You will be given a death benefit and an investment option with a universal life policy. Your money can grow in a number of ways and while the safest of these is with money market interest rates, you may have the option of investing in stocks, bonds, and other similar products. A universal life policy is an insurance product that will allow you to increase and decrease your coverage amount. While it is flexible, there will be certain restrictions on the frequency and variance of these options. For instance, if you want to increase coverage you may need to agree to underwriter requirements and you may not be able to decrease the amount below a certain sum.

Universal life policies broken down:

• You may add additional amounts of money into your policy that can increase the value of your cash account and the death benefit. All interest accrued is tax-deferred.

• Control the amount your premiums are set at and the frequency in which you pay them. Usually this will be monthly, quarterly, or annually.

• At certain times you can even adjust your premiums to help you keep your policy up to date while still fitting them into your budget. The cash value of your policy will decrease when this happens, though, since your premium will be subsidized from this account. Most companies charge additional fees to allow you to take advantage of this option.

• The cash value portion can be used in emergencies in two ways. You can withdraw a certain accrued amount, but most companies will limit how many withdrawals you can make per year and in what amounts. These are usually subject to fees, such as the policy premium adjustment.

You may wonder what kind of interest rates you will get on the cash value account. This is done, usually, in one of two ways. Some companies will have a floating interest rate and you will earn interest on whatever rate happens to be in place each month. Other companies, however, will offer you a fixed rate that will never change despite the fluctuations of the insurance company’s rate.

Make sure you read the fine print of any policy offered to you and don’t settle on the first one you’re presented with. Find a policy that fits well with your needs and those of your family with flexible benefits. No one wants to be faced with speed bumps in life, but they are unfortunately something we’ll run into now and then. A universal life insurance policy can help protect your family’s future in the face of unforeseen, disastrous events.