Life Insurance provides protection for your family in several different ways. It can help to continue your business, pay off your mortgage, help with education expenses, and several other things. There are two types of life insurance, Term and Permanent.

Term Life Insurance

Term Insurance provides protection for a specified period of time, typically from one to thirty years. It pays a death benefit only if you die during this time. Some policies can be automatically renewed at the end of the coverage period, and some can be converted to permanent insurance without the need for a medical exam.

The advantages for term insurance are more insurances for less money. This type of insurance is ideal for covering specific short term financial needs such as college education or a mortgage loan.

The disadvantages of term insurance is that the premiums might increase at each policy renewal date, becoming very expensive later in life. There is no savings feature (cash value), only a death benefit if you die while the policy is in force.

Permanent Insurance

Permanent Insurance provides life long protection as long as you continue to pay your premiums. The premiums are based on your age at the time of the purchase and generally remain level; they do not increase with age. Because premiums remain level, they are more expensive than term insurance. But permanent insurance accumulates cash value, which may be refundable upon surrender of the policy. While the policy is in force, cash values can be borrowed against or used to pay premiums.

There are four basic types of permanent insurance.

Whole Life (sometimes also called life or ordinary life) has a fixed guaranty interest rate and develops guaranteed cash values.

Universal Life has more flexibility. Within certain limits, you can change the death benefit, the amount of premium, and the payment frequency. Unlike Whole Life, this isn't an "interest driven" policy, which normally pays a minimum guaranteed interest. If the interest rates are continually low, additional premiums may have to be paid to avoid a lapse in coverage.

Variable Life has death benefits and cash values that vary with the performance of an underlying portfolio of investments that you select. The death benefit and cash value are not guaranteed. They can go down as well as up, although there may be a guaranteed minimum death benefit.

Variable Universal combines the premium and death benefit flexibility of Universal Life with the investment flexibility and risk of Variable Life.

The amount and type of life insurance you may require depends on several factors. The Stogner Agency has the tools and resources to help you buy the best protection for you and your family.

To learn more about our customized insurance plans, contact us or simply fill out our no-obligation Quote Form.