What Kind of Life Insurance Should I Buy?

The two primary types of life insurance are Term, (expires after a specified number of years) and Permanent (which lasts until you die) and there are pros and cons to each and different varieties of each.

Varieties of term include: Level Term or Annual Renewable Term. Varieties of Permanent include: Whole Life, Universal Life, Variable Whole Life or Variable Universal Life. Whole life has a fixed premium. Universal life has a flexible premium.

For the majority of people, a term policy is appropriate because you get the biggest bang for your buck. A Permanent policy might be appropriate when the purpose of the insurance would be considered to be covering a want over a need. For example, someone is in retirement and wants to use the life insurance proceeds to have their mortgage paid off or maybe they desire to leave something to someone - leave a legacy. A permanent policy may be appropriate for someone who has a special needs child where the need for the insurance doesn’t expire until their death.