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There are a variety of life insurance products:
 Term insurance provides no-frills insurance protection and does not include a savings element. Term insurance is relatively inexpensive when you are young, but premiums increase with your age.
Whole life insurance provides protection for an insured's entire life, and the premiums remain the same for the life of the policy. It does include a savings element. Any premiums paid in excess of administrative expenses (commissions, selling, and marketing expenses) and mortality costs are added to accumulated cash values that earn interest.
Variable life insurance is a permanent insurance contract with level premiums. The cash reserve is maintained in a separate account and the policyholder determines how it is to be invested (equity funds, bond funds, or money market funds). The death benefits vary with the investment returns in the separate account, but the proceeds cannot be less than the policy's original face amount.
Universal life insurance is flexible premium insurance that includes monthly renewable term insurance and an investment component. Administrative expenses are deducted from each premium payment, and any remainder is added to the policy's accumulated cash value. This type of insurance defers current income taxes on policy earnings.
Universal variable life insurance combines the flexible features of universal life and variable life policies.
Single-premium life insurance involves paying a one-time premium for a specified amount of life insurance protection. Earnings on the investment grow and are tax-deferred as they are not withdrawn or borrowed.
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