DON'T GET CAUGHT WITHOUT SOME PERMANENT LIFE INSURANCE!

When I meet with people who have expressed a need for Life insurance coverage to protect their loved ones in case of their premature death, the total coverage need often does not seem affordable with permanent insurance.

Most people understand that Permanent insurance is like owning a home, and Term is like renting.  Permanent insurance is an investment, and term is just a certain amount of coverage for a period of time, then it's gone.

We'll we'd all prefer to invest if we can, but if we can't, it's good to know that we can usually get coverage affordably with term insurance.

Term usually has this beautiful feature that you can covert it to permanent insurance down the road.  The problem is that even though your health rating is protected, you are buying the insurance at an older age, so, on top of being approximately 5 times more expensive, just because it's permanent, it's also more expensive because you're older.

If you try to convert early, you will either sacrifice needed coverage to stay within budget, or spend more money.  Since you got term because you didn't have the money for permanent, this is less likely. 

If you wait until your coverage need is lower, i.e. mortgage is paid, you will be paying for age.

The solution?  When you're purchasing term, just get a minimal amount of permanent insurance to cover final expenses.  This way, it will be less expensive, it will always be there when you need it, and it will grow over time like a safe investment.  And unlike term, it should keep pace with inflation or better!