Term Life Insurance
Find out if term life insurance — with level premiums and coverage for a specific period of time — is right for you.
Term life insurance helps you provide basic, more affordable financial support for your loved ones when they may need it most. Term life insurance offers a simple way for you to help your family reach financial goals — from helping to pay off a mortgage or college tuition — if you’re not there to provide for them.
What is term life insurance?
Term life insurance is the simplest type of life insurance coverage. It pays a death benefit to your beneficiaries if you die during the term of your policy. You typically choose a length of time during which your policy premium won’t increase — such as 10, 20 or 30 years. After that level premium period, the cost of the policy increases with age until it expires at the end of the policy term.
How much does term life insurance cost?
The cost of term life insurance depends on several factors, including:
- How much insurance you choose
- How long you want your premiums to remain level
- Your age, your health and other risks in your life
Coverage could start for less than $15 per month for a healthy young adult who doesn’t smoke.
Who is term life insurance best suited for?
Term life insurance is often popular with people who want to help with financial obligations and goals that may have an end date, such as paying off a mortgage or for a child’s college education. Term life insurance can also be popular for people who want a large amount of coverage — for example, to help provide financial support to a spouse and young children potentially for the rest of their lives — but can’t afford that much permanent life insurance right now. Read more about different types of life insurance.
What happens when the term ends?
If you outlive the term of the life insurance policy, your policy ends. You no longer owe premiums, and you no longer have coverage.
But it’s important to understand just what the term of that policy really is. A “10-year” policy may be a policy with a term of 10 years — coverage ends after the tenth year. Or it may be a policy whose coverage lasts to age 90, with premiums that don’t increase during the first 10 years. After that tenth year, the policy doesn’t end, it just starts increasing in cost. Details like that are one reason it’s important to review policy provisions carefully, so you know what coverage you’re buying and how long it can last.
If I start with a term life policy, can I switch to whole life insurance?
Yes, depending on the insurer, you may be able to convert all or part of your term life insurance into a permanent policy, such as a whole life or universal life insurance policy, if your term policy has a conversion option.
What are some of the differences between term and whole life insurance?
Term life insurance can provide more affordable coverage for a specific amount of time. But term insurance expires, unlike whole life insurance, which is a type of permanent life insurance that provides lifetime coverage1 and can accumulate cash value.
Term life insurance
Provides coverage at a
fixed cost for a specific
time frame — generally
10, 20 or 30 years. Then
cost increases with age.
Premiums remain level
for the initial level premium period.
The shorter the level
premium period, the less expensive
coverage can be. Premiums increase
after the level premium period.
Provides a death benefit but does not
accumulate cash value.
Can often be converted into a permanent policy.
Learn From Experience
More questions about life insurance? Read on to hear the real-life stories of people, agents and experts.
A rider is generally an optional coverage that you can add to a standard life insurance policy. It’s an added contract form that “rides along” and becomes a part of your policy contract.
Life insurance can be a tricky topic. It’s designed to provide financial support for those who depend on you, but permanent life insurance can also be used to access money for big purchases during your lifetime through policy loans
Both term and permanent life insurance offer “riders” that could potentially provide payments while you’re alive.
1 Lifetime coverage (or life of the policy) is guaranteed provided premiums are paid per the terms of the contract.
2 Cash values may be accessible through policy loans or partial surrenders. Policy loans that are not repaid and partial surrenders will reduce cash surrender value and death benefit. Policy loans are subject to interest charges. If your policy is a modified endowment contract, loans and surrenders may incur taxes and penalties.
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