Variable Universal Life Insurance vs. Variable Life Insurance: An Overview

Dec 21, 2024 By Kelly Walker

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Your beneficiaries may be eligible to receive enhanced benefits without paying more taxes if you purchase a variable life insurance plan that allows a part of your premium to be invested in the investment fund maintained by the insurance company.

The possibility to invest money is included in variable universal life insurance policies, but these policies also come with additional benefits. The cash value may be invested, and the premiums and the death benefit are variable with these whole-life plans, which also gives flexibility.

Variable Life Insurance

Most of the premium paid for a variable life insurance policy is placed in one or more individual investment accounts. The policyholder is given a chance to choose from a diverse variety of investment opportunities. Fixed-income investments, equities, mutual funds, bonds, and money market funds are the many options available to you. In addition, the interest accrued on the accounts rises in proportion to the cash worth of the accounts. The amount of risk one is willing to face on risk tolerance and investing goals.

Generally speaking, professional investment managers oversee the investments made by insurance. As a direct consequence, you will be required to pay management fees. As a result, the primary focus of attention should often be placed on the overall performance of the investment's assets.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Variable Life Insurance

Advantages

  • There are several opportunities for investment
  • Alternatives for benefits upon the death
  • Increases in the acquisition of monetary value
  • Growth exempt from taxation
  • The amount of the death benefit may be increased by paying greater premiums.
  • Regulated

Because of its many investment opportunities, variable life insurance can amass more wealth than its more conventional counterpart, whole life insurance. On the other hand, there is also the possibility that it will lose more than it already has.

Policyholders who have variable life insurance often have the choice of selecting one of two different types of death benefits. The fixed face value is specified in the policy document for the provided death benefit option. This death benefit does not fluctuate at any point over the policy's life.

Disadvantages

  • A higher premium than the average cost of life insurance
  • Investing dangers taken on board
  • There are fees associated with surrender
  • The amount of the death benefit might vary
  • Even with an increase in premiums, the death benefit and cash value of the policy might still decrease

Variable plans are more costly because there are fees for the administration of the policy and the management of the assets that the fund holds. These insurance plans, like other insurance policies, increase in value due to the investments they make in stocks, bonds, or other assets. The plans take on the risks of the underlying assets, which means there is a chance of loss if the market turns against the policyholder.

Variable Universal Life (VUL) Insurance

As the name implies, variable universal life insurance, often known as VUL insurance, is a policy that includes both variable life insurance and universal life insurance. Because it allows you to make investments and changes to insurance coverage easily, this is one of the more popular types of insurance plans.

You have more control over the premiums than you have with universal life insurance, both in terms of the total amount and the number of times you pay them. You also have the option of making a single payment within specific restrictions and using any cash value that has already been accumulated to pay for premiums.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Variable Universal Life

Advantages

  • Benefits upon death and premiums may be adjusted as needed
  • Available cash value
  • Options for several types of investments
  • A monetary worth that is exempt from taxation
  • Tax-free loans available
  • Benefit upon death that may be adjusted
  • Regulated

As long as the minimum monthly premium is paid to keep the policy in force, the death benefit will not alter. On the other hand, you may only have to pay premiums if the policy's cash value is high enough to sustain its continuation. Insurance premiums might be avoided, allowing them to keep their savings.

Disadvantages

  • Risky investments
  • Accumulating loan interest
  • More expensive than other types of policies
  • The value of cash may decrease as a result of market conditions
  • Possible increase in required contributions to keep receiving benefits

These policies make investments in securities and therefore take on the risks that are associated with those securities. You can open several accounts, some of which include funds linked to the market, as well as a fixed account, in which money invested gets an interest rate that is predetermined. You are responsible for the market risk associated with the money in the separate account, which may result in significant returns or losses.

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