Permanent life insurance has a set rate for the entire time you have the insurance policy. You can also sometimes build up cash value in your insurance plan, meaning you can borrow against the cash value and still collect the death benefit at the appropriate time. Remember: any loan taken from the death benefit is subtracted from the value of the policy that will be collected at the time of death.

Note: universal life and whole life are not the same. They do have slight differences. To get a more in depth understanding of the differences you can read our sections on universal life and whole life.

When you are looking for an insurance quote, it pays to have at least some understanding of the terms you will hear from insurance companies. But you should also remember that the insurance company is in business to offer a service to consumers – you. They are going to be anxious to answer questions about your life plan and your insurance rate. Take advantage of their knowledge and ask every question you can think of. Remember that your family will be depending on this insurance at a critical point in time.

One thing to keep in mind when you compare insurance quotes is to be sure that you have faith in the insurance company you are considering. Remember that this is likely going to be a long-term investment. You take out an insurance policy with an eye to the future. If you find cheap insurance, but it’s from a life insurance company that does not stay in business until you need it, you may have wasted the cost premiums over the course of your insurance term.