Life Insurance
About Life Insurance
Term policies function similarly to other types of insurance policies you may carry, like car insurance; you pay money each month (for a certain period of time or term, hence the name), and if something bad happens—in this case, your early death—there’s a benefit paid out. Permanent life insurance, on the other hand, has an investment component and allows policyholders to accumulate a cash value.
When you buy a term policy, all of your premiums go toward securing a death benefit for your beneficiaries.
Term life insurance, unlike permanent life insurance, does not have any cash value and therefore does not have any investment component. 5 If you’re still alive when the term ends, the policy simply lapses and you and your beneficiaries don’t see any money. However, you can think of term life insurance as an investment in the sense that you are paying relatively little in premiums in exchange for the peace of mind knowing that in the event of your death, your beneficiaries will receive a relatively large death benefit.
There are many arguments in favor of using permanent life insurance as an investment. However, many of these benefits are not unique to permanent life insurance. You can often get them in other ways without paying the high management expenses and agent commissions that come with permanent life insurance. Here are a few of the most widely advocated benefits of permanent life insurance.
There are many arguments in favor of using permanent life insurance as an investment. However, many of these benefits are not unique to permanent life insurance. You can often get them in other ways without paying the high management expenses and agent commissions that come with permanent life insurance. Here are a few of the most widely advocated benefits of permanent life insurance.
You get tax-deferred growth. This means you don’t pay taxes on any interest, dividends, or capital gains on the cash-value component of your life insurance policy until you withdraw the proceeds.1 However, you can also take advantage of tax benefits with a number of different retirement accounts, including IRAs, 401(k)s, and 403(b)s. If you’re maxing out your contributions to these accounts year after year, investing in permanent life insurance for tax reasons may make sense.
You can borrow against the cash value. If you need money to buy a home or pay for college, you can borrow against the cash value of a permanent life insurance policy. What’s important is, when you borrow money from your permanent insurance policy, it will accrue interest until you repay it, and if you die before repaying the loan, your beneficiaries will receive a smaller death benefit.
You can keep most policies up to age 120, as long as you pay the premiums. Another touted benefit of permanent life insurance over term life insurance is you do not lose your coverage after a set number of years.
A term policy ends when you reach the end of your term. But by the time you’re 120, who will need your death benefit? If you anticipate people being financially dependent on you beyond the length of a typical term policy for example, a disabled child, this benefit may be attractive to you.
You may also be able to receive accelerated benefits if you become chronically, critically or terminally ill from your permanent or term life insurance policy’s death benefit before you die. The upside of accelerated benefits , as they’re called, is you can use them to pay your medical bills and possibly enjoy a better quality of life in your final months. The drawback is that your beneficiaries won’t receive the full death benefit you intended when you took out the policy. Also, your health insurance might already provide sufficient coverage for your medical bills. They may cost extra, too.
There are additional Riders that may be added to a life insurance policy that provide additional coverage for an extra cost.
