What Is Term Life Insurance? 
Video Transcript : What is term insurance ? Term insurance is temporary expense reimbursement money , TERM . Temporary insurance using term covers only temporary obligations or temporary financial indebtedness . It 's a time-certain event where you think you 're going to have the coverage will not be necessary after that time period . It can be bought in 5 , 10 , 15 , 20 , 30 , sometimes even 40-year increments , depending upon your age . Term insurance usually has a conversion component inside the policy provision , so that if you actually needed the coverage beyond your term that you bought , you 'd be able to go ahead and extend it by converting it to a permanent form of life insurance . There 's windows to that conversion , but generally , term is for a temporary expense reimbursement , something that you 're going to have ; an exposure or a liability , for a certain time . 