Article  How To Find The Right Life Insurance Policy For Your Family When shopping for a life insurance policy, the first consideration is usually whether you should purchase a term policy or a whole-life policy. More often than not, the small business insurance agent you talk with will suggest that families consider purchasing whole-life insurance. These policies, after all, offer the agents larger commissions. In this article we will explore the differences between whole-life and term insurance. By learning the advantages and disadvantages for both you can safely make an informed decision for your family. Whole-Life Policies Whole-life insurance policies offer the consumer the opportunity to put their premiums into an insurance account from which they can later withdraw the money. These policies can be nice if you think you would need to borrow against your insurance policy at some point in the future. However, what an insurance agent may not tell you readily is that only a small percentage of your monthly payment is actually considered a premium that you can borrow against. With a whole-life insurance policy, as much as 80 percent of the first annual payments go toward the agent's commissions. For each year after that, a large amount of the annual payments also go into the agent's pockets. Only small percentages of whole-life insurance policies go toward the borrowed-against amount that you are pitched when you buy the policy.   Term Life Policies Term life insurance policies allow you to buy a set-amount policy. Term policies are much better deals than they used to be. In decades past, an individual couldn't find a term policy for more than about 15 years. Now, you can find a 30-year policy with little challenge. The amount you pay on a term insurance life policy is also somewhat reasonable. Typically you can purchase a $500,000 term policy for a healthy 45-year-old man for about $500. If you're a healthy woman who's 35 years old, you might be able to purchase the same policy for about $260 each year. Insurance agents don't push these policies as greatly, because they don't earn as much commission as they do with whole-life policies. Making The Decision When you are weighing your options with a term or whole-life insurance life policy, you should determine what your needs are for the policy. If you would like to have the option of using a forced investment feature built in to your life insurance policy, whole-life may be something you should look at. For most people, however, term small business insurance policies are the best route. Both policies allow you to purchase a policy and make monthly or annual payments. Upon your death, your beneficiary is paid a set amount. The difference between the two main types of policies is that with a whole-life policy, the purchaser has the opportunity to turn his life insurance policy into an investment. Once you decide whether to purchase a term or whole-life policy, the next steps are to find a reliable company to purchase the policy from, to determine how much coverage you need and to find the best price for the amount of coverage you are seeking. To determine how much coverage you should have, you should determine how much money your beneficiary counts on you for. If you are the sole breadwinner in your family, you might decide to purchase a higher amount of coverage for your spouse upon your death. Be sure to shop around. Different companies offer different premium prices for term policies for the same amount of coverage. Make sure you understand under which circumstances a policy would pay out and under which circumstances the policy would not pay out. Make an educated decision based on your family's specific needs.   Category Medical Insurance Author Sandra Cohen Add To Favorites Print This Article Email Article To A Friend Post Comments   Rate This Article (0) 1 - Poor2345 - Good678910 - Excellent Added On 2009-07-10