When Was Term Life Insurance Invented? 
Here are two pretty interesting histories of life insurance for you : WEBSITELINK WEBSITELINK You will notice that the history of this product goes back thousands of years . And that neither article mentions term insurance . Why is that ? Its probably because this product was developed only very recently , considering how long life insurance has been around . Recent probably means in the last 50 years or so . My father was a life insurance agent back in the 1950s , 60s , and 70s . I frankly doubt he sold any term life insurance until the latter part of his career . I considerate it kind of a necessary evil . For sure , there are needs for life insurance for which it is merited . These are basically when a specific amount of coverage is needed for a specific amount of time . That could include funding a buy-sell agreement , mortgage protection , indemnifying a business loan , and meeting the terms of a divorce decree . Beyond these , theres a good chance people would need life insurance for a much longer period of time . In that case , you buy permanent insurance . Or if money is an issue , you buy term and then switch to permanent as soon as you can . 