Over Fifties Life Insurance

Allocated Charges

An insurance company’s monthly process for administering Variable Universal Life policies includes calculating the average net amount at risk charges for the prior month. If the resulting charges amount to $500, for example, then $500 worth of sub-account units have to be redeemed. If the value of those units has declined in the last month, more units have to be sold to produce the required “cash.” If there is more than one underlying sub-account, units will be redeemed pro rata to the percentage contribution allocation. This is a form of negative “dollar cost averaging.” Prospective Variable Universal Life policy owners should consider buying policies that allow a designated portion of the funding premium to go into a money market-type holding account that is then exclusively used to pay monthly risk charges.

Dollar Cost Averaging

It has long been suggested that progressively investing a specific amount of money into an equity portfolio will produce the best long-term “cost per share” and therefore produce a superior profit in a portfolio. This is called dollar cost averaging. Given the concept of periodic, self-determined premiums that purchase units of sub-account value similar to that of mutual fund investment units, Variable Universal Life is an ideal candidate for dollar cost averaging and doesn’t require a specific rider or policy provision; it’s simply a function of how often you fund your Variable Universal Life policy.

Autorebalance

The concept of asset allocation calls for investors to create a portfolio consisting of negatively correlated investments that provide the potential for the greatest return with the lowest risk. At the highest level, the negative correlation may simply be between fixed return investments and equities. If, for example, the appropriate allocation is 60 percent equity and 40 percent fixed, a decline in the value of equities ultimately will suggest using a portion of the fixed account to acquire more equities at their lower price, bringing the allocation back to its original level. While investment portfolios are often professionally managed, Variable Universal Life portfolios often are not managed, even by the policy owner.