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Whole life insurance policies can come with different premium schedules. Those schedules determine how fast a policy can be fully paid-up — where the protection coverage is permanently in place and no more premiums are needed.
Some whole life policies can be paid up in as few as 10 payments. Others can be paid up with premiums stretching over years to a certain age, like 65 or 100.
What’s the difference?
In terms of immediate protection, none. Purchasing a life insurance policy ensures that loved ones will have a death benefit to help carry on in the event of your untimely passing. That is guaranteed, no matter the timetable for premiums. (Calculator: How much life insurance do I need?)
But whole life insurance has another feature where the premium schedule can make a difference. This is its cash value component, essentially a pool of funds that builds up over time, tax deferred, an interest rate guaranteed by the insurance company. (Related: Cash value explained)
Why is cash value important?
Cash value can be a source of funds used for any purpose through borrowing: college tuition, home improvements, or supplemental retirement income, for example.1 It can also be used to cover a premium payment and keep a policy in force in some instances. And the interest rates applied to cash value loans from insurance policies may be more attractive than those available for personal loans.1
Having cash value in a whole life insurance policy, then, can be a useful option in an overall financial portfolio in addition to providing protection.
So how do you build cash value?
Cash value builds up as you pay premiums. The more you pay in toward paying off the policy, the more cash value becomes available. That’s where the length of the premium schedule becomes important.
Essentially, shorter premium policies have higher annual premiums, but build up cash value more quickly. By contrast, longer premium policies have lower annual premiums, but don’t build up cash value as fast.
“One way to think about these choices is like a 15-year versus a 30-year mortgage,” said Doug Collins, financial planning director at Fortis Lux Financial in New York City. “You need to pay more monthly for the 15-year mortgage, but you will be done paying off your home sooner. And there can be other advantages, such as higher cash accumulation for shorter pay-period policies.”
Take, for example, a 40-year-old, healthy woman (nonsmoker) buying a $250,000 whole life insurance policy. What would be the difference in guaranteed cash value between a policy paid up in 15 annual payments versus a policy where payments were stretched over 60 years until she reached age 100.2
As this example demonstrates, the 15-pay policy builds more than twice as much guaranteed cash value as the 100-pay policy in 15 years.
“For certain clients, a 15-pay policy can be an awesome product,” said Elan Moas, an investment adviser representative with Coastal Wealth in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. “It provides the protection of a to-age-100 policy, but it’s paid up after 15 years. Because of this, you have higher early cash value without any further premiums due after the 15th year. That coupled with the favorable borrowing rate means you can get a retirement income stream from the policy on very good terms.”
The values cited in this example would be guaranteed. They don’t take into account other factors that could increase cash value beyond the guaranteed level, particularly the addition and performance of possible dividends paid out by insurance companies on participating life insurance policies, which can be used to increase both the amount of life insurance death benefit protection and policy cash value.3 (Related: Understanding whole life insurance dividends)
Variety of policy and payment choice
Of course, this example only focuses on two types of premium policies. There can be a variety of choices. On top of that, premiums can be paid with different frequencies, from annual to monthly, to meet individual budget requirements. (Related: What premium plan may work for you?)
Additionally, there are other types of permanent life insurance that also have a cash value component, albeit it is built and grows in different ways. And while premiums for whole life insurance are level, premiums for those other types of insurance, like universal life insurance or variable universal life insurance, don’t have to be. (Term life insurance, which provides protection for a set number of years, generally does not have a cash value component.)
Many people choose to talk with a MassMutual financial professional, who can help lay out the options, generate illustrations like the ones above, and discuss what might be appropriate for an individual situation. (Need a financial professional? Find one here)
Discover more from MassMutual …
Whole life insurance: Criticisms and rebuttals
Understanding life insurance policy riders
This article was originally published in 2021. It has been updated.
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1 Borrowing from cash value will reduce the policy's cash value and death benefit, increase the chance the policy will lapse, and may result in a tax liability if the policy terminates before the death of the insured.
2 This is an example only and is not binding. Additional policy features, or riders, are not included and may be available at an additional cost. Rates may vary based on age, gender, underwriting class, table ratings and state. Rates are as of 10/20/2023 and are subject to change.
The products and/or certain features may not be available in all states. State variations will apply.
Whole Life Legacy series policies ((Policy Forms: MMWL-2018 and ICC18-MMWL in certain states, including North Carolina)/ (MMWLA-2018 and ICC18-MMWLA in certain states, including North Carolina)) and MassMutual Whole Life series policies on the digital platform (Policy Forms: WL-2018 and ICC18WL in certain states, including North Carolina) are level-premium, participating, permanent life insurance policies issued by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), Springfield, MA 01111-0001.
3 Dividends are not guaranteed.