Guaranteed vs. Non-Guaranteed Permanent Life Insurance Policies
Fifty years ago, most life insurance policies sold were guaranteed and offered by mutual fund companies. Choices were limited to term, endowment or whole life policies. It was simple, you paid a high, set premium and the insurance company guaranteed the death benefit. All of that changed in the 1980s. Interest rates soared, and policy owners surrendered their coverage to invest the cash value in higher interest paying non-insurance products. To compete, insurers began offering interest-sensitive non-guaranteed policies.
Guaranteed versus Non-Guaranteed Policies
Today, companies offer a broad range of guaranteed and non-guaranteed life insurance policies. A guaranteed policy is one in which the insurer assumes all the risk and contractually guarantees the death benefit in exchange for a set premium payment. If investments underperform or expenses go up, the insurer has to absorb the loss. With a non-guaranteed policy the owner, in exchange for a lower premium and possibly better return, is assuming much of the investment risk as well as giving the insurer the right to increase policy fees. If things do not work out as planned, the policy owner has to absorb the cost and pay a higher premium.
Term Policies
Term life insurance is guaranteed. The premium is set at issue and clearly stated right in the policy. An annual renewable term policy has a premium that goes up every year. A level term policy has an initially higher premium that does not change for a set period, usually 10, 20 or 30 years, and then becomes annual renewable term with a premium based on your attained age.
Permanent Policies
Permanent coverage: whole, universal and variable life is more confusing since the same policy, depending on how it is issued, can often be either guaranteed or non-guaranteed. All permanent life insurance policy illustrations are hypothetical and include ledgers that show how the policy could perform under both guaranteed and non-guaranteed assumptions.The rates of return and policy fees are usually shown at the top of each ledger column and some policies, such as variable or index life, are sometimes illustrated assuming very optimistic 7-8% annual returns.
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