What Does Adjustable Life Insurance Mean? 
Adjustable premium life insurance is another name for Universal Life Insurance or UL for short . UL is not whole life and it 's not term . It 's a third version . Adjustable Premium UL has a target premium that is illustrated but you have the option of paying more or less than target and can adjust the premium that you pay anytime you want to . The adjustable premium has a huge downside . There is no guarantee that your premium will be enough to carry the policy until your death . Many UL policies will terminate from lack of premium and you will lose your insurance and all the money you paid in . Even if you pay your target premium every month , your policy can -LRB- and often does -RRB- lapse when you get older . I do n't recommend UL for the average person . It has it 's place in estate planning if you are working closely with an advisor every year and you have a real understanding of how UL works . But for the average consumer that wants to set it and forget it ... It 's a time bomb policy . I would stick to either term , whole - life , or a GUL which is a UL with a secondary no lapse guarantee . If you get the GUL , do NOT adjust your premium down or you will have turned your policy into a non-guaranteed UL . 