By Mark J. Kohler
Every day, life insurance companies pay death benefits to the beneficiaries of their policies, providing them with needed and certainly welcome funds. In essence, life insurance provides leverage: You pay a relatively small amount of money to the insurance company in the form of a “premium,” and the insurance company will provide a guaranteed payout of a relatively large amount of money upon the death of the insured.
While there are thousands of different life insurance plans available, they all fall into two categories: term and permanent insurance. Term, as the name implies, provides a benefit for a fixed period of time: 10 years, 20 years, and so on. Permanent insurance is in place for life….