A Universal Life is like this way. You deposit money into an account. Every month the insurance company takes out the cost of insurance (called the mortality cost). The money on deposit does earn interest.

One thing is the cost of the insurance goes up every year like a term policy. You just never know it. That is because you just keep on making deposits into that account. And, the cost of the insurance just keeps coming out of that account every month. So, you never really even know the cost of insurance unless you ask.

Anyways, hope that was not too confusing. You now know more than most insurance agents know if you got what I said. Universal LIfe is a big rip off. Get out now while you still can. Your surrender charge, oh by the way, did your agent mention that there are early cancellation fees? The surrender charge may eat up what you have already paid into the policy.

Move on and find an honest insurance agent.

The short answer of the difference between universal life and term life is cash value. The advantage of cash value is that the universal life has the ability to grow a tax deferred and probably tax free return (I say “probably” because it is possible to not have the tax free return, but I doubt you would have any problems with that.)

With the cash value, you have the opportunity to keep your life insurance policy for your whole life. I don’t know the length of term for your parent’s policy, but their policy will increase in cost over the years and by about age 70 it will be so expensive they will not be able to keep the policies. Therefore, all the money they paid in term premiums they lose (effectively, they “rented” their insurance for 30 or 40 years instead of “buying” their insurance.)

The universal life does have “guaranteed” accumulation of cash value based on the current cash value and the premiums paid. That’s regardless of how the company performs. If the company performs better, then you get more than the guarantee. Most companies have paid more than the guarantee every year. You can check with your company to see if that’s true with them.

If you buy $100,000 20 year term, you will probably see the cost at around $20/month each. That’s a lot less than the $65/month each now, but in 20 years it will double and in another 20 years it will go way above doubling.

So, think of your universal policies as policies you will have for the rest of your life unless you decide you want the cash. After 20 years and more you will probably receive all of your premiums back plus some return if you decide to cancel the policies. I don’t know what the agent showed you as the effect of the cash value in 30 years or whatever, but it is likely a reasonable expectation. In other words, you can reasonably expect to have the cash value he/she showed you. It may be less; it may be more.

I know there are many entertainers on the radio such as Dave Ramsey and Suzie Orman who say “Never buy permanent life insurance. Only buy term.” This is *not* a good recommendation for everyone. It is a good recommendation for some, neutral recommendation for others and *bad* recommendation for still others.

I don’t know your specific situation, but if you are in good health, in the 30-year-old range, can afford the premiums without having to skip dinner and the company is a well-known, grade-A insurance company, you probably should keep the policies.

My advice, if you meet those items just mentioned, is to keep the policy and plan to pay even a higher premium when you can (I know this sounds dumb right now). But when your 60 you probably will not be making premium payments anymore and will have the life insurance well past age 100 if you live that long. I have many clients who wished they had purchased a permanent policy when they were in their 20s or 30s instead of term. I don’t have any clients who are past the age of 60 and thought they had made an error when they purchased their permanent policies 30 or more years ago.

You don’t want a “good rate of return” on your life insurance. To have that, buy a 1-year term policy and get in an accident after your first payment – but that’s not a plan any of us want. What you should want is a plan where you pay a little more now, build cash value and then quit paying on the policy when everyone else is complaining about the cost of their life insurance going up.

Remember I don’t make anything off of your policies and am giving you advice as if you were sitting in my office.
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Hope this helps.

What are your parents going to do when their Term insurance gets too expensive, or because of age, terminates?

The UL is a combination of Term insurance and a cash accumulation account. The cost of the term insurance (mortality charges) and expenses come out of the cash accumulation. Universal Life is considered to be Permanent insurance, because it can cover the insured for life. Like whole life, the cash values keep the out-of-pocket costs level. Regular Term insurance does not accumulate cash value, so the out-of-pocket costs will rise.

Term insurance is designed to cover a temporary need for a specified period of time. One day, that Term policy may not be there.

According to insurance industry studies, the likelihood of a Term policy paying the death benefit is about 1%. The reason that Term is so inexpensive, especially in younger years, is that the insurance companies don’t expect to be paying a death claim, because ithe Term will expire, lapse for non-payment, or be converted to Permanent insurance before the insured dies.

Your UL premiums could probably be less than what you are currently paying, but if you pay less, your out-of-pocket costs will increase over time, because the cost of the insurance (mortality) will continue to increase. The Term insurance in the UL is basically an annual renewable term.

Also, your premiums are flexible, and the amount of insurance is adjustable. This means that you can raise or lower your prmiums, and raise or lower your death benefit. The UL was designed to be the only life insurance policy one will ever need, because of it’s flexibility.

Also, the UL has two plans, A and B. In Plan A, the death benefit includes the cash accumulation. In Plan B, the death benefit is the face amount of the policy, PLUS the cash accumulation.

Here’s what you need to do. Call your agent, and if he/she hasn’t done so, have him/her do a Financial Need Analysis (FNA), or other Total Need Program, to help you determine in your own mind how much life insurance you actually need to fulfill your personal short and log-term goals and objectives. If your agent hasn’t offered to do this for you, shame on him/her.

The FNA will also help you determine if you need Disability Income Protection, to provide an income should you be hurt or sick and can’t work. It will also help you determine if you need an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), to provide an income at retirement. (All that will be there when you get there is what you send on ahead.)

According to statistics, disability is a greater risk than death prior to the age of 65.

Best wishes.