Term insurance is purchased with a different plan in mind from that of whole
life. With term insurance, you purchase life insurance for a specific number of
years, after which the policy ends. For example, a person might purchase term
insurance for 10 years. During the 10 years, the person’s life is insured for
the face amount of the policy. After the 10 years, the policy ends and the
person is no longer covered. With most companies, term insurance can be
purchased for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and even 30 years.
The premium for the insurance is typically higher at any age the longer the
duration of the insurance. Term insurance is often purchased to cover a
specific event. For instance, new parents might purchase a 20 year term policy
to provide money for their child in the event they should die before he or she
becomes an adult. Or, a husband might purchase term insurance to help his wife
pay off the mortgage in the event that he dies before the mortgage is
completely paid. For many people, term insurance is a better choice than whole
life.
Term insurance is usually much cheaper and more affordable. Where you might
be able to afford $50,000 of whole life, that same amount of money might buy
$100,000 or even $250,000 of term. The reason for this difference is that you
are only insuring your life for a set number of years, and you are not building
any cash value with term insurance. There are several sites on the internet
where you can get an instant quote for term life insurance from several
companies at once. SelectQuote and Intelliquote are two sites where term quotes
can be obtained for such companies as Mutual of Omaha, Prudential, Genworth
Financial, and AIG, as well as others.