How Long Should You Keep Life Insurance? 
If you have a Permanent life insurance policy that is is paid up , has cash value that continues to grow , and you do n't need the money now , you should probably keep it until death . If your policy is not building up as much cash value as you had hoped , you could review it with a trusted agent to see if there are better options , and get a projection of values of the policy so that you can make an educated decision . If Term insurance , you should keep it as long as you need it , or until the term ends . It is expensive to keep Term insurance past the date of the term 's end . So if you still need coverage at that time , either convert your policy to Permanent , or purchase a new Term policy before it reaches that point of exorbitant premiums . 