Term Life Insurance
Term life buys the largest death benefit per dollar of any life product, for a fixed number of years, and then stops. That is not a catch. It is the entire reason it is cheap.
Read this first
Term life insurance covers you for a stated number of years. If you are still living when the term ends, the policy pays nothing and the coverage stops unless you renew it or convert it. Renewal after the level term normally costs far more.
The problem it solves
Most people who need life insurance need it for a stretch of years rather than forever: until the mortgage is paid, until the youngest finishes school, until a business loan is clear, until a pension survivor benefit kicks in. The need has a shape and an end date.
Term life is built for exactly that shape. You pick the number of years and the amount, and the premium stays level for that period. Because the insurer is not promising to pay eventually — only if you die inside the window — the cost per dollar of death benefit is a fraction of any permanent policy.
Three things happen, in this order
You choose an amount and a term
Commonly ten, fifteen, twenty or thirty years. Match the term to the thing you are protecting, not to a round number.
The premium stays level for that term
It does not rise as you age during the level period. What happens after it ends is the part worth asking about before you sign.
If you die during the term, your beneficiary is paid
If you are still alive at the end, the policy pays nothing and the coverage stops unless you renew or convert it.
Who this suits, and who it does not
The second list matters more than the first. An agent who only writes the first one is selling, not advising.
Worth considering if…
- Someone depends on your income and would be in real trouble without it, and you can name roughly when that stops being true.
- You have a mortgage, a business loan or a personal guarantee that would land on somebody else.
- You want the largest possible death benefit for the money and are not trying to build cash value inside an insurance policy.
Probably not for you if…
- The need is permanent. Funeral costs, estate liquidity, a dependent adult child, a special needs trust — those do not end when a term does, and buying term for them means the coverage expires at the moment it is needed.
- You expect to get your money back. Most term policies never pay a claim, which is precisely why they cost so little. Return-of-premium versions exist and cost substantially more; price both before assuming that is a better deal.
- You want the policy to do double duty as savings. It has no cash value. If somebody is pitching term as an investment, they are describing a different product.
Who we are appointed with
We are independent and appointed with the life insurance companies below. Which of them we would approach for you depends on the product, your age, your state and your health history — underwriting differs sharply between companies, and that is the practical reason for working with someone who can approach more than one.
- Aetna
- Allianz Life
- American-Amicable Life
- Americo
- Ameritas
- Assurity
- Athene
- AuguStar Financial
- Banner Life
- Brighthouse Financial
- Cincinnati Life
- Columbus Life
- Corebridge Financial
- Equitable
- EquiTrust Life
- F&G Life
- Foresters Financial
- Gerber Life
- Guarantee Trust Life (GTL)
- John Hancock
- Lafayette Life
- Liberty Bankers Life
- Lincoln Financial Group
- Manhattan Life
- MassMutual
- Mutual of Omaha
- Mutual Trust Life
- National Life Group (Life Insurance Company of the Southwest)
- National Western Life
- Nationwide
- New York Life
- North American Company for Life and Health
- OneAmerica
- Pacific Life
- Petersen International Underwriters (Lloyd's of London)
- Principal
- Protective Life
- Prudential
- Royal Neighbors of America
- Sagicor Life
- SBLI
- Securian Financial (Minnesota Life)
- Security Mutual Life
- Symetra
- Transamerica
- William Penn Life
- Zurich
Being appointed with a company does not mean that company offers every product on this page, and we do not represent every insurer. Which company suits you depends on the product, your age, your state and your health history. We publish no benefit, rate or feature for any company here until we can cite it to that company's own current material.
Servicing only — not available for new business
We can help with an existing policy from this company — reviewing it or understanding what you already own. We are not appointed to write new business with it, so a new policy would be placed with one of the companies above.
- Genworth
Questions people actually ask
What happens when the term ends?
The level premium period ends and, with it, the price you were paying. Most policies can be renewed annually after that, but at a rate that climbs steeply with age and can become unaffordable quickly. Many can instead be converted to a permanent policy with no new health questions. Coverage does not quietly continue at the old price, and nothing pays out simply because the term finished.
What is a conversion rider, and why does it matter so much?
A conversion privilege lets you exchange the term policy for a permanent one from the same company without answering health questions again. It matters because your health may change while you are insured, and conversion is the one thing that protects you from being uninsurable later. The details differ sharply: which permanent products you may convert into, and the age or policy year the right expires. Ask both questions before you buy, not in year nineteen.
Is it wasted money if I do not die?
No, though the feeling is understandable. You bought a defined outcome for a defined period and the outcome you were protecting against did not happen — the same as a year of home insurance with no fire. What would be wasteful is buying a far more expensive permanent policy to avoid that feeling, when the need you actually had was temporary.
How much do I need?
Work from obligations rather than a multiple of salary. Add what it would take to clear the mortgage and other debts, the cost of getting any children to independence, and the income your household would lose, then subtract savings and any coverage you already have through work. Group coverage usually ends when the job does, so count it carefully if at all.
Ask for a quote on Term Life Insurance
Tell us how to reach you and which state you are in. A licensed agent calls back, usually the same business day, and will tell you plainly if a fully underwritten policy would serve you better.
The other three
Same family, different jobs. Match the product to how long the need lasts.
Burial Insurance
Small-face whole life insurance bought to cover a funeral and the bills that arrive with it. The industry calls it final expense life insurance; buyers call it burial insurance.
Worth a look if you want to cover a funeral without leaving the bill to your family.
Whole Life Insurance
Permanent coverage with a guaranteed death benefit, a guaranteed level premium and a guaranteed cash value schedule. The guarantees are the product, and they are what you pay for.
Worth a look if the need genuinely never ends and you can sustain the premium for decades.
Indexed Universal Life Insurance
Universal life whose interest credit is linked to the movement of a market index, limited by a cap or participation rate and protected by a floor. Flexible, genuinely complicated, and the most aggressively marketed life product there is.
Worth a look if you want permanent coverage with flexibility and will actually read the illustration.