Before opting I'd like to know....if variable universal life a form of permanent life policy!
Total Comments: 20
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 08:24 pm Post Subject: insurance
..and you can get Universal Life at ANY insurance agency? Is Universal Life a 'Whole Life' policy, as well? I mean, same benefits,etc?
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 09:38 pm Post Subject:
sdchargersfan,
You two are having a real interesting discussion on life insurance, but I just wanted to butt in for a minute.
It sounds like you are leaning toward buying a "Universal Life" insurance policy and I would just like to caution you for a minute.
Universal Life insurance has probably caused more confusion and lawsuits than any other type of permanent life insurance, here's why:
When it was first introduced, it was presented as an "investment", a way to establish a significant retirement income. Then it was paying 13% or 14% interest on the cash accumulation value and if those interest rates had remained stable, it would have accumulated a lot of money, in most cases.
The interest rate now is 3.5%, maybe as high as 5%. Life insurance should NEVER be purchased for "cash value" alone, under any circumstances.
Universal life can be designed to be an excelled life insurance program, but just make sure that you tell your agent that you want a premium that will carry the policy to age 99 or 100 or later. If you pay a "minimum" premim on a UL, it will more than likely not provide insurance protection for over 10-15-20 years, unless you increase your premiums, significantly.
If you are seeking life insurance in an amount below $100,000 and you want permanent insurance, I would strongly suggest the old traditional "Whole Life" insurance policy.
(I won't even get into the "variable" part right now.)
Ok, I'll butt out now.
Maze
Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 02:10 pm Post Subject:
Maze, you make a great point. I was biting my tounge when I read a recent thread that asked if equity indexed UL was a good investment and tons of people responed to the original poster that it is a good "investment".
I really wanted to remind them that it's highly unethical if not illegal (if you're an agent) to represent any life product as an investment.
That said, I really think UL is a great product with a bad rep. If SDchargersfan were my client I don't think it's what I'd be recommending it based on age and amount of coverage desired. But for people ages 21-35 who don't smoke it's still a great deal despite lower interest rates. I don't stress the cash accumulation but rather the flexibility it gives you as a lifelong insurance product. It's also most effective as one part of your total life insurance program, not as your only coverage.
Chargersfan,
If you lived in Ohio I'd offer to take you to lunch and tell you all about it, since I'm not licensed in MO though, I encourage you to find a local agent you feel comfortable with who can help you decide if UL, WL, or some combination of either with Term is best. If I remember correctly and you're a smoker you may even be best off getting a term policy for life coverage and contributing to an annuity product for cash accumulation. But again, a good agent will go over all of this with you and help you make the best, most informed choice.
Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 03:36 pm Post Subject:
Oh, SDchargersfan, you should check out www.life-line.org
It's got a lot of good consumer information on life insurance, all explained in pretty straightforward way.
Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 02:56 pm Post Subject: insurance
MAZE.............PLEASE DON'T think you're "butting in." I REALLY value your advice. Thank you for 'your support' ( get it?).LOL :) FISHMAN...thanks for the website. I'll REALLY will look into it. I think I'm understanding the difference now. Thanks for everyone's help.
Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 03:01 pm Post Subject: insurance
FISHMAN...I just took a glance of the wesite. OMG!! Everything 'under the sun' on this one!! LOL By the way..it doesn't matter if you live in Ohio. You can STILL take me to lunch. Ohio isn't too far away from me!!LOL :D
Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 07:14 am Post Subject:
System detected duplicate content, converted into image.
Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 02:23 am Post Subject: insurance
Ok...I think I'm beginning to figure this out. 'Regular' Life Insurance has more of a 'fixed' rate. 'Universal' Life Insurance is more of a 'non-fixed' rate......and more of an 'investment' risk. Ya know, I was looking at some other information, on Universal Life. Says about the same thing.
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 03:44 pm Post Subject:
Universal Life is a type of permanent life insurance based on a cash value. That is, the policy is established with the insurer where premium payments above the cost of insurance are credited to the cash value. The cash value is credited each month with interest, and the policy is debited each month by a cost of insurance (COI) charge, which is drawn from the cash value if no premium payment is made that month.
Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_life_insurance
Variable Universal Life Insurance (often shortened to VUL) is a type of life insurance, that builds a cash value. In a VUL, the cash value can be invested in a wide variety of separate accounts, similar to mutual funds, and the choice of which of the available separate accounts to use is entirely up to the contract owner.
Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_universal_life_insurance
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 11:11 am Post Subject:
There are different designs of Universal Life products.
The one I know of operates like an insurance policy in early years and behaves like a savings account in later years.
Universal Life policy of such design appeals to people who have different priorities in different stages in life.
If a person is of the opinion that protection is more important during his productive years while savings is more important during his retirement years, then Universal Life could be the best fit to meet the 2 different priorities in life.
Universal Life is known to be flexible, where the policyholder could alter protection amount or premium. This feature is very helpful especially when the policyholder experiences changes in financial situations in later years.
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 08:24 pm Post Subject: insurance
..and you can get Universal Life at ANY insurance agency? Is Universal Life a 'Whole Life' policy, as well? I mean, same benefits,etc?
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 09:38 pm Post Subject:
sdchargersfan,
You two are having a real interesting discussion on life insurance, but I just wanted to butt in for a minute.
It sounds like you are leaning toward buying a "Universal Life" insurance policy and I would just like to caution you for a minute.
Universal Life insurance has probably caused more confusion and lawsuits than any other type of permanent life insurance, here's why:
When it was first introduced, it was presented as an "investment", a way to establish a significant retirement income. Then it was paying 13% or 14% interest on the cash accumulation value and if those interest rates had remained stable, it would have accumulated a lot of money, in most cases.
The interest rate now is 3.5%, maybe as high as 5%. Life insurance should NEVER be purchased for "cash value" alone, under any circumstances.
Universal life can be designed to be an excelled life insurance program, but just make sure that you tell your agent that you want a premium that will carry the policy to age 99 or 100 or later. If you pay a "minimum" premim on a UL, it will more than likely not provide insurance protection for over 10-15-20 years, unless you increase your premiums, significantly.
If you are seeking life insurance in an amount below $100,000 and you want permanent insurance, I would strongly suggest the old traditional "Whole Life" insurance policy.
(I won't even get into the "variable" part right now.)
Ok, I'll butt out now.
Maze
Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 02:10 pm Post Subject:
Maze, you make a great point. I was biting my tounge when I read a recent thread that asked if equity indexed UL was a good investment and tons of people responed to the original poster that it is a good "investment".
I really wanted to remind them that it's highly unethical if not illegal (if you're an agent) to represent any life product as an investment.
That said, I really think UL is a great product with a bad rep. If SDchargersfan were my client I don't think it's what I'd be recommending it based on age and amount of coverage desired. But for people ages 21-35 who don't smoke it's still a great deal despite lower interest rates. I don't stress the cash accumulation but rather the flexibility it gives you as a lifelong insurance product. It's also most effective as one part of your total life insurance program, not as your only coverage.
Chargersfan,
If you lived in Ohio I'd offer to take you to lunch and tell you all about it, since I'm not licensed in MO though, I encourage you to find a local agent you feel comfortable with who can help you decide if UL, WL, or some combination of either with Term is best. If I remember correctly and you're a smoker you may even be best off getting a term policy for life coverage and contributing to an annuity product for cash accumulation. But again, a good agent will go over all of this with you and help you make the best, most informed choice.
Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 03:36 pm Post Subject:
Oh, SDchargersfan, you should check out www.life-line.org
It's got a lot of good consumer information on life insurance, all explained in pretty straightforward way.
Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 02:56 pm Post Subject: insurance
MAZE.............PLEASE DON'T think you're "butting in." I REALLY value your advice. Thank you for 'your support' ( get it?).LOL :) FISHMAN...thanks for the website. I'll REALLY will look into it. I think I'm understanding the difference now. Thanks for everyone's help.
Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 03:01 pm Post Subject: insurance
FISHMAN...I just took a glance of the wesite. OMG!! Everything 'under the sun' on this one!! LOL By the way..it doesn't matter if you live in Ohio. You can STILL take me to lunch. Ohio isn't too far away from me!!LOL :D
Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 07:14 am Post Subject:
System detected duplicate content, converted into image.
Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 02:23 am Post Subject: insurance
Ok...I think I'm beginning to figure this out. 'Regular' Life Insurance has more of a 'fixed' rate. 'Universal' Life Insurance is more of a 'non-fixed' rate......and more of an 'investment' risk. Ya know, I was looking at some other information, on Universal Life. Says about the same thing.
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 03:44 pm Post Subject:
Universal Life is a type of permanent life insurance based on a cash value. That is, the policy is established with the insurer where premium payments above the cost of insurance are credited to the cash value. The cash value is credited each month with interest, and the policy is debited each month by a cost of insurance (COI) charge, which is drawn from the cash value if no premium payment is made that month.
Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_life_insurance
Variable Universal Life Insurance (often shortened to VUL) is a type of life insurance, that builds a cash value. In a VUL, the cash value can be invested in a wide variety of separate accounts, similar to mutual funds, and the choice of which of the available separate accounts to use is entirely up to the contract owner.
Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_universal_life_insurance
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 11:11 am Post Subject:
There are different designs of Universal Life products.
The one I know of operates like an insurance policy in early years and behaves like a savings account in later years.
Universal Life policy of such design appeals to people who have different priorities in different stages in life.
If a person is of the opinion that protection is more important during his productive years while savings is more important during his retirement years, then Universal Life could be the best fit to meet the 2 different priorities in life.
Universal Life is known to be flexible, where the policyholder could alter protection amount or premium. This feature is very helpful especially when the policyholder experiences changes in financial situations in later years.
Add your comment