Getting to the Bottom of the Life Insurance Types
Term life, whole life, mortgage life -- what's the difference? If you don't have life insurance it might be time to fix that, but before you start thinking about buying a policy, it's important to know a little about your life insurance options.
Which type of life insurance is right for you? Our guides can help you choose.
- Term Life Insurance is basic life insurance that you purchase for a specified amount of time -- usually between one and thirty years. If the insured person dies during the term of the policy, their named beneficiary received the cash payment specified. Once the term of the policy is over, the policy owner is no longer insured. This is usually the least expensive type of insurance, but renewing a term policy gets more expensive as you get older.
- Whole Life Insurance provides insurance protection for your entire life, as long as you keep up with premium payments. These policies have cash value, meaning the value of the policy increases over time, and you can borrow against the cash value if you wish. Whole life is more expensive than term life, due to the extended coverage.
- Universal Life Insurance is similar to whole life, but the terms of the policy aren't fixed -- you can choose to change the amount of the death benefit, or how much premium you want to pay in any given year.
- Variable Universal Life Insurance is also similar to whole life, but allows you to have the cash value of your policy invested in stocks, bonds, and other types of investments.
- Mortgage Life Insurance allows you to insure your life for the sum of your outstanding mortgage balance. If the worst should happen, your surviving family members can use the mortgage insurance to pay the balance of the mortgage.
Which type of life insurance is best for you?
With so many choices it's difficult to know what type of life insurance you need. There's no need to feel overwhelmed by your choices -- use our handy online form to submit your information. Upon submitting your request, our experienced guide can discuss options with you.