Almost everyone needs life insurance. Whether it's to pay off debts, ensure the family income and standard of living. It is basic and inexpensive, and that's all some people will ever need. Permanent life insurance includes a number of insurance plans that have a major feature in common: If you pay enough money for enough years, the plan is "permanent"-it will last until the person being insured dies or reaches an age such as 100.

Universal Life Insurance is a form of Permanent Life Insurance, with considerable differences between the two. This form of insurance was created to provide customers with a better understanding of their policy and relieve them of some of the stricter policy provisions that come with standard whole life insurance.

Universal life insurance has flexible premiums. Under a universal policy, you are given the option to adjust your premium payments up or down each time it is due, subject to minimum and maximum amounts set by the insurance company.

It is an interest-sensitive. The cash value of a universal policy builds on an interest rate that depends on current market rates. Therefore, in a bullish, fast-growing economy, the internal cash value of your universal life insurance policy will build at a faster rate than even a whole life policy would. However, during a slow economy, this feature does the reverse: it will ensure that your universal life insurance does not grow as quickly as whole life insurance would.