Life insurance can help your loved ones financially when you pass. It can cover outstanding mortgage or debt payments, education costs for children and health care expenses after your passing, among other needs. A life insurance policy entails a contract between an insurer and policy owner that pledges a sum (the death benefit) upon death depending on its type.

Your choice of life insurance depends on your unique financial situation and can include term, whole life and variable universal life policies. Each has unique advantages and disadvantages; your agent can help you determine which policy best meets your needs.

Policies are typically purchased by those being insured; however, spouses or others with insurable interests may also make purchases. Whole life policies provide permanent protection, while term policies have an expiration date that must be observed. With both whole and variable universal life policies having cash value components that accumulate over time and can later be cashed out or borrowed against.

Once a policy has been issued, its death benefit and policy face amount remain stable during its contract term – whether that is for an indefinite duration or until age 100. Whole life and variable universal life policies offer options to lower death benefits without having to go through further underwriting processes.

everyday life insurance arising from causes listed in their policies, such as accidental or terminal illness death and natural causes such as heart attack, stroke or cancer. Under rare circumstances a claim could be denied if a policyholder commits suicide within a specific period after purchasing their policy or there has been misrepresentation during application processing.

As soon as you apply for life insurance, an insurer will evaluate your risk and decide how much of a death benefit to grant based on factors like your age, sex and health at application. Keep in mind that more you smoke or have chronic health conditions, the higher your rates will be for life insurance policies.

Beneficiaries are those named by a life insurance policy owner to receive its death benefit upon death. Although beneficiaries are named, they do not participate in making changes to either the contract itself or to its cash value. If you wish to change beneficiaries, write in and submit a written request directly to them; for best results consult a financial planner as well as consult an attorney and review it regularly.