Term life insurance, as its name suggests, is basically a sort of life insurance policy. At its simplest level, it promises your payment will be fixed at a set rate for a set period of time. This is known as the “term.” After this “term,” though, your payments are likely to change leaving you with no choice other than to meet them or to stop with that policy.

It’s important to note that it is a life insurance policy that does not pay out for any accidents or injuries that do not result in your death. Only if you die will your policy pay out. Unless there are any legal grounds for dispute, the policy will pay out to your named beneficiary.

There are, as with many all insurance policies, circumstances in which the policies will not pay out even in the event of the policy holder’s death. For example, if the premiums are not up to date or there has been some sort of breach of the policy terms. Almost invariably, term life insurance policies do not pay out in cases of suicide.

Term life insurance policies are really useful though for people who fear that, if they were to die, they would leave a lot of expenses behind. These expenses could be the cost of raising any children they may have, mortgages, outstanding debts and also the funeral expenses.

Term life insurance will often work out less expensive than a permanent life insurance policy and can often be used as a “bridge,” for those who are worried about leaving those expenses for their families. For example, someone approaching retirement who believes that, once they retire, they will have amassed enough money to cover said expenses in the event of their death, may use term life insurance just until they reach that point.

Find out more about term life insurance.