plans
Comprehensive insurance products designed to provide key employees with life insurance coverage, as well as estate and retirement planning solutions.
Corporate Sponsored Plans are specially designed to provide informal funding for nonqualified executive benefit programs, such as Deferred Compensation Plans, Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERP), After-Tax and Split Dollar Plans.