Life

For most, term life insurance will be the preferred choice because it offers the most significant benefit amount for the lowest price. Furthermore, since most expenses aren’t permanent (mortgage balance, young children, college education), getting the most amount of coverage in the most crucial period when the family is young is a sensible option.

That said, there are a few cases for a permanent policy which can be best used for estate planning or  buying a small final expense policy.

You probably do. Most group coverages aren’t portable, which means if you lose or quit your job, you also let go of your insurance coverage. Most importantly, group coverage doesn’t offer sufficient protection and typically offers only one or three times your yearly income, which by all accounts, isn’t enough. (My recommended amount is between 3-5 times your yearly income, some recommend 10 times yearly income.) My advice is to get it through your job if it’s free or at a reasonable price and supplement it with life insurance outside your workplace. It is very important to have your own Life insurance in place that you personally own that can not be altered by employment changes.

Life insurance riders are add-on provisions to enhance or customize your current coverage to fit your needs. Some riders come at no additional cost and are baked in the coverage, where other riders can be applied for a small additional cost. It’s worth noting that riders are typically purchased with the policy and can’t be added later. Here are a few common purchased riders:

• Waiver of premium - If you become disabled and can no longer work, a waiver of premium rider covers the cost of your life insurance premiums by withdrawing from the death benefit
• Term conversion - Many carriers offer you the ability to convert your current Term coverage into Whole Life, a lot of times without having to do any re-examinations. There are usually time frames for this option. (Ex. some carriers state your have to convert before the age of 65 or before your reach the last 5 years of your policy coverage term). 
• Accelerated death benefit - It’s a provision that allows you to collect a significant portion or percentage of the death benefit while you are still alive should you become terminally ill. The money can be used at your discretion to pay for medical expenses or even to do specific things with your family and friends while you still can enjoy them. The amount you take out early will be subtracted from the death benefit payment along with interest.
• Child Protection Rider - Child riders can be added to your life insurance policy to provide a small death benefit if one of your children dies while your policy is in force. No one wants to think about a child’s death. But with a little planning, if the worst thing that could happen to you does happen, you won’t have to worry about funeral costs on top of grieving.

• Accidental death benefit rider - An accidental death and dismemberment policy pays in addition to the death benefit to beneficiaries ONLY if you die as a result of an accident-related event (car accident, drowning, etc.). 
• Return of premium (ROP)- Some term policies have a return of a premium feature that allows for a refund of all or some of the premiums you paid through the term of the insurance if no death benefit was paid. The premiums for policies with this feature tend to be higher, and you must be careful not to miss any payments throughout the term in order to take advantage of this feature.