The Return of Whole Life Insurance

Over the last few decades, term life insurance has seemed to be the best way to provide for your family if you were to pass. 

It is affordable and pays out well, but after years of renewing policies that did not guarantee any benefits, people have started to turn back to whole life insurance coverage.

Whole life coverage had gotten a reputation for being a little expensive when compared to term life plans, but then again, your money remains yours with a whole life plan.

There are many reasons why these life insurance policies have recently become so popular.

First of all, interest rates are still ultra-low, but whole life policies pay out guaranteed rates that go far beyond what could be earned in a savings account or certificate of deposit with a similar duration. Better yet, taxes do not apply to the cash value growth of a whole life policy. 

Also, insurance companies offer a variety of different whole life plans that can help policyholders reinvest dividends and increase interest on the cash value, further protecting the investment.

Moreover, although taxes on capital gains and dividends have been recently reduced, the proceeds of whole life policies are generally not taxed, even when the benefactor dies.

In all, whole life policies can do things that term life coverage just cannot offer. For instance, once premium payments accrue enough cash value in the policy, premium costs may be reduced or even eliminated, without affecting the benefits or coverage terms.

Policyholders can even borrow money from their whole life policy’s cash value without needing to go through a lengthy loan approval process. And since it’s actually the policyholder’s money, there’s no rush to pay it back.

The takeaway

There are few guarantees in life, but people can count on the guaranteed benefits of whole life coverage. 

Every time a term life policy gets renewed, the process of investing begins anew, not to mention that term life coverage can be canceled if a payment is missed or late. But you can watch your money grow and rest assured that it will be there during times of need with whole life insurance.