Permanent Life Insurance

Permanent life insurance provides death benefit protection for life.

Permanent life insurance may have fixed premiums, generally accumulates cash value on a tax-deferred basis and may pay policy dividends (dividends are not guaranteed). Although more expensive initially than term life insurance, permanent life insurance may, over time, become the least expensive form of life insurance.

There are four broad categories of permanent life insurance:

Whole Life

Whole life insurance does exactly what its name says - it provides life insurance protection for a lifetime.

A Whole life policy has premiums that remain level over the life of the policy and must be paid regularly. Policy premiums, death benefits and cash values are guaranteed†. The cash value increases at a fixed, guaranteed† rate.

Ordinarily, a whole life policy is a "participating" policy, meaning the policyholder is entitled to share in any annual distribution of the company's surplus. This distribution is commonly known as a "dividend". Dividends are not guaranteed, but when paid, can be used in various ways, such as providing additional insurance coverage or, if sufficient, paying part or all of the policy's annual premium.

Universal Life

A universal life policy allows the policy owner, after the initial payment, to pay flexible premiums, subject to certain minimums and standards. Premium payments are credited to the policy's account value that earns interest at a current rate, which changes monthly.

This type of policy remains in force as long as there is sufficient account value to pay the insurance and policy charges. Some universal life policies offer guaranteed† death benefits.

Variable Universal Life Insurance

For information about Variable Universal Life Insurance, please see the following page on the Mass Mutual website.

Survivorship Life Insurance

Survivorship insurance policies offer:

  • life insurance protection for two lives
  • flexible settlement options for your heirs
  • estate preservation

If you are married, your estate, within federal limits, will pass to your spouse free of federal estate taxes when you die. However, once your spouse dies, estate taxes can pose a serious problem to your heirs.

The second-to-die policy death benefit proceeds can help provide the funds needed to pay estate taxes and reduce or eliminate the need for your heirs to liquidate your estate.

The professionals at Lau & Lau Associates, LLC can help incorporate the features important to you from a wide array of survivorship products.

Contact Us

Contact Lau & Lau Associates today to find out more about permanent life insurance.

† Guarantees are based upon the claims paying ability of the issuing company.