Friday, May 04, 2007

The Pro's And Con's Of Term Life vs Whole Life Insurance

This is a subject where many people get confused. You know that you need to purchase life insurance, but you're not certain whether you should buy Whole Life or Term insurance. Well, the answer is going to depend on a few things. Let's briefly go over the Pro's and Con's of each type of policy.

Whole Life Insurance

Whole Life insurance is insurance that is designed to give you coverage for your entire life, up until the age of 100. If you make it that far then the insurance company will issue you a check for the "face value" of the policy. The face value is whatever the amount you were actually insured for. Example, if you had a policy that was worth $100,000.00, in the event of your death, you would receive that amount. In this example, $100,000.00 would be the face value. If you were insured for a million dollars, you'd get a million, ect.

Whole Life insurance is more expensive than Term, but it also builds a cash value that you may borrow against, if you wish, later in life. As you pay your premiums a portion goes toward buying life insurance, while the remainder goes into a fund with your name on it. The Pro's of Whole Life is that it does actually build an asset for you. The Con's are that it's more expensive and, honestly, there may be better ways of investing your money than buying Whole Life. This is something that you would need to discuss with a financial advisor before deciding one way or another. They may suggest that you buy Term Life instead and invest the difference.

Term Life Insurance

Term Life is substantially less expensive than Whole Life insurance. The difference is that, unlike Whole Life insurance, Term Life covers you for a specified period of time like a 10 Year Term or 20 Year Term. There are different types of Term Life policies to choose from that offer a broad range of coverage. This allows you a lot of flexibility. You can buy Guaranteed Renewable Term, where you purchase the policy for a specified period of time and, as long as you don't allow the policy to lapse by not making the premium payments, you can renew it again regardless of any health issues that you may have incurred since you first purchased the policy.

The Pro's of Term Life Insurance is that it's very flexible and it's less expensive than Whole Life. The Con's are that it builds no cash value and isn't always guaranteed, depending on the type of policy you purchase.

Make sure to do your homework before you decide which one to buy. You can get free quotes from a few different companies and compare prices until you find something that you are comfortable with. Good luck!

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