Variable life insurance is permanent life insurance. But this comes with an investment compound. You can use this life insurance for investment purposes also. You can often allocate a portion of your premium to a fixed account, which guarantees a rate of return, to reduce overall risk.
As a permanent life insurance policy, variable life insurance pays a death benefit to your beneficiaries when you die. The coverage then lasts until your death.
Because the cash value component of variable life insurance is invested in assets like mutual funds, it may rise or fall in value. So these policies carry more risk compared to other life insurance policies.