Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Term vs. Whole Life Insurance – General Information

Quite a few people have no idea what you mean when it comes to term vs. whole life insurance. Term life insurance is defined as temporary insurance.  You pay a premium annually, which covers the company’s risk should you die during that year. Term life does not have cash value. Term only pays out for the insurer’s death as long as the policy has not expired.  Generally, the beneficiary receives the policy’s death benefit.

Whole life insurance is meant to be in force your entire life. Generally, whole life premiums stay the same throughout the life of the policy. These policies build cash values, which usually make their premiums higher than with a term policy. You can get policy benefits through surrenders or loans. Whole life policies typically mature when you reach your 100th birthday.  In addition, in the competition between term life insurance vs. whole life insurance, whole will usually build interest over time and can add to the value of your policy. Term insurance vs. whole life insurance can be a little special to understand. Knowing the difference will help you get the best insurance for your specific needs.


At this point, you may be wondering what do you actually need; term or whole life insurance. How do you choose a plan? Look at what your needs will be long term for a policy. Maybe you are just starting out and just want some life insurance coverage for 10 to 20 years or so; then term life should take care of that. On the other side, if you need a savings plan that is an investment over a lifetime, the whole life policy is the option for you.  We can just say that there is a term life insurance vs. whole life insurance battle of sorts.

It probably does not need mentioning, but there is a difference when it comes to the cost of a term life insurance policy vs. a whole life insurance policy. Make sure that when you are searching for a policy that you figure out the amount of money you can spend on premium payments.  More often than not, term insurance is going to be much lower when it comes to cost than premiums for a whole life policy.  Since term policies will not compound any interest and therefore have no value, they usually have cheaper premiums.

Those in the know have been debating back and forth about term vs. whole life as to which policy is the better choice for the policyholder.  Where do the barriers lie in terms of financial gains between term life vs. whole life insurance? Many financial advisers are all for buying a whole life policy because it builds value throughout the course of life. Others are of the mindset that by investing you will get a much better return than by anticipating interest gains on a purchased whole life insurance policy.

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