Sunday, July 20, 2008

Term life insurance vs permanent life

The two main categories of life insurance are term and permanent life insurance.

Term life insurance policies are sold for a fixed number of years that matches your needs. Term life policies are often sold for terms of 10 or 20 years.

You may decide that you and your spouse will have enough income from Social Security and retirement pensions when you retire in 10 years. As a result, you decide you only need a policy in case you die in the next 10 years.

A term life insurance company underwrites your policy, using historical data on insurees with similar risk characteristics to calculate a premium. (Relevant risk characteristics include your health history, age, and gender. You complete a health condition questionnaire and physical exam in order to obtain a certificate of insurability.)

No comments: