Life insurance
Your term policy ends at 56. Your family doesn't.
Term is the right answer for a debt with an end date. The trouble is that it expires at the exact age when coverage gets expensive — or impossible — to replace.
30-YEAR TERM: covered, then nothing. PERMANENT: Age 26. Age 40. Age 56. Age 60 Ages 26, 40, 56, 60.
30-YEAR TERM
covered
nothing
PERMANENT
Age 26
Age 40
Age 56
Age 60
- 26
- 40
- 56
- 60
Term, at the end
$0
Coverage gone. Premiums gone. Re-buying at 56 costs multiples, if your health still allows it.
Permanent, at 60
$736,267
Death benefit still growing, plus $566,359 you can reach without asking anyone.
Some obligations don't expire.
A buy-sell agreement. A key employee. An estate that's mostly land or a company. A personal guarantee you signed years ago. Term can't cover a need that outlives the term — and that's where a properly built permanent policy stops being expensive and starts being the only thing that works.