Life insurance–the most misunderstood financial instrument of all time!  While that’s probably true, the fact is, nothing does what life insurance does and therefore, it has no substitute.

But how do you find the best value in a life insurance rate?  The answer depends on the type of life insurance you buy.

Term insurance, which has numerous uses including young families who cannot afford the higher premiums of whole or universal life, and for business purposes including buy-sell agreements, etc.

If you don’t have health problems, term life insurance can be a very inexpensive way to get the coverage you need.  Even so, significant savings can be found by shopping carefully.  Rates are typically higher for smokers and for those with adverse health history.

Remember though, term insurance by definition is temporary insurance.  If your need is permanent, you’ll find that in the long run, term insurance becomes prohibitively expensive.

The two most popular types of term life insurance are Annually Renewable Term (ART) and ten year level term (Level 10).   With an ART policy, your premium increases each year.  With Level 10, your premium remains level for 10 years.  After that, the premium generally increases each year.  There are also other varieties including 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 year level term.