Term life insurance is called this way because life insurance is limited to a certain period of time, also called term. This type of insurance only offers pure insurance protection, without any additional features like savings that other life insurance policies have.
You can sign such a life insurance, over a period of time that can vary between 1 and 30 years. The 1 year option is of the renewable type and you can only get it for short periods of time, between 1 and 5 years.
For this period of time, the premium remains fixed, and the most popular type of insurance is the one for a 20 year term. In some situations you can choose a term until you reach a certain age, like 65.
The best use out of term life insurance can be gotten by young people, which might need only short-term or temporary insurance. A good example are growing families that are young, that need a simple life insurance coverage but have a smaller income.
Other situations where this type of insurance is good, is the mortgage, where the need for it decreases in time.
Premiums are cheaper as the person getting it is younger.
And, since the premiums remain the same during the entire term, a longer term will save you more money. If you’re young, you can get a big insurance death benefit, by paying only a small premium, until you reach the age of 65.
Another thing that is beneficial is the “Return of premium”, a feature in some term life insurances. If you choose it though, you will usually pay a bigger premium and you need to pay the policy until it’s done, or the premium benefit might be forfeited.
