What Is The Difference Between Universal And Whole Life Insurance? 
Whole life insurance has a specified premium that never goes up , a specified death benefit that will not expire unless the policy lapses or you die or surrender the policy , and guaranteed cash value build up . Universal life has flexible premiums , you can vary the amount you put into the plan . It has a flexible death benefit , you can decrease the amount of insurance or increase the amount of insurance without having to take out a new policy . Because the premiums are flexible there is no guaranteed cash value . Most will have a guaranteed interest rate on any cash value . The danger with a Universal Life is under funding the contract . Because you are not locked into a set premium and there is an interest component that is not guaranteed , if the insured fails to put enough in the contract and the cost of insurance becomes greater than the cash value the policy will expire . It is important to make sure you properly fund your Universal life . Whole life has better guarantees than Universal life and less risk . 