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Cash Value Life Insurance as Part of a Retirement-Planning Strategy

Using cash value life insurance as part of an individual's retirement-planning strategy is common.

Cash value life insurance policies offer additional lifetime protection beyond their role in providing liquidity in the event of an unexpected death. The funds can serve not only as a buffer against market volatility during downturns but also as a source of tax-free retirement income.

Certain people can benefit from cash value life insurance as a retirement investment after reaching retirement age. The question is how to determine the best option and find the most suitable life insurance package for each person. In simple terms, how can you determine which insurance policy is best to purchase to meet your individual retirement-planning requirements?

For several reasons, including each product's distinctive structure, comparing different life insurance plans can sometimes be difficult. The risk component, also known as the mortality cost, can be viewed as the cost a consumer must bear to be protected against premature death. This is similar to viewing a homeowners insurance premium as the cost of protection against an unexpected fire.

The difference between a life insurance policy and a homeowners insurance policy, however, is that a significant percentage of a cash value life insurance premium is attributable to the reserve being built within the policy. Life insurance is unique among insurance policies because it covers the risk of death in its entirety. People buy life insurance because no one knows exactly when they will die and because death is inevitable for all of us.

With cash value life insurance in particular, the insurer intentionally charges more for coverage during the younger years so the cost can remain within reasonable limits in later years. Otherwise, the premium to insure $1,000 at age 100 would be very close to $1,000.

During a cash value insurance policy's early years, any excess premium collected is deposited into an investment account. How that money is invested plays a key role in determining the rate at which the policy's cash value will grow.

Some plans, such as whole life insurance, charge a constant premium and guarantee a minimum rate of return on the money invested. This return is reflected in the policy's cash values. Any surplus earnings are paid to the policyholder as a tax-free check.

Other plans, such as universal life, provide more flexible premiums and credit an interest rate to cash value that reflects the insurer's investment experience. Still others, such as variable life insurance, give the policyholder the ability to choose how the policy's cash value should be invested. The buyer decides how cash values are invested but also assumes the risk associated with those investments.