Variable life insurance is a form of whole life insurance. Variable life insurance provides permanent protection to the beneficiary upon the death of the policy holder. This type of insurance is generally the most expensive type of cash-value insurance because it allows you to allocate a portion of your premium to a separate account comprised of various instruments and investment funds within the insurance company's portfolio such stocks, bonds, equity funds, money market funds and bond funds.
 In addition, because of investment risks, variable life insurance policies are considered securities contracts and are regulated under the federal securities laws; therefore, they must be sold with a prospectus.
 The major advantage to variable life insurance policies is that they allow you to participate in various types of investment options while not being taxed on your earnings (until you surrender the policy). You can also apply the interest earned on these investments toward the premiums, potentially lowering the amount you pay. However, due to investment risks, when the invested funds perform poorly, less money is available to pay the premiums, meaning that you may have to pay more than you can afford to keep the variable life insurance policy in force. Poor fund performance also means that the cash and/or death benefit may decline, though never below a defined level. Also, you cannot withdraw from the cash value during your lifetime.