Variable Life Insurance

When you are considering a term vs. variable life insurance policy, you have a lot to think about. Not only do you need to consider whether or not you want there to be any risk involved with the money you are giving to a life insurance company, but you also need to consider how much money you have to spend on your insurance.

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In order to make an educated decision about whether you should choose term life insurance or variable life insurance, you need to understand what each of these insurance options offer. Keep reading to learn a little about each option so that you can determine which one is right for you.
Term vs. Variable Life Insurance: What is term life insurance?

Term life insurance is an insurance product that expires after an agreed upon amount of time. A term life insurance policy is the most affordable type of insurance to purchase because the guarantee of benefit expires with the policy.

The benefit of choosing a term policy is that you can purchase a lot of insurance for a small amount of money. In fact, in most cases, you will find that a $500,000 term life policy costs less than a $200,000 whole life policy. Naturally, there are factors the insurance company uses to determine how much your policy will cost, so get a quote for several levels of insurance before you buy.

The policy holder, that’s you, determines how much insurance they need and how long they need the policy to last. For example, if you have a 5 year old child and you want to ensure that, if you die before they graduate from college, all college expenses are covered, then you might choose a $200,000 policy that lasts for 20 years.

Once your term expires, your policy does too; although, some life insurance companies do allow for renewal. Some companies allow for a 5 year renewal at a time while others then establish a year to year renewal. Typically, your premiums will increase each year if you select this option.

Most insurance companies have an age limit for those that can purchase term life insurance. This age limit will vary between companies. Some companies only sell term life insurance to those under the age of 55 while other will allow a purchase up to age 70.

Term vs. Variable Life Insurance: What is variable life insurance?

Variable life insurance is very similar to whole life insurance. Basically, you pay a minimum premium to keep your policy in force. You then have the option to pay higher premiums to create a cash value for your policy. That additional cash is invested to earn you, hopefully, a substantial interest rate so that your cash value can grow.

In addition, once you have accumulated a cash value on your policy, you can use that cash to pay your premiums. This is a great option for people whose income varies from month to month making it impossible for them to commit to a single standard premium.

If, however, your policy’s cash value reduces to zero, you still have to pay premiums for the policy to continue in force or your policy will lapse.

The only difference between a variable life insurance policy and a universal life insurance policy is the ability to choose how the cash value of your policy is invested. You can choose any type of investments that you want and you can choose multiple investments. If you make poor choices then you lose money, if you make good choices, then you earn money.

One of the downsides to choosing a variable life insurance policy is that, if you choose to withdraw money from the cash value portion of your policy, your benefit will be reduced by that withdrawal amount.

Think that’s okay? Then think about it this way, what if you had a checking account and a savings account a the same bank. You have money in both accounts so you withdraw $500 from your checking account. Your bank then takes an additional $500 from your savings and keeps it for themselves. Is that okay?

Term vs. Variable Life Insurance: How do I know which is the best life insurance policy?

You are the best person to answer this question. You need to determine just how much insurance you need and how much you can afford to pay in premiums. Also, decide if you mean to use this as an investment tool, a safeguard for your beneficiaries, or both.

If you need a high dollar insurance policy, then a term policy may be right for you. If you want a long term investment that will grow and you have more money to spend on premiums, then a variable life insurance policy may be right for you.

The truth is that because these polices are so different that comparing them is like comparing apples to oranges. They just aren’t the same except for their shapes are similar. Everything on the inside tastes completely different. When it comes to life insurance, you need to build a policy around you and your family’s needs.

To accomplish this goal, you should start by comparing rates between companies. Not only should you look at term and variable life policies, check out whole and universal as well to see if one of those suit your needs.

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West Coast Life Insurance

The West Coast Life Insurance Company likes to boast that they have over 200 years of experience in the life insurance industry. How can they make this claim? Well, simply put, West Coast Life was founded in 1906, but was bought out in 1997 by

Protective Life Insurance Company, which was founded in 1907; and there you have it, 200 years of experience. Get online insurance quotes from many companies with your zip code now!

With the exception of the year that they started providing life insurance and the year that they were purchased by Protective Life, West Coast’s website does little to let you know about the type of company this is. If you like to know about the company you are going to purchase life insurance from then this can be a bit frustrating.

West Coast Life Insurance Review of Company Website

West Coast does offer you a little insight to the basic tenants of their practice. Basically, they want to focus on quality of service that they provide to their customers as well as educate their customers so that they can make good choices about their investments.

The problem is, their website doesn’t express their basic tenants. If you are well versed in the different type of insurance options available, you will find that the West Coast web site has a lot to offer. They offer comprehensive descriptions of their products and what they mean for their customers.

The problem is that, if you aren’t well versed on the ins and outs of life insurance terms and options, you may find that their information is very hard to use. They use professional terms and expect you to understand what the different types of insurance are when you look at their policy types. You may find yourself checking Wikipedia from time to time to learn about different product types.

Another issue with the website is that each of the link buttons and side bar fonts are very tiny. For someone who struggles with reading online already, start looking for the zoom control! You will also find that when you want to look at product description, you are actually redirected to a new page where a large PDF file opens. If you have an older computer, this will slow you down.

While the quality of their website doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of the services you will receive, if you need to use their website for contacts, paying your premiums and so on, this can be a bit frustrating.

West Coast Life Insurance Review of Products

West Coast Life Insurance Company offers many of the same products that you will find at a majority of life insurance companies. They do offer more flexible options within their products.

For example, you can purchase term life insurance, but you can purchase a flexible plan that allows you to change the payments to your beneficiary and annuity. Basically your beneficiary receives the benefit in weekly or monthly payments so that it acts as income. The money is still tax-free, it just allows your loved ones to manage money and not stress about day-to-day bills.

They also offer term insurance plans that start at 10 years and go to 30 years in increments of 5 years (10, 15, 20 etc.).With their whole life insurance and universal life insurance policies, they offer flexible premiums, allow for the increase or decrease of benefits based on your current needs and offer flexible benefit payouts
for your beneficiaries.

West Coast Life Insurance Review of Company’s Financial Outlook

The financial outlook for West Coast Life Insurance Company is excellent. They have a superior rating from A.M. Best of A+, a very strong rating from Standard and Poor’s of AA, and a Fitch score of good A2. Each of these ratings represents high scores from the insurance industries standards in terms of ratings.

The future outlook for West Coast is considered very good as well. This means that you can invest your money with confidence. Of course, no one can read into the future so, as they say, don’t put all your eggs into one basket.

What this really means is that purchasing insurance policies from several life insurance companies ensures that your have a better chance of not losing your investment. This also applies to annuities, which West Coast offers as well.

West Coast Life Insurance Review: The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that West Coast offers a nice variety of products and has an excellent financial safety record. This is a company that should do well for you no matter what type of services that you need, their website not withstanding.

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