What Are the Key Differences Between Whole Life Insurance and Fixed Annuities?

The insurance industry is a difficult one for many investors to understand, and insurance products are often full of complex provisions and complicated jargon. One important thing to understand is that insurance products can differ widely, and you need to make sure you have the right one for your needs. In particular, whole life insurance and fixed annuities are both products that you'd get from an insurance company, but they serve very different purposes.

Whole life insurance
Whole life insurance policies include both an insurance element and an investing element. Under typical whole life policies, you pay regular monthly premiums for as long as the policy remains in force. From each premium payment, one piece goes toward covering the costs of life insurance coverage that will pay death-benefit proceeds to your heirs after you die. The remainder of each premium payment goes toward the cash value of the whole life policy, which accumulates and grows in value over time.

Whole life insurance policyholders have options during their lifetimes in handling the policies. Most whole life policies let you take loans against the policy's cash value, which you can either repay or have taken out of the proceeds your heirs receive after your death. Surrendering the policy is also an option, in which case you get the accumulated cash value but lose any rights to a death benefit.

One important aspect of whole life insurance is that when you die, your heirs receive the death benefit on a tax-free basis. Specifically, your heirs don't have to pay for any difference between the benefit and the amount of premiums you paid.

Fixed annuities
Fixed annuity policies also have an insurance element and an investment element, but most investors use them primarily for their investment value. Most fixed annuities involve a single upfront premium payment, and thereafter, the product pays a fixed interest rate, accumulating slowly over the period specified in the contract.

Fixed annuities have a death benefit, but it isn't the primary focus of the annuity product. Instead, most people use fixed annuities as a retirement savings vehicle, looking for better interest rates than bank CDs and other conservative fixed-income investments can provide. Fixed annuities are most suitable for retirees because of restrictions and penalties on withdrawing funds if you're not yet 59 1/2 years old. However, the ability to annuitize the fixed annuity to receive payments for life is an attractive attribute for many annuity investors.

Unlike with whole life insurance, fixed annuity heirs will typically have taxable income when they inherit the annuity. Any rise in value over what you paid in premiums will be taxed, either to you if you withdraw policy money during your lifetime or to your heirs if you don't.

Whole life policies serve more of an insurance need, and fixed annuities act more as a lifetime savings vehicle. Both can be important components of an overall financial plan, but you need to understand their provisions to make sure you get the one that's right for your situation.

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