Permanent Life Insurance
In addition to a death benefit, permanent life insurance has several features that term life insurance does not.
The benefits of permanent life insurance include:
Lifelong coverage
As its name implies, permanent life insurance covers you for life, as long as you pay your premiums. Many people gain peace of mind knowing they will always having coverage in place.
Living benefits
A benefit of permanent life insurance is that they can build cash value over time, which accumulates on a tax-deferred basis just like assets in most retirement and tuition savings plans. The money can be used in the future for any purpose, including important milestones such as a down payment on a home, college tuition or retirement. (Just know that withdrawing cash value from the policy will reduce the death benefit if you don’t pay it back.)
Many options
There are different kinds of permanent life insurance. Some offer a guaranteed rate of return while others let you choose a mix of investments for a variable rate of return. Meanwhile, some require you to pay fixed premiums while others let you vary the amount based on your financial circumstances. Others even let you skip premium payments and increase or decrease your coverage level over time.