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Universal Life Insurance

Flexible, Permanent
Life Insurance Protection

Universal life insurance can provide lifelong death benefit protection and flexible premium payments. The premiums you pay, minus insurance charges, are credited to the policy account value, which can accumulate with interest over time.

Benefits of Universal Life Insurance

  • Permanent death benefit coverage
  • Flexibility to increase or decrease your planned premiums within certain limits
  • Potential for tax-deferred cash value accumulation
  • Access to the policy’s cash value through tax-advantaged loans and withdrawals¹
  • Optional features (riders) to customize your coverage

How Does a Universal Life Insurance Policy Work?

  1. You pay premiums.
  2. Premium charges, taxes and any rider fees are deducted from your premium.
  3. The remaining net premium is applied to your account value.
  4. Interest is credited to the account value.
  5. Monthly charges are deducted to cover policy expenses, such as the cost of insurance, fees and any applicable rider charges. As long as account value is available after monthly charges are deducted, the policy remains in force.
  6. The death benefit – minus any outstanding policy loans and interest due – is paid to your beneficiaries upon death of the insured
How UL Works

 

Universal Life (UL) Insurance Choices from The Hartford

 

¹ Both loans and withdrawals from a permanent life insurance policy may be subject to penalties and fees and, along with any accrued loan interest, will reduce the policy's account value and death benefit. Assuming a policy is not a Modified Endowment Contract (MEC), withdrawals are taxed only to the extent that they exceed the policyowner's cost basis in the policy and usually loans are free from current federal taxation. A policy loan could result in tax consequences if the policy lapses or is surrendered while a loan is outstanding. Distributions from MECs are subject to federal income tax to the extent of the gain in the policy and taxable distributions are subject to a 10% additional tax prior to age 59½, with certain exceptions.

² If you take a policy loan, we credit you interest on the amount in your Loaned Account Value. We charge you interest on the loanand if the interest is not paid when due, your indebtedness (loan amount plus accrued interest) will grow.

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