Genworth adds twist to universal life-insurance policies

Genworth Financial is introducing new universal life-insurance policies that add another variable customers can control to manage the premiums they pay.

The GenGuard products allow customers to change the guarantee period of the policy to lower their premiums.

"Our goal with these new product designs is simple -- to make life insurance affordable, predictable and accessible to the underserved Main Street consumer market," said Buck Stinson, president of Genworth's U.S life-insurance products unit.

A key part of Genworth's strategy since the credit-market collapse last year has been to concentrate on what its executives call the Main Street market -- basically, middle-class people who need moderately sized policies.

Genworth executives say it is an underserved market -- and one where stretching dollars matters.

That can be tough for companies selling insurance policies, such as universal life, that have cash-value elements.

Such policies marry insurance coverage and tax-deferred savings and tend to cost more than term insurance, which is renewable coverage in which premiums rise as people age.

Cash value -- the difference between the pure cost of insurance and the premiums a customer pays -- can keep a policy in force even if a customer stops paying premiums.

That's the guarantee period that Genworth is now letting customers adjust if they choose.

The new policies allow people to guarantee death-benefit payments to age 105 or 110, in addition to the standard 121 Genworth's other policies allow.

Shortening the guarantee period means lowering the premium.

Universal life policies already allow customers to manage premium payments by adjusting the amount of death benefit their policies pay.

Stinson said Genworth believes that option will be "a real plus in today's economy," by allowing people to manage on tighter budgets while maintaining insurance coverage.