Good Value In Term Life Insurance

How much cash value builds up under the life insurance policy?

What part of the insurance premiums or benefits are not guaranteed?

What is the effect of interest on money paid and received at different times on the life insurance policy?

Once you have decided which type of life insurance policy to buy, you can use a cost comparison index to help you compare similar insurance policies. Life
insurance agents or companies can give you information about several different kinds of indexes that each work a little differently. One type helps you compare the costs between two insurance policies if you give up the policy and take out the cash value. Another helps you compare your costs if you don't give up your insurance policy before its coverage ends. Some help you decide what kind of questions to ask the insurance agent about the numbers used in an insurance illustration. Each index is useful in some ways, but they all have shortcomings. Ask your life insurance agent which will be most helpful to you. Regardless of which index you use, compare index numbers only for similar life insurance policies -
those that offer basically the same benefits, with premiums payable for the same length of time.

Remember that no one company offers the lowest cost at all ages for all kinds and amounts of life insurance. You should also consider other factors:

• How quickly does the cash value grow? Some life insurance policies have
  low cash values in the early years that build quickly later on. Other life insurance policies have a more level cash value build-up. A year-by-year display of life insurance values and benefits can be very helpful. (The life insurance agent or company will give you a policy summary or a life
  insurance illustration that will show benefits and premiums for selected years.)
  

• Are there special life insurance policy features that particularly suit your needs?
  

• How are non-guaranteed values calculated? For example, interest rates are important in determining life insurance policy return. Within some life insurance companies, increases reflect the average interest earnings on all of that company's insurance policies regardless of when issued. In others, the return for life insurance policies issued in a recent year, or a group of years, reflects the interest earnings on that group of insurance policies; in this case, amounts paid are likely to change more rapidly when interest
  rates change.