Universal life insurance

Universal life insurance (often shortened to UL) is a type of cash valuelife insurance, primarily in the United States of America. Under the terms of the policy, the excess of premium payments above the current cost of insurance is credited to the cash value of the policy. The cash value is credited each month with interest, and the policy is debited each month by a cost of insurance (COI) charge, as well as any other policy charges and fees drawn from the cash value, even if no premium payment is made that month. Interest credited to the account is determined by the insurer, but has a contractual minimum rate (often 2%). When an earnings rate is pegged to a financial index such as a stock, bond or other interest rate index, the policy is an "Indexed Universal Life" contract. These types of policies offer the advantage of guaranteed level premiums throughout the insured's lifetime at substantially lower premium cost than an equivalent whole life policy at first; the cost of insurance is always increasing as found on the cost index table (usually p. 3 of a contract). This not only allows for easy comparison of costs between carriers, but also works well in irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILIT's) since cash is of no consequence.

A similar type of policy that was developed from universal life insurance is the variable universal life insurance policy (VUL). VUL lets the cash value be directed to a number of separate accounts that operate like mutual funds and can be invested in or bond investments with greater risk and potential growth. Additionally, there is the recent addition of index universal life contracts similar to equity-indexed annuities credit interest linked to the positive movement of an index, such as the S&P 500, Russell 2000, and the Dow Jones. Unlike VUL, the cash value of an Index UL policy generally has principal protection, less the costs of insurance and policy administrative fees. Index UL participation in the index may have a cap, margin, or other participation modifier, as well as a minimum guaranteed interest rate.

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