Universal Life Insurance plan, also known as a cash-value or permanent insurance. This type of insurance combines a death benefit with a savings or cash value benefit and is effective over your entire lifetime. You accumulate savings, which is reinvested and gross tax-deferred, during the life of the policy and the savings is available to use in the future or to borrow against if needed. However, you are penalized if you terminate the contract earlier than its full term and the value of the policy is reduced as you age. When you are younger, more cash is diverted into the savings part of the plan and as you age, less goes into savings and more goes toward the purchase of the insurance.