What is a Whole Life Policy?

These are the simplest policies to understand. You pay a fixed premium every year based on your age and other factors; you earn increases in the policy's surrender value as the years roll by and your beneficiaries get a fixed benefit after you die. The policy takes you into old age for the same premium you started out with. Whole life insurance policies are valuable because they provide permanent protection and accumulate surrender values that can be used for emergencies or to meet specific objectives. The surrender value gives you an extra source of retirement money if you need it.