What Are The Two Main Types Of Life Insurance? 
The two main types of life insurance are : Term Permanent Term policies are purchased for the death benefit only and do not build up cash . Permanent policies come in many different forms such as whole life , universal life , indexed universal life , and variable universal life . Permanent policies -LRB- sometimes called cash value policies -RRB- provide a death benefit and they also can be used to accumulate cash . The cash build up inside a policy can be accessed tax free as a loan and can be used for any purpose such as supplemental retirement income , college funding , or emergency expenses . 