Term life insurance.
Cheap, simple, and what most people actually need.

Who actually needs term life

The only reason to buy life insurance is to replace income or pay off debts someone else could not cover if you died tomorrow. Start from that definition and almost every other question gets easier.

• Yes: you have kids, a non-working spouse, or a partner whose lifestyle depends on your income.
• Yes: you co-signed a mortgage or private student loan someone else would inherit.
• Probably yes: you own a small business with co-owners or partners who rely on buy-sell funding.
• Probably not: single 22-year-old with no kids, no dependents, and no co-signed debt.
• Probably not: retired with a paid-off house and a spouse who can live comfortably on the remaining portfolio.

A tiny $10K "final expense" policy for funeral costs is not usually worth the money. Set aside $10K in a high-yield savings account and you have self-insured the same thing with full liquidity.

Term vs whole life - the math

Whole life is typically 10 to 15 times the premium for the same death benefit. Sell the difference, invest it, and you come out ahead in nearly every realistic scenario. The "forced savings" argument is a marketing story - a basic Roth IRA or taxable brokerage does the same job with vastly lower fees.

Whole life has narrow uses - high-net-worth estate planning, funding a buy-sell agreement, certain tax-estate edge cases. If one of those applies, talk to a fee-only advisor, not the person who sold you on it. If none apply, buy term.

How much coverage

The common rule is 10 to 12 times your annual income. Add any remaining mortgage balance, subtract existing savings and life insurance your survivors could actually live on. The goal is to replace your economic contribution long enough for the household to stabilize.

Round up, not down. Underinsuring by $100K to save $5 a month is a bad trade. Round-number policies ($1M, $1.5M) often price better than awkward ones.

Ladder terms to save money

You do not need $1M of coverage for the full 30 years. Your need declines as kids grow, the mortgage shrinks, and the portfolio compounds. Laddering stacks a shorter, larger policy on top of a longer, smaller one so your total coverage matches the risk over time.

Example: a $500K 30-year policy plus a $500K 20-year policy gives you $1M of coverage while the kids are young and $500K after they are out of the house, at lower total premium than a single $1M 30-year policy.

Where to shop

Life insurance is a commodity. The same healthy 35-year-old can get quotes that differ by 30% or more across carriers for the identical policy. Always run at least three quotes.

• Policygenius - broker with a good comparison tool across carriers.
• Haven Life, Bestow, Ladder - direct-to-consumer digital brands. Fast online process.
• Term4Sale - no-frills comparison engine favored by fee-only advisors.

Do the medical exam. No-exam policies are convenient but typically cost 30% more. A blood draw and a phone interview is worth it once.

When Bitcoin holders should think differently

Life insurance is income replacement. If Bitcoin is a meaningful and appreciating slice of your net worth, the amount of income your family needs to replace shrinks over time. A $500K stack that grows into a $2M stack is, in insurance terms, doing the job a $2M term policy would otherwise do.

Revisit the coverage ladder every 5 years. If the stack has grown, consider dropping the shorter rung of your ladder early rather than renewing. Do not cancel all life insurance based on a Bitcoin bull run - that is timing the market with your family's downside.

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