Many people think that life insurance is only for those with families. While it is true that life insurance can help provide for the needs of dependents when you pass away, it's also important for someone starting out - or for someone who's starting over.

There are many different kinds of life insurance for many different kinds of protection needs. Term is the most basic kind of life insurance. It provides affordable protection for a pre-defined period of time, so it is often used to serve temporary protection needs.

Permanent life insurance, on the other hand, is used when protection needs are more long term. There are many kinds of permanent life insurance, each of which has unique features that make it appropriate for certain situations. The two main categories of permanent life insurance are fixed and variable. Fixed life insurance products accumulate cash value at a pre-defined, guaranteed minimum interest rate while variable products are designed to provide money to pay benefits under your policy, but they do not guarantee a minimum rate of return or protect against asset depreciation. They will fluctuate up and down depending on performance of the Eligible Portfolios.

(Note: Increasing protection requires additional underwriting and there is a required minimum premium necessary to sustain your policy.)

Survivorship life is a life insurance policy that covers two individuals and provides a life insurance benefit after the death of the last surviving insured. Survivorship policies can be whole life, universal life, or variable universal life.

Learn more about life insurance in the "Related Articles" section.

^{*Source: LIMRA International. Sales survey based on new periodic premium, plus 100% of single premium.}