Why Should I Get Universal Life Insurance? 
Universal life insurance helps you to maximize your death benefit and minimize your premium for your permanent life insurance coverage . The emphasis of the coverage is placed on the death benefit -LRB- as opposed to the cash value like in whole life insurance -RRB- allowing you to optimize your dollars . With any permanent program -LRB- with the exception of certain participating whole life policies -RRB- , the carrier takes back any cash value remaining in the policy upon the death of the insured and pays out the death benefit proceeds -LRB- the face amount of the policy -RRB- . If you 're buying permanent coverage for the sole purpose of the death benefit , you want to look at buying aGUARANTEEDUniversal Life policy -LRB- GUL -RRB- . These policies can be structured to keep the premiums remaining fixed and guaranteed for life -LRB- or guarantee them up to a specified age - e.g. 90 , 95 , 100 , or up to 121 -RRB- . 