What Is Permanent Life Insurance? 
Permanent Life Insurance is either Whole Life or Universal Life . There are variations of those , including Indexed and Variable policies . The label `` permanent '' does not necessarily mean the policy will never end . It means that if you buy Whole or Universal life insurance , you have the option to set them up policies so that they can last forever -LRB- until death at any age -RRB- . The opposite of Permanent life insurance is Term life insurance . This is coverage that is set up for temporary coverage . It may have the option to be converted to Permanent insurance with no medical underwriting . 