Who does term life insurance benefit?

Great question. We’re glad we asked.

In short, it can benefit whomever your beneficiary is or beneficiaries are. Chances are, that’s someone you love and hold dear, like a spouse, your children, or even a beloved nonprofit organization. And that’s who will receive a payout (called a death benefit) in the event that you pass away with term life insurance coverage in place.

So, what can the payout from a term life insurance policy be used for? It turns out it could help pay for a number of expenses your loved ones want — or need — it to, including expenses both short-term (like funeral costs, burial expenses and other end-of-life financial obligations) and long-term (like college tuition or a mortgage). Think of your term life insurance policy as a contract with your life insurance company. If you die before that contract expires, your loved ones will receive a death benefit payout based on how much coverage you buy.

As for determining how much life insurance coverage you’ll need, you can use a handy online needs calculator to see which term insurance policy is right for you. You might also consider what kinds of expenses your loved ones will face, and what kind of legacy you wish to leave behind. With all that in mind, here are seven common expenses people buy life insurance to help cover:

1. End-of-life expenses

An obvious use for a life insurance policy is to help pay for end-of-life financial obligations including funeral costs and burial expenses. If you’ve never given much thought to what these final expenses cost, it might surprise you to know that the average funeral can have a $10,000 price tag.

If you’re single, covering those final expenses might fall on your parents, siblings or other family members. If you’re married, your spouse may be left to foot the bill. Grieving is hard enough. No one wants to stick their loved ones with a $10,000 bill at the same time.

2. Day-to-day bills

Think about what it costs to run your household, day in and day out. You may pay rent or have a mortgage. There’s food, utilities, health insurance, car payments, car insurance, clothes, school supplies, extracurricular activity fees for the kids… the list never ends.

Now, consider how your spouse or partner would handle this heavy financial obligation if something were to happen to you. Hopefully, you’ve built an emergency savings cushion that could help with some costs in the short term, but a family shouldn’t need to deplete their emergency fund to get by.

A life insurance policy, however, could help your beneficiaries have a larger financial cushion for daily expenses. This lets you lift some of the financial burden off their shoulders so they can focus on getting themselves and your kids, if you have them, through the grieving process.

3. The mortgage

The payout from a life insurance policy can also be used to help pay the mortgage if you were no longer in the picture, providing a level of financial protection for homeowners. For many people, a house is one of their most significant assets and a key to their family’s financial stability for years to come. If you died and your partner faced the payments without your income, a life insurance policy could help your partner to pay the mortgage.

Knowing that life insurance proceeds can be put toward paying the mortgage can offer your partner the freedom to make decisions that are best for your family during a trying time. For example, should they stay in the house? Can they pay off the mortgage entirely? Does it make sense to downsize? Should they move closer to family? The ability to afford the monthly mortgage payment buys an immense amount of flexibility, time and peace of mind for your family.

4. Cosigned debts

Your mortgage is likely your biggest debt, but it may not be your only one. Credit cards, car loans, personal loans or student loans may also be lingering.

Thankfully, federal student loans are forgiven when the borrower (or the parent, in the case of Parent PLUS loans) dies. When you have other cosigned debts, either with a spouse, family member or someone else, their responsibility for repaying those debts doesn’t end when you pass away. Cosigners are jointly responsible for the debts and having to make the payments alone could put a strain on their finances.

A life insurance policy could help them pay those debts so they’re no longer carrying the weight of those payments after you’re gone. Additionally, being able to pay cosigned debts could protect their credit scores from damage caused by late payments or delinquencies if they wouldn’t be able to cover the debts otherwise.

5. Child care and other dependent expenses

Raising kids isn’t cheap; the federal government estimates that a middle-income family spends nearly $16,000 each year per child. And that doesn’t include the additional cost of eventually putting them through college, which can add thousands more to the total.

Having kids is one of the best reasons to consider being insured. The lump sum payout associated with your term policy can be used to help pay for anything from daycare costs to summer camps to college expenses. That’s important for helping protect your growing family — and all the hopes and dreams they have for the future.

A life insurance policy can also help with paying costs associated with raising a special needs child. For example, they may require nursing care or special equipment, such as a wheelchair or feeding tube.

One more thing: You may think that the chief earner for the family is the only one who needs life insurance coverage. In reality, it’s just as important for stay-at-home parents to have a life insurance policy, considering all that they may do day-to-day to keep the household running. It’s estimated that the typical stay-at-home parent does tasks that are equal to around $185,000 a year. If your loved ones need to add daycare expenses into the family budget or hire a housekeeper because the stay-at-home parent has passed away, a life insurance policy could be used to help cover the cost.

6. Medical expenses or long-term care—while you’re still living

Most life insurance policies offer an accelerated death benefit rider, either for an additional fee or included as part of the policy, or it may involve a fee if the rider is exercised. This rider allows the policy owner to access a portion of your death benefit before you die if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness. That could help you pay medical or other expenses related to long-term care during a time when you can’t work. Suffice it to say, this can be a huge expense—not to mention a hassle, during a time that’s already stressful—to take on without help. But please note, any funds tapped by the accelerated death benefit rider will reduce the overall death benefit once the policyholder passes away.

7. Leaving a legacy

One of the benefits of life insurance is the opportunity for leaving behind a legacy. There’s more to life than making sure the bills are paid. Many people also want to leave money to make things easier for their partners and children. Things like college tuition or a down payment on a child’s first home. Or, you might want to set aside money to support your favorite charitable causes after you’re gone.

Life insurance proceeds could be used to help provide the funds needed to create those types of legacies if you’re not around to do it yourself. You can get a term life policy large enough to cover your family’s immediate needs, while also providing for longer-term financial goals.

It’s worth noting that in addition to life insurance, it’s important to speak with your attorney about establishing a living will or trust to help direct your survivors’ financial actions after your death.

Choosing a life insurance policy to help cover your needs

When shopping for a life insurance policy, you’ll usually choose between two types of coverage: term or permanent life insurance policies.

Term life insurance is a simple, affordable type of coverage that covers your loved ones for a set period of time — typically 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 years. The philosophy tied to term life insurance is that you have coverage in place during the years you need it most, such as the time period  until the mortgage is paid off or your kids are adults. You might be wondering what happens at the end of the term life insurance policy. Well, once the term length is up, coverage ends. (Some policies allow you to continue the policy, albeit at much higher premiums.) Generally, you do not get back the money you paid in insurance premiums (although there are some policies that offer a return of premium feature, these are more costly to purchase). Think of it like car insurance, you have coverage in place in case something does happen.

A permanent life insurance policy (a well-known type being whole life insurance) covers you, well, permanently. It’s permanent coverage for a lifetime — assuming you continue paying insurance premiums. This type of policy also includes a cash value accumulation feature that builds over time and can be borrowed from, say, during retirement or when your kids go to college. Keep in mind that borrowing from your policy reduces both the cash value and the death benefit.

The big difference between term coverage and permanent insurance policies, aside from the length of coverage, is cost. A permanent policy is typically more expensive than term policies which can be cost prohibitive for many families.

Let’s look at a price comparison between term versus whole life insurance. A term life insurance quote for a healthy 35-year-old woman buying a 30-year, $500,000 term life insurance policy is about $29 per month. A $500,000 whole life insurance policy for that same woman is about $480 per month, according to State Farm (as of 2021).

Protecting your loved ones with life insurance

Whether you choose a term, whole, or permanent policy, the purpose of life insurance is to help protect your loved ones from financial hardship if you were to die. While it may seem like there are many factors to consider when choosing a policy that adequately covers your loved one’s financial needs, it’s actually a lot simpler than you think. As a policy owner, you’re able to choose the right coverage amount and/or term period that works best for you.

A life insurance calculator is an easy-to-use tool for understanding your life insurance needs based on your income, debts, family structure and several other useful data points. It’s an ideal place to start when determining the right amount of coverage for you and how it fits into your budget. From there, you can easily apply online.

As to that first question about what your life insurance can cover? Well, life insurance can be used to help pay for many types of expenses, and it’s a way to help safeguard your loved ones’ futures. Once you have a policy in place, use it as the perfect opportunity to talk to your beneficiary about what you want your legacy to be if you were to die. It might seem like an intimidating conversion but really, buying life insurance tells your loved ones that you are in this for the long haul and you want to help ensure their financial needs are met, no matter what.