How Long Do You Need Life Insurance? 
There are different schools of thought on how long you need life insurance . Some believe that you only need life insurance until you save up enough so that your dependents would do OK , even if your died prematurely . That philosophy is often called , `` buy Term , invest the rest . '' Those who like this idea tend to buy shorter terms and pay as little as possible for their life insurance , with the hopes that by the time their Term policy ends , they will not need to buy more . Some choose the age of retirement as their cutoff point for owning life insurance , with the intention of having all debts paid off and money for retirement saved up by then . On the opposite side of the fence are those who would use life insurance for a lot of their supplemental income and security in later life , and thus only buy permanent policies . Not only do they spend more on premiums than those who buy Term only , but they may even increase their premiums so that their policies are paid up by the time they retire . Many people fall somewhere in between . They buy what is most cost effective for each particular need . E.g. . They may buy Term for the bigger expenses in their lives , such as getting their kids raised . And they might buy a smaller Whole or Universal Life policy for their final expense needs . Then try to diversify their investments as is prudent at each stage of their lives , and in accordance with the economy , and products offered at that time . 