Term Life Insurance offers benefits in the event of your untimely demise, but on a temporary basis.  Insurance companies extend options for the length of time you desire to be covered.  Once approved for a plan, they agree that your premium and benefit amount amount will not change during the course of the specified time frame.  This is called "Level Term Life Insurance" because all aspects of the plan remain the same during your level term period.

An example of this would be a 10 year, $250,000 plan for 35 year old male non-smoker.  ING Reliastar Life Insurance Company (at the time this article was written) would charge $11.42 per month for a plan like this.  As long as the premiums are paid as agreed, your premium will remain the same for 120 consecutive months.  If you were to die at any point after the plan is in force during the first 10 years, your beneficiary would receive $250,000.

Since most term life insurance providers offer plans that are "renewable" until age 95-- you'll actually be able to continue the plan if you want to beyond 10 years-- but since the level term period is over, you will experience premium increases as your age changes.  In other words, the plan shifts from "Level Term Life Insurance" to something called "Annual Renewable Term Life Insurance".  This amounts to renewing your plan annually until you reach the max age allowed by the policy.  This tends to get very expensive as you age.  The incentive seems to be on requalifying for a new level term plan when your level term period is up or "converting" the plan to something permanent if the provisions of your policy allow for that.

Most companies offer term lengths in 5 or 10 year increments-- beginning at 10 years and ending at 30 years.  (10 year term life insurance, 15 year term life insurance, 20 year term life insurance, 25 year term life insurance, 30 year term life insurance)  There are exceptions to this as a few companies still offer 5 year term life insurance and American General offers something called "Select-A-Term".  Select-A-Term Life Insurance allows you to pick a term length from 10 to 35 years.  There are a few odd term lengths not offered in the 10-20 year range and whether or not you can qualify for a 35 year plan depends on your age-- but the flexibility offered by American General is something not currently found anywhere else in a level term life insurance plan.

There are multiple ways to purchase term life insurance.  Some examples include:

Non Medical Term Life Insurance

Return of Premium Term Life Insurance

Hybrid Term Life Insurance

Accidental Death

Mortgage Term Life Insurance

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