10-Pay, 20-Pay, L99: Whole Life Payments Explained

A whole life payment schedule answers one question: how many years do you want to write premium checks? A "10-pay" means you pay for 10 years, then never again. An "L99" means you pay a smaller amount until about age 99. The coverage lasts your whole life either way.[1][2][3]

What changes is the number of years you pay, how big each check is, and how efficiently the policy builds cash value. That last part is the piece almost no one explains. Let us fix that.

A shorter schedule usually moves more of the cost into the early years.

First, decode the names

There are two naming styles on the same menu. Mixing them up is where people get lost.

"Number-pay" means paid up after that many years

A 10-pay policy means you pay premiums for 10 years, then stop. A 15-pay is 15 years. A 20-pay is 20 years. After the last payment the policy is "paid up." It is fully funded, with no more premiums ever, and the coverage and cash value continue for life.[1][3][5] The death benefit stays generally income-tax-free to your heirs.[7] These are called limited-pay policies, because you limited the paying to a set window.

A single-premium whole life policy is the extreme version. You pay once, and it is paid up right away. One warning: paying that fast almost always makes the policy a MEC, which changes the tax treatment of loans and withdrawals.[4] More on MECs below.

"L" means paid up at that age

"L95" and "L99" mean "paid up at age 95" and "paid up at age 99." Here the payment period is tied to your age, not a fixed number of years. You keep paying a smaller amount until you reach that age.

Because an L99 spreads premiums across almost your whole life, it behaves like traditional pay-for-life whole life. It has the lowest annual premium, stretched the longest. You will also see age-based versions like "paid up at 65," which end your payments right around retirement.[3]

The pattern is simple. The shorter the pay window, the bigger each check, but the sooner you are done.

The trade-off, side by side

Same death benefit, four different ways to pay for it. Fewer years means a higher annual premium, but earlier freedom from payments.

Option | Annual premium | You pay for | The real trade-off
10-pay | Highest | 10 years | Done fastest. Great if you have a short, high-income runway. Highest annual cost.
15-pay | High | 15 years | A middle-ground compression. Done well before retirement.
20-pay | Moderate | 20 years | Popular balance. Manageable premium, still paid off before retirement.
L95 or L99 | Lowest | To age 95 or 99 | Lowest annual premium, pay-for-life style. You pay for decades.

Note the total dollars. A 10-pay squeezes roughly a lifetime of premium into a decade, so each payment is far larger than a 20-pay or an L99. But you finish sooner. Across the whole life of the policy you often pay a similar-ish total. You are mostly choosing the shape of the payments, not a wildly different amount.

The trade-off nobody mentions

Here is the insight that separates real guidance from a sales pitch. It is counterintuitive. A shorter pay schedule can give you less room to build cash value efficiently.

Why? First, the tool. If the goal is a policy that builds usable cash value fast, the engine is a rider called paid-up additions, or PUAs. PUAs are extra dollars you funnel in that buy small blocks of paid-up coverage and turbo-charge early cash value.[1][4]

Second, the limit. The IRS caps how much you can pay into a policy before it becomes a MEC (a Modified Endowment Contract). That cap is the "7-pay test."[4] Cross it, and loans and withdrawals lose their friendly tax treatment.[4][6][8]

Now put them together. A 10-pay forces a high base premium. Base premium is the least cash-value-efficient dollar in the policy. It uses up more of your MEC room, which can leave less space for the PUAs that actually build early cash value. A longer schedule, like a 20-pay, keeps the base premium lower and can leave more MEC room for those high-efficiency PUA dollars.

So the shorter number looks like the premium option. "I will be done in 10 years." But for cash-value building, it is often a constraint, not a feature. This depends on how the policy is designed, so it should be modeled to your real numbers.

So which one is right for you?

It depends on your goal and your cash flow. Honestly.

Schedule question | Why it matters
When may income fall? | The premium should end or shrink before the weak period.
How stable is cash flow? | A shorter schedule locks in a larger required payment.
Is early cash value the goal? | Base premium and paid-up-addition room must be modeled together.
How close is the MEC limit? | Too much funding can change withdrawal and loan tax rules.
What if payments stop? | The illustration should show reduced paid-up and lapse choices.

Want to be done paying before a known income cliff? Say you are 50 with 10 strong earning years left, or you want payments gone by retirement. A 10-pay, 15-pay, or paid-up-at-65 buys that certainty. You accept a higher annual premium to guarantee you finish on schedule.

Building maximum cash value for a banking or waterfall strategy? A longer schedule, like a 20-pay or even an L99, usually gives more room to optimize with PUAs. Counterintuitive, but true.

Want the lowest possible annual outlay with permanent coverage? An L99 is the cheapest per year. You are just paying for a very long time.

Tight or uncertain cash flow? Be careful with short-pay. A 10-pay locks you into large payments. Miss the plan, and you can undermine the policy. Sometimes a longer schedule you can sustain beats a shorter one you cannot.

If you are still deciding between whole life and an indexed policy, start with IUL versus whole life. And because dividends fund a lot of this, it helps to know whether your insurer is a mutual or a stock company.

One more option to know about. If money gets tight on a longer schedule, many whole life policies let you stop and take a smaller "reduced paid-up" policy. It uses the cash value you have already built.[1][3] You lock in less coverage, and it is not free. But it beats letting the policy lapse. State laws require these nonforfeiture options on whole life.[1] Ask your carrier how this works before you ever need it.

The bottom line

10-pay, 15-pay, 20-pay, L95, L99: they are all the same permanent coverage. They are just different answers to "how long do I write checks, and how big are they?" Shorter schedules mean bigger payments and earlier freedom. Longer schedules mean smaller payments and, often, more room to build cash value efficiently.

The mistake is treating the shortest number as automatically the smartest. It is not. The right schedule matches your income timeline, your cash flow, and what you want the policy to do. That is a fit question, not a sales question, and it should be modeled to your real numbers before you sign.

Common questions

Do you ever stop paying for whole life insurance?

Yes, if you choose a limited-pay schedule. A 10-pay, 15-pay, 20-pay, or paid-up-at-65 policy ends your premiums after that window, and the coverage continues for life.[1][3] A pay-for-life style like L99 keeps small payments going until about that age.

What is 10-pay whole life insurance?

It is a whole life policy you fund in 10 years. After the tenth year it is paid up, with no more premiums, and the coverage and cash value continue for life.[1][3] The annual premium is high because you compress the funding into a short window.

What is a Whole Life Legacy 10-Pay?

That is a brand name one insurer uses for a 10-pay whole life product. The mechanics are the same as any 10-pay: you pay for 10 years, then the policy is paid up for life.[3] Judge any branded version on its guarantees, its dividends, and its design, not its name.

What are paid-up additions on a whole life policy?

Paid-up additions are small chunks of extra, fully paid coverage. You can buy them with a PUA rider or with your dividends.[1][4][9] They add death benefit and build cash value efficiently, but the IRS 7-pay rule limits how much you can add before the policy becomes a MEC.[4]

A note on how I am paid. I am a licensed insurance and financial professional, and I can be paid when someone buys a policy. I mention it because knowing how your advisor is paid is part of judging any advice, including mine. Before you sign, ask the same hard questions you would ask any advisor.

This guide is general education. It is not personalized tax, legal, or insurance advice. Product names, availability, and exact structures vary by carrier. Guarantees depend on the issuing company's ability to pay claims. Review your own policy illustration with a qualified professional before you act.

Sources

National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Life Insurance. Accessed July 27, 2026.

National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Life Insurance and Annuities. Accessed July 27, 2026.

National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Life Insurance Buyer's Guide. Accessed July 27, 2026.

Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 26 U.S. Code Section 7702A (modified endowment contract). Accessed July 27, 2026.

Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 26 U.S. Code Section 7702 (life insurance contract defined). Accessed July 27, 2026.

Internal Revenue Service, Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income. Accessed July 27, 2026.

Internal Revenue Service, Life insurance & disability insurance proceeds. Accessed July 27, 2026.

Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 26 U.S. Code Section 72 (annuities and certain proceeds). Accessed July 27, 2026.

Texas Department of Insurance, Life insurance guide. Accessed July 27, 2026.