How Does Flexible Premium Life Insurance Work? 
This is what 's known as Universal Life insurance . These are permanent coverage programs that build cash value , much like Whole Life insurance does . The advantage of these programs is that you can pay more or pay less each month to keep the coverage going . However , when you do this , you can affect the guarantees -LRB- and even the non-guaranteed aspects -RRB- under the programs . There are two important factors to keep in mind when structuring a universal life policy , the guaranteed and non-guaranteed side . In short , the guaranteed side tells you how long your coverage is guaranteed for while the non-guaranteed side tells you how long it can continue on for , based on current assumptions -LRB- these figures can change and , therefore , the non-guaranteed length of coverage can change -RRB- . There 's also what 's called a Guaranteed Universal Life insurance policy -LRB- GUL -RRB- . These programs can create a level premium and death benefit guaranteed to a specific age -LRB- all the way up to age 121 with most carriers to guarantee the death benefit for life -RRB- . What this does is allows you to keep the premiums to its lowest levels and maximize the death benefit rather than placing the focus on the build-up of cash value , which is a common reason why many people buy whole life insurance . There are other moving parts in a universal life insurance policy , but this provides a brief overview . 