When you use our links to explore or buy products we may earn a fee, but that in no way affects our editorial independence. A benefit to whole and universal life insurance policies is that you can ...

Shelby Fishman is an assistant editor for MarketWatch Picks. Previously, she served as an assistant editor for custom content at Barron’s Group. Shelby studied broadcast journalism at Southern ...

Some permanent life insurance policies have a cash value that accumulates over time. This cash value can provide a financial cushion for your family to pay for emergencies or planned expenses like ...

And some have a cash value component that accrues over time. Life insurance functions differently depending on the policy you choose: For individual life insurance, you typically select a plan and ...

Employer-sponsored life insurance over $50K is taxed. The IRS considers excess coverage as imputed income. Imputed income ...

This is essentially a fee thrown in to assure the insurance company a profit, even if all those other fees somehow don't. The heavy fees involved with cash-value life insurance can really drag ...

Picking the right life insurance can feel like a puzzle for a lot of folks. Term life insurance and whole life insurance each ...

Unlike term life insurance, whole life insurance has a cash value component. You can withdraw money from the cash value or take a policy loan against it. Whole life insurance is much pricier than ...

Children’s life insurance, typically offered as whole life coverage or as an adult policy rider, may or may not be a good ...

Whole life insurance is more expensive than term life, but it builds cash value and provides lifelong coverage with fixed premiums for the life of the policy. AAA has two whole life insurance ...

Growing cash inside your life insurance policy sounds great, but what about taxes? While cash value typically grows tax-deferred, withdrawals, loans and payouts can trigger IRS rules you need to ...

It also grows tax-deferred and can build cash value and earn dividends you can use while you're alive. Here are our picks for the best companies for whole life insurance. (See our methodology ...