Term life insurance is a basic, vanilla, type of life insurance. It is an insurance policy covering a specific individual, for a specific dollar amount, for a specific period of time. If the insured dies during the term of the policy, the policy pays the face value to the beneficiary. The policy has no cash value or surrender value, when it expires it is done.

Term life insurance is much less expensive than whole life insurance. Term insurance is often used in addition to whole life when doing financial planning. If there are known or anticipated expenses coming due in the future and savings or other insurance may not be enough to cover them a term life insurance policy may be purchased with a long enough term to cover the anticipated event, perhaps a child’s college education.

Term life insurance is the most widely used type on life insurance policy. Because of its generic nature term insurance is commonly sold online. Online insurance quotes are easily found and a comparison of policies is quick and easy. When comparing term policies you only need to consider the face amount desired, the premium being charged and the stability of the issuing insurance company.

Term insurance policies must be renewed each time they expire. Some policies allow you to renew at the end of the policy’s life span at a specific rate, often the then current rate. Some policies let you convert to a whole life insurance policy at some future date. This type of policy would work well for a young person with a limited budget wanting basic insurance in case they were to die and wanting to cover expenses, but anticipating buying whole life in the future when they were earning more money or started a family.

The important thing to remember when purchasing a term life insurance policy is to shop around and compare what policies are being offered.