Whole Life Insurance Overview

Whole Life Insurance works differently than Term Life policies in that it covers an individual for their “whole life,” as the name implies. Once a policy is in place, the face value does not change and remains the same over the policy's life.

Whole Life Insurance is the most common type of permanent insurance policy. In addition to providing cash benefits to your beneficiaries upon your death, most whole-life policies have a savings feature that guarantees the accumulation of a cash value that grows at a specified rate over the life of the policy. Usually, the policy has little or no cash value in the first couple of years due to the cost of insurance expenses on the front end, but over time, it will begin to accumulate and build cash value.