Maryland Term Life Insurance Buyers Guide

Choosing the Right Amount of Coverage

The amount of life insurance protection you should buy depends on how much income your survivors will need, how much you own and owe, and the amount of other life insurance available to you. If you're married, both you and your spouse should consider buying life insurance.

Term Periods

Term life insurance is usually offered for periods ranging from 1 to 30 years. Consider choosing a term that matches your need for life insurance protection. For instance, if your main reason for buying life insurance is to protect your 7-year-old twins until they're out of college, you'll want to buy a policy with a term of at least 15 years. Different types of term life insurance will have different premiums. Level term, in which the death benefit stays the same over the course of the policy, and renewable and convertible term life policies will tend to have higher premiums, but may offer the protections you want.

Return of Premium Life Insurance

Return of Premium term life insurance is a product that allows you to recover up to 100% of all premiums paid on the policy. If the policy reaches the end of the policy term and there has been no death benefit claim, the insurance company will return all premiums paid on the policy to the policy owner. If the policy is cancelled (lapsed or surrendered) at a point prior to the end of the term, a designated percentage of the premiums paid will be returned to the policy owner.

Life Insurance for Children

Common arguments for insuring children includes time and insurability. Most children have a much longer life expectancy than adults, resulting in very low premium costs. Parents can purchase higher amounts of life insurance for relatively little cost that the child can carry with them well into their adult years, depending on the policy.

When it comes to life insurance coverage, insurability also is extremely important. A child who develops a significant illness at an early age, such as leukemia or diabetes, will have a more difficult time obtaining coverage in the future.