cause the policyholder to pay a greater than expected premium, because the loaned values are no longer in the policy to earn for the policyholder. If the policyholder skips payments or makes late payments, they may have to make that up in later years by making larger than expected payments. Market factors relating to the 2008 stock market crash adversely affected many policies by increasing premiums, decreasing benefit, or decreasing the term of coverage. On the other hand, many older policies (especially well-funded ones) benefit from the unusually high interest guarantees of 4% or 4.5%, which are common for policies issued prior to 2000. Policies from that era may benefit from voluntary increases in premium, which capture these artificially high rates. No-lapse guarantees, or death benefit guarantees: A well informed policyholder should understand that the flexibility of the policy is tied irrevocably to risk to the policyholder. The more guarantees a policy has, the more expensive its cost. And with UL, many of the guarantees are tied to an expected premium stream. If the premium is not paid on time, the guarantee may be lost and cannot be reinstated. For example, some policies offer a "no lapse" guarantee, which states that if a stated premium is paid in a timely manner, the coverage remains in force, even if there is not sufficient cash value to cover the mortality expenses. It is important to distinguish between this no lapse guarantee and the actual death benefit coverage. The death benefit coverage is paid for by mortality charges (also called cost of insurance). As long as these charges can be deducted from the cash value, the death benefit is active. The "no lapse" guarantee is a safety net that provides for coverage in the event that the cash value isn't large enough to cover the charges. This guarantee is lost if the policyholder does not make the premium as agreed, although the coverage itself may still be in force. Some policies do not provide for the possibility of reinstating this guarantee. Sometimes the cost associated with the guarantee is still deducted even if the guarantee itself is lost (those fees are often built into the cost of insurance and the costs don't change when the guarantee is lost). Some policies provide an option for reinstating the guarantee within certain time frames and/or with additional premiums (usually catching up the deficit of premiums and