We talk to a lot of applicants who have no idea how long of a plan they should buy. It’s an easier decision than you might think.
This article is going to look at the advantages of 20-year term plans and help you decide if they are a good choice.
Term Life: is 20 Years Long Enough?
There’s no other way to say it: American families love and prefer term life insurance. There are three key reasons why term life remains the go-to policy for an overwhelming majority of the population:
- It’s cheap
- It’s straightforward
- It fulfills most people’s life insurance needs
Put these three factors together, and it’s easy to see why this type of insurance dominates the life insurance market.
When you’re shopping for term life, you need to consider how much coverage you need and the length of the term coverage. Too many consumers focus on the amount of coverage and spare little thought for the length of the policy.
Term life insurance doesn’t last forever, so the premiums are much cheaper. The policy is valid for a specific period of time, and the payout is only awarded if the insured dies during the active term. Standard terms are 5, 10, 20 and 30 years, and each term has its own benefits.
In general, premiums are lowest for shorter terms. For instance, the 5 and 10-year terms have the cheapest premiums and may be beneficial if you need to secure a short-term loan.
But how long should you have term life insurance for?
It all depends on your situation.
There is no “perfect” length for life insurance. Each situation is different, and you’ll need to examine your situation before buying a plan.
Consider the thought process below.
Determining Your Life Insurance Length
Before you buy life insurance, you’ll need to make some key decisions, like how long will you need life insurance.
Insurance comes in just about every length, but you need a plan for you. We never recommend one length to all of our customers.
There are two key things to think about when deciding how long your term should last:
1. The Purpose of 20 Year Term Life Insurance
Consider why you’re buying coverage and you’ll have a much easier time deciding the length of your life insurance term. The purpose should be the main deciding factor. For example, if you’re buying to protect your children’s future, then the coverage should last until they no longer rely on your income.
As mortgage rates have plummeted to an all-time low, homeowners are refinancing to 20 years, so the 20-year term life policy is an obvious solution if you’re purchasing term life simply for mortgage protection.
And if you’re concerned about income protection in this uncertain economy, then your coverage should last until you hit retirement age – or close to it.
So, as you can see, the purpose of coverage will help you determine your desired length.
2. The Cost of 20 Year Term Life Insurance
After you determine how long you need coverage, your next step is to request quotes to ensure you can fit the premiums into your budget.
As stated earlier, shorter terms have cheaper premiums. You can utilize instant life insurance quotes on this site to get a ballpark figure of how much each term costs.
Keep in mind that medical issues may increase the cost of your premiums, which can force you to reevaluate the length of your term. If that’s the case, choose a shorter term with the mindset of getting a longer term in the future when your medical issues are under control.
Should You Buy a 20 Year Term Policy?
People between the ages of 25 and 45 are more likely to purchase a 20-year term life insurance policy. At the end of the term, they’ll most likely have their mortgages paid off, and their children would have left home. If their savings are on track by this time, they’ll be close to being self-insured by the time the term ends.
So purchase a 20-year life insurance policy if you can relate to the above scenario. Of course, you’ll want to purchase as much coverage for your family as your insurer will allow based on your income, but you need to crunch your numbers to make sure you can afford to pay.
By evaluating your current financial situation and comparing different policies, you’ll be able to arrive at a term life solution to suit your individual needs.
Finally, since your life insurance needs will change over the years, you’ll need to update your policy as those changes happen. Also, it’s not uncommon to own multiple policies to cover different needs.
For example, you might purchase a policy for your mortgage, another for your family, and another to protect your assets if you own a business.
One common mistake is to buy a life insurance plan and then never go back to update your needs and recheck to see if you have enough coverage. You should reevaluate your life insurance needs every several years.
There are plenty of life insurance need calculators, which will show you how much you need.
If you have any questions about how much coverage you need, please let us know. We would be happy to walk you through all of the number crunching.
How to Get a 20 Year Term Life Insurance
If all of this sounds perfect to you, then you should go ahead and apply for coverage. Don’t wait any longer to start getting coverage.
The longer you wait, the more you’re going to pay for a plan. If you’re ready to buy life insurance, we can get the ball rolling.
We can help you decide how long you need life insurance, give you quotes for those plans, and give you some tips and tricks for getting cheaper coverage. We want to get you from start to finish for life insurance.
We have years of experience working with all types of clients and companies. Every year, we help our customers grab the most affordable 20-year term plans. As a group of uncaptivated agents, we aren’t tied to one company.
We are going to prefer one company over another. We are going to sell you the cheapest plan, regardless of the carrier.
We can even help you explore other options, like a 30-year policy or a no exam policy.
You can easily get access to over 30 quotes at once. Use the form over on the side. After you finish it, you will get a ton of quotes sent straight to you. It’s as easy as that.
You don’t have to look too far to get a personal life insurance quote. Use the quote tool on our website to compare free term life quotes from over 30 top rated companies.
You can also call us at 800-712-8519 to compare quotes and find the best rate for a life insurance policy.
