Term Life Insurance

You choose a term length and a death benefit. The premium is fixed for the whole term, the death benefit is fixed, and if you pass away while the policy is in force the benefit is paid to your beneficiaries, generally income-tax-free.

If you reach the end of the term alive, the policy expires. Many policies then offer annual renewal at sharply increasing rates, which is rarely a good deal — the plan should be to no longer need the coverage by then, or to have converted part of it.

Match the term to the obligation. If your mortgage has 27 years left, a 30-year term outlasts it. If your youngest is four, a 20-year term carries you to the year they finish high school.

The common mistake is buying a term that expires in the middle of the exposure. A 10-year policy bought at 32 ends at 42, which for most families is peak dependency and peak mortgage balance — and requalifying at 42 with ten more years of chart history is a different conversation.

We work from obligations rather than a multiple. Remaining mortgage and other debts, an allowance for final expenses, childcare or education if that applies, and the number of years of income your household would need. Then subtract existing coverage and liquid savings.

Nurses should be careful with income multiples. If your household runs on overtime, shift differentials and a second job, a multiple of base pay understates what your family actually spends. Use the household number.

Conversion lets you turn some or all of the term into a permanent policy later without new medical questions. It is the most valuable rider on the list for anyone whose health may change, which is everyone.

A waiver of premium rider keeps the policy in force if you become disabled under the definition the policy uses. Accelerated death benefit provisions allow access to part of the benefit after a qualifying terminal or chronic illness diagnosis. Child riders add small coverage for children.

Rider availability, cost and definitions are set by the carrier, and the definitions are where the substance lives. We read the actual language with you rather than describing riders in the abstract.

A term application involves health questions, a prescription database check, and often either a paramed exam or an accelerated data-driven review. Your class comes out of build, blood pressure, labs, medications and family history.

Because carriers write their own rules, the same chart can land in different classes at different companies. Controlled hypertension, a treated sleep study, stable long-term anxiety treatment, a BMI near a threshold — each of those is a carrier-selection decision, and getting it right is worth more than shopping quotes.