When you purchase a Universal Life policy you have certain amount of flexibility and accessibility to your money.
• Premium payments are flexible. You can pay what is referred to as a minimum premium. If you want to pre-fund the policy with more money, you may be able to increase your annual premium on a monthly, annual, or occasional lump sum basis, up to a specified maximum. A maximum premium is calculated and pre-set in order to keep your policy exempt from accrual taxation. Once your cash value increases, you may be able to reduce or skip premium payments altogether, without jeopardizing insurance coverage, while the cost of the premium (insurance, administrative charges, any additional benefits, and riders) is eventually paid from within the plan. A well-funded policy’s money reserve (cash account) can continue to grow even as it pays for the cost of insurance.
• Borrow against cash account’s reserves. The cash surrender value (CSV) is just another name for the remaining cash in the policy. For example, if you had $100,000 in a policy’s tax-exempt fund, you would be able to borrow against it or withdraw it with some potential taxation.