Most life policies fall into one of two categories. They’re either term life policies or whole life policies. While both types of policies provide death benefits, their structures are significantly different. Term life policies are structured to provide coverage for a set number of years, or a term. Most terms are between 10 and 30 years. During a policy’s term, the policyholder must pay premiums in order to receive coverage. After a policy’s term, coverage ceases -- but so do premiums. In general, term premiums are fairly low and remain low throughout the duration of a policy’s term. Whole life policies are normally designed to provide life coverage for the remainder of a policyholder’s life, however long that may be. They generally don’t have a date on which benefits expire.