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Insurance buyers interested in investment-oriented policies may find greater flexibility in a Variable Universal Life policy. Variable Whole Life policies provide certain guarantees for the payment of a significant annual premium, which in turn is directed into investment-oriented subaccounts. Several life insurance companies sell a Whole Life hybrid of such policies in which there is a stipulated premium and for which certain guarantees of sufficiency will exist as long as that premium is paid. As will be described elsewhere, "Policies Without Premiums," there is a class of life insurance policies for which the policy owner makes all the premium investment decisions. Whole Life best fulfills the need for lifetime insurance coverage for policy owners who most desire a predictable premium and, over the years, the opportunity to access a significant asset value via policy loan. Second-to-die policies are almost exclusively used to fund estate taxes and other liabilities that occur when the second of two spouses dies with appropriate testamentary and trust provisions. All other features of Whole Life apply to its second-to-die cousin.

While the Survivorship Whole Life policies sold predominantly in the 1980s had complicated and sometimes even convoluted features to achieve a "second-to-die" death benefit, today's Survivor Whole Life policies are fairly straightforward; premiums are payable until the second death, and the death benefit is payable only at the second death. The cash value curve of a nonparticipating Whole Life policy also defines the sufficient cash value curve that will be discussed in later posts. In its most elegant simplicity, the level premium defines the mathematical leveling of the mortality curve. And this would seem to be the most natural way to balance today's low probability of death with the certainty of death in the future: As the chance of death increases from year to year, the pure insurance element (the net amount at risk) decreases to manage the overall cost of the policy and allows the insurance company to guarantee the level premium. Most forms of permanent life insurance are now available in single and survivorship formats.