Term Life Insurance

Term life or term insurance is simple: You determine the right amount of coverage you need (with the help of your advisor), then you figure out for how long you need coverage for and choose from the available periods. Once that time is up, so is your coverage. Find out more about term life insurance.

It depends on the type of coverage you get. We offer two: annual renewable and level premium.

Annual renewable term life insurance gives you coverage at a lower initial cost, but the premiums will increase every year as you get older.

• Term 80 is our longest coverage term that lasts until age 80.

• Term 10 is our most affordable coverage that lasts for up to 10 years.

With level premium term life insurance, your premiums will stay the same throughout the term.

• Level Term 20 covers you for 20 years and your premiums will not go up throughout the entire period.

• Level Term 10 also gives you coverage for 20 years, but the premiums will increase for the second 10-year period.

Talk to an advisor about which type of term life is right for you.

The best one for you depends on your goals. The biggest difference is that term life insurance covers you for a set amount of time and is likely to be less expensive than whole life insurance.

On the other hand, whole life insurance covers you for life and it has a lot more you can use throughout your life. It gives you the chance to increase coverage as your needs change. Whole life builds cash value over time (tax-deferred) that you can use for anything.⁷ Plus, it can earn dividends (while not guaranteed, we've paid them every year since 1872) that can be taken as cash, used to pay premiums, or buy more coverage. See all our life insurance options.

When you're younger, term life insurance can be a simple way to protect your loved ones. But as life changes your financial priorities can too, so you may want to have whole life insurance for its lifetime coverage and additional benefits that you can use while you're living. That's where a term conversion comes in.

As a Northwestern Mutual term policyowner, you can convert some or all of your term coverage into a whole life policy. Approval is guaranteed regardless of your health. The premiums won't increase once they're set, but they will go up with age, so it's a good idea to lock them in early. Find out more about term conversion.