3 Reasons Why You Should Consider Permanent Life Insurance

Thinking about purchasing life insurance? That could be a wise decision. Life insurance is a powerful financial tool that can provide critical protection for your spouse, children and other loved ones. In the event of your death, your family can use a life insurance death benefit to pay off debt, replace your income and fund major life goals.

Not all life insurance is the same, though. There are many different types of insurance, but most fall into one of two categories: term or permanent. Term insurance is coverage that lasts for a limited period of time, like 10 or 20 years. When the period is over, you can renew the coverage or simply let it lapse. Term insurance is popular because it’s usually affordable compared with similar permanent coverage.

However, affordability shouldn’t be your only consideration. While permanent insurance may come with higher premiums, it also has different features and benefits that usually aren’t available with term policies. Below are four such features:

 

Permanent Protection

As the name suggests, permanent coverage is meant to cover your entire life. Some policies terminate at age 100, at which point the cash value is simply paid out to you. Assuming you don’t live past age 100 and continue to pay all required premiums, however, your coverage will stay in effect.

That could be important later in life. As you get older, you may experience more health issues. If you need insurance in the future, you may find that the premiums are prohibitive or that you don’t qualify for coverage at all. If you buy a permanent policy today, you only go through underwriting one time and the coverage stays in force forever.

 

Tax-Deferred Cash Accumulation

A key difference between term insurance and permanent insurance is the accumulation of cash inside the policy. Permanent policies have a cash value account. A portion of your premium goes into this account. It then grows—through policy dividends, interest payments or investment gains. The method for growth depends on the type of policy.

Growth inside a permanent policy is tax-deferred. That means you don’t pay taxes on the growth until after you take a distribution from the policy. That deferral could help your funds accumulate at a faster rate than they would in a taxable account.

 

Tax-Efficient Distributions

What do you do with the cash value in a permanent policy? You can let it continue to accumulate, or you can take it out to fund college, retirement or any other goal.

You can take the funds as withdrawals, which may generate tax consequences. But you can also take the loan distributions. Under this arrangement, you borrow the funds tax-free from the policy, and then repay it over time. If you fail to repay the loan before you pass away, the balance is simply deducted from the death benefit.

Ready to develop your life insurance protection strategy? Let’s talk about it. Contact us today at TB Financial. We can help you analyze your needs and create a plan. Let’s connect soon and start the conversation.

 

Licensed Insurance Professional. This information is designed to provide a general overview with regard to the subject matter covered and is not state specific. The authors, publisher and host are not providing legal, accounting or specific advice for your situation. By providing your information, you give consent to be contacted about the possible sale of an insurance or annuity product. This information has been provided by a Licensed Insurance Professional and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting insurance professional. The statements and opinions expressed are those of the author and are subject to change at any time. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, presenting insurance professional makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. This material has been prepared for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for, accounting, legal, tax or investment advice.

16920 – 2017/8/25

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