Your financial advisor — or maybe a neighbor who sells insurance — may have pitched you on a variable universal life insurance policy. You have questions, and rightfully so. Variable universal life, also known as VUL, is a complex product that isn’t right for everyone. Here’s a closer look at VUL and the role it could play in your finances.
VUL Insurance Meaning
Variable universal life (VUL) is a type of permanent life insurance that has a flexible premium, fixed death benefit, and investment options that function like mutual funds. VUL insurance policies provide lifelong coverage, as long as you continue paying premiums.
VUL Insurance Features
Here are the primary features of variable universal life insurance that make it attractive over other options:
- Builds Cash-Value: VUL policies have a cash-value component that grows over time. It works through a built-in savings account, which is funded by a portion of the policy’s premiums and invested to grow throughout the policyholder’s life. Depending on the type of policy, you can access your cash value by withdrawing funds, borrowing funds, or surrendering the policy. You could even sell the policy to a third party in a life settlement.
- Flexible Premiums: Life insurance premiums can be fixed or flexible. If your policy has a fixed premium, you must pay that amount or risk letting your policy lapse. When the premium is flexible, you can pay more than the recommended amount or less. For VUL insurance, you’d pay more to increase the growth of your cash value. You might pay less to manage through a temporary budget constraint. When you pay a lower premium, the insurer uses your cash value to cover the policy’s minimum costs. If your cash value is insufficient, the insurer will ask you to pay in more to keep your policy in force.
- Fixed Death Benefit: Some policy types adjust the amount of the death benefit according to how the savings portion of the policy grows over time. Variable universal life insurance does not work that way; the death benefit is guaranteed regardless of the performance of the policy’s investments. Note that the death benefit would change in a VUL insurance policy if you borrowed against your cash value.
- Investment Options: You invest your VUL cash value in funds called “sub-accounts.” Each sub-account has a specific investment strategy, such as blue-chip equities or international bonds. When you initiate your VUL insurance, you select a combination of sub-accounts that matches your risk tolerance and overall financial strategy. Your premiums, less any administrative and insurance fees, are then invested in your chosen sub-accounts.
The performance of those sub-accounts dictates how your cash value grows over time. If the sub-accounts perform well, your cash value balance grows faster. If the sub-accounts perform badly, you could see your cash value decrease.
How VUL Insurance Differs From Universal and Variable Life
Variable universal life is easy to confuse with universal life and variable life — because it has a similar name, but also because it blends key features from these other policy types. The table below shows how VUL insurance compares to universal life and variable life, with an additional explanation provided below.
| Policy type | Premium | Death Benefit | Investments |
| Variable universal life | Flexible | Fixed | Policyholder selects sub-account investments, which perform according to market conditions. |
| Universal life | Flexible | Fixed | Any premiums paid that exceed policy costs are funneled into a savings account that grows according to market interest rates. |
| Variable life | Fixed | Fluctuates | Policyholder selects sub-account investments, which perform according to market conditions. Performance does affect the policy’s death benefit. |
Variable Universal Life (VUL) vs. Universal Life
Universal life policies do not use the VUL sub-account system for investing. Instead, your universal life investment portion grows according to market rates or a minimum rate that’s defined in the policy. A universal life policy has lower growth potential vs. a VUL, but also a lower risk of loss.
Both variable universal life and universal life policies have a flexible premium, which is an advantage over variable life policies.
Variable Universal Life (VUL) vs. Variable Life
Both variable life and variable universal life have sub-account options for investing. What differentiates variable universal life from variable life is how investment performance affects the death benefit. In a VUL, your death benefit remains fixed as long as you pay minimum premiums and you don’t borrow against your cash value. The rise and fall of your sub-accounts will never change your death benefit.
That’s not the case with variable life. This is a life policy with a death benefit that can fluctuate according to investment performance. Most variable life policies will have a minimum death benefit, however. If the investment portion of the policy devalues enough, the death benefit can drop down to the minimum, but not below it.
Pros of VUL Insurance
VUL shares in the pros and cons of cash-value life insurance described above. But VUL also has its own differentiators relative to other types of cash-value policies, including these four advantages.
1. More control over your investments
VUL’s sub-account system for investing cash value gives you more control over risk exposure and asset allocation. You’d choose your sub-accounts in the same way you’d choose mutual funds within an investment account. If you want to position your policy investments conservatively, for example, you might rely on fixed-income sub-accounts. If you want the highest potential for capital growth, you might select sub-accounts that invest in small- and mid-cap equities.
2. Potential for higher returns
Because sub-accounts are financial market funds, you do have the potential to earn more in VUL vs. other forms of cash-value life insurance.
3. Fixed death benefit
As noted, the underlying performance of your VUL investments does not change your death benefit. In a variable life policy, your death benefit would fluctuate with investment performance.
4. Flexibility on premium payments
You do have the flexibility to increase or decrease your VUL premium payments.
Cons of VUL Insurance
Now, for the disadvantages. Relative to other types of cash-value life insurance, VUL can be risky, expensive and complex. Keep these five disadvantages in mind as you research your insurance options.
1. Higher risk of loss
You can earn more in a VUL, but you can also lose more. Poor performance of your sub-accounts will be reflected in your cash value. If the sub-accounts devalue enough, you may have to put more cash in to keep your policy from lapsing.
2. Higher fees
All cash-value policies have fees built into the premiums and VUL Is no exception. However, a VUL policyholder also absorbs fees that are embedded in the sub-accounts, which range from .5% to 2%. These fees are the sub-account equivalent to a mutual fund’s expense ratio, and they do lower your investment returns.
3. High surrender charges
Surrender charges on VUL policies can be in force for up to 15 years and can be very high in the early years of the policy. Note that you only pay surrender charges if you cancel your policy.
4. Premiums may rise
If your sub-accounts perform badly, your insurer may increase your premiums to ensure your policy is properly funded.
5. Complexity
VUL policies have many moving parts, including sub-accounts that have to be managed over time. Policyowners who misunderstand the nuances of VUL are more likely to experience poor investment performance or see results that don’t match their expectations.
Is VUL Insurance Right For You?
Because of the fees and complexity, VUL should not be your first or only vehicle for retirement savings. Even so, VUL may have a role to play in your finances. Often, this type of policy is most appropriate for high net worth individuals who’ve maxed out other tax-advantaged accounts, including 401(k)s and IRAs. The takeaway? Before initiating a VUL policy, make sure you understand where it fits within your overall financial plan and tailor your expectations accordingly.
Selling Your VUL Policy
It can take decades to build up a six-figure cash value in your variable universal life policy. In that time, your financial situation and retirement plan could change — to the point that your life insurance no longer makes sense. You may not want to keep paying the premiums, for example, or you might need to raise cash to cover healthcare and other expenses.
In that scenario, you can liquidate your variable universal life insurance by way of a life settlement. Selling your policy to a third-party eliminates your insurance premiums and generates a lump sum of cash to you from the buyer. You can then use that cash however you want. You might pay down debt, pad your cash savings, or earmark the funds for medical costs. To learn more about life settlements, contact Harbor Life Settlements today for a free, no-obligation estimate of your policy’s market value.
