Permanent life insurance is a term sometimes used for life insurance, such as whole life or endowment, where the sum assured is due to be paid out at the end of the policy (assuming the policy is kept current) and the policy accrues a cash value.
This is contrasted with Term life insurance where insurance is purchased for a specified period (such as 5, 10, or 20 years) and a benefit is only paid out if the insured dies during this period.
The earliest form of permanent life insurance was offered in the 18th century as a fixed premium fixed return product known as whole life insurance. There were untold variations on this theme over the years. One example, which became popular in the United States in the late 20th century, was "universal life insurance". This allowed the policyholder considerable flexibility as to the amounts and timing of premiums. Some versions also allowed the policyholder to partially encash the policy (as opposed to taking a loan on the security of the policy) without the interest associated with the loan provisions in whole life policies. "Variable life insurance" or "linked life assurance" is similar, but the benefits are more directly linked to investment performance, thus shifting some risk to the policyholder.
Read more about Permanent Life Insurance: Higher Premiums
Famous quotes containing the words permanent, life and/or insurance:
“Most Americans are born drunk, and really require a little wine or beer to sober them. They have a sort of permanent intoxication from within, a sort of invisible champagne.... Americans do not need to drink to inspire them to do anything, though they do sometimes, I think, need a little for the deeper and more delicate purpose of teaching them how to do nothing.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“life is a trick, life is a kitten in a sack.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Women hock their jewels and their husbands’ insurance policies to acquire an unaccustomed shade in hair or crêpe de chine. Why then is it that when anyone commits anything novel in the arts he should be always greeted by this same peevish howl of pain and surprise? One is led to suspect that the interest people show in these much talked of commodities, painting, music, and writing, cannot be very deep or very genuine when they so wince under an unexpected impact.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)