What Life Insurance Term Should I Get? 
Knowing what life insurance term you should get is something you can best discern for yourself , when you understand how term life insurance is priced . When you purchase a term life insurance policy , you are usually locking in the premium so that it will not go up for a certain number of years . This can be as short as one year or as long as 30 + years . When you choose a longer term , you will find the price is much higher than the premium for a shorter term . That is because the policy is covering a greater risk as you get older . E.g. . If you are age 40 now and take out a 10 year term policy , that policy is only covering you to age 50 . If you take out a 30 year term policy , it is covering you to age 70 . The chance of your dying at age 70 is much greater than at age 50 . And life insurance costs are higher where there is greater risk of death . Term policies roughly average out the cost of insurance for each year you have the policy , and charge you that same price for the entire term . So in the first years of the policy , you are paying more than a person your age would be paying for that risk . In the latter years , you are paying less than a person that age would normally be paying . The advantage to longer terms really shows up when health is taken into account . You may have no trouble getting a preferred rating at age 40 . But to get rated preferred at age 50 or 60 is not as likely . Therefore , having a preferred rating locked in for 30 years offers a huge price advantage to the poor soul who gets rated preferred for a 10 year term policy at age 40 , standard at age 50 , and table 4 at age 60 . Getting longer terms is not for everyone . If you definitely only have a short term need , there is no reason to pay the higher cost of a longer term policy . But IF there is a chance you may need longer coverage , as you can see , locking it in while you are healthy is never a bad idea . 