Prepared for the Future

I used to work for a life insurance company, and even though that was more than 25 years ago, even back then I would get a little confused over some of the terms. It is a very complicated business. Two of the most important terms to understand are term life and whole life. Those are also the two most often confused, or misunderstood terms. With term life insurance there is a pre-determined end to the policy. It is good for the number of years designated. A 10-year term policy ends 10 years after the start of the policy. These are very good, usually much cheaper premium policies for young people who have new families and lots of responsibility. For instance, a 20 year term might be designed to pay for the house, school and college costs for young children, and living expenses for a surviving spouse if the main income spouse passes in that time period. After 20 years the children would be grown, and out of school, the mortgage paid off, or close to it, and living expenses much less. That makes term policies a very interesting and financially smart investment.