Should You Buy Term or Whole Life Insurance

Many people are not sure which type of life insurance is for them. The terms used to describe life insurance can be confusing and it is often not clear if term or whole life insurance is the right choice.

First of all, let's talk about your reason for purchasing life insurance. What are you trying to accomplish? Do you want to provide income to pay off current debt such as a mortgage or future debts such as college costs for your children? Are you looking to put money away for the future on a tax deferred basis such as for your retirement? How much money do you have available each month to spend on insurance? And finally, what is your current age?

If you are looking for the cheapest policy, you are less than fifty and in reasonably good health, a term life insurance policy is probably best for you. A term life insurance policy can be purchased for a time frame of up to thirty years and will pay out at the face value of the policy should you die. For example, if you buy a $500,000 policy that is the amount your beneficiary will receive. If you live beyond the term of the policy, the insurance will expire and there will be no financial benefit paid to your beneficiary.

Term life insurance is always the cheapest way to go when purchasing insurance. There are two types of term insurance; level term and annually renewable. The premium, the amount you pay, for level term is the same every year. Annually renewable goes up slightly every year as you get older. Level term is preferable for most people since they lock in a rate and it remains fixed over the life of the policy.

If you are over sixty, you may find it more difficult to find a term policy and in fact you may have to get a whole life policy because a term policy is no longer available to you. A whole life insurance policy is a combination of a term life insurance policy as well as an investment product. The investment portion of the policy puts part of your policy premium into a stock, bond or money market mutual fund. This money will go to your beneficiary and you as the insured individual can borrow against that money if needed. Many insurance agents tout the investment as a way to provide retirement income for later in life. Keep in mind that the rate of return you receive is reduced substantially by fees and commissions so investing in a 401k or IRA is usually a better way to save for retirement.life insurance advice