Capital Ideas

Newsweek, June, 2005 by Jane Bryant Quinn

What happens when your term life-insurance policy expires? For more than a decade, so-called level-term insurance has been the industry's most popular product. Policies typically last for 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 years. During that time, your annual premium doesn't rise (assuming you buy a policy whose premiums are guaranteed). At the end of the term, your coverage ends. But what if you're still working and supporting a family? You have three choices for continuing your insurance--one good, one acceptable and one awful:

The good choice, for people healthy enough to qualify. Buy another level-term policy, and be sure to shop around. Premiums vary widely (see term4sale.com), with some of the finest companies charging half the price of the competition. But to buy new insurance, you have to pass a medical exam. A 55-year-old man in excellent but not perfect health, living ...