1.   Advised by Ms. Panos, he recently put together an insurance portfolio combining variable life coverage from John Hancock and a traditional whole life policy from the Guardian.

2.   Buying variable life is a natural extension.

3.   Joel S. Isaacson, a certified public accountant who has his own firm in New York, attributed the growth of variable life to several factors.

4.   Michael Mitchele chose a variable life policy with the help of Judith M. Panos, and advisor in Wayne, NJ.

5.   Some insurers also sell another kind of policy for children, variable life, which invests some of the money as a way to save for college.

6.   The company also has hot-selling variable life policies and annuities, and is admired for its technology, put in place by chief executive Robert A. Shafto.

7.   Variable life is indeed life insurance, although it includes an investment component.

8.   With variable life the policyholder picks investments from a portfolio of mutual funds, which are kept in a separate, protected account.

9.   Revenue gains from nontraditional insurance policies, such as variable life, were offset by losses in traditional life earnings.