Variable Insurance
Categories: Insurance, Trusts and Estates
The "variable" part means that "this already established life insurance or annuity product does not have a standard set interest rate."
Translation: The interest rate can vary.
Why? Because they're basing their interest rates off of one of the big stock market funds, like the S&P, the Dow, or sometimes (and this is why it gets complicated, fast) portfolio managers picking other portfolio managers.
This comprises both "variable life insurance" and "variable annuities" because both of those are governed by the same concepts.