You likely have heard of universal life policies but you might not know exactly what they are. What sorts of benefits will you gain from a policy like this? What are they all about? The short answer is that they provide insurance coverage for the entire duration of one’s life.

Universal life policies are a subset product of the whole life insurance products available on the market. A term life policy provides you with coverage for a specified period of time and it is not permanent. A whole life policy will provide you with coverage for the duration of your life. A universal life policy is somewhat a combination of the two in which you will have the additional option of using available investment options as well.

Certain groups of people will benefit with a universal life insurance policy more than others will. Like any other life insurance policy, a universal life policy will provide you with a death benefit payout in the event of your death. Both term and whole life policies provide this, but universal life policies also include an additional tax-free savings and investment account.

This savings and investment account will allow you to grow your money over the course of your life. At some point, you can actually accrue enough cash value that the policy will literally pay your monthly premiums for you so you don’t have to pay for them out of pocket. In addition to this, you have a number of other options available to you that will, in no way, affect your death benefit as it might with a whole life policy.

Obviously, not everyone is going to find universal life policies useful. If you are searching for a long term insurance option that will not only serve you through retirement and beyond, but will also never expire and will continue to grow your money this type of policy will be good for you. It’s best to start a universal life policy when you’re young or relatively young since it can take around 15 years before you grow enough in the cash account to pay your premiums for you.

If you want coverage that will cover you for a shorter period of time or coverage that will help you secure a mortgage you should look into other insurance or investment tools. If, however, you want an investment that will look after itself, ensure a death benefit, and give you prolonged security then a universal life insurance policy could certainly be for you.