Maybe you’re a young person planning for the future? Or perhaps, you’ve started a family and want to protect them. In the event of your death, you want to leave behind a strong legacy to settle your affairs. Life insurance is often the way to go in these cases.

Getting life insurance is a bit different than enrolling in other policies. This is because life insurance has to do with your life expectancy. It won’t pay until you die. So, you will want to follow a special process to ensure you get strong protection.

Examine the Types of Life Insurance

Life insurance comes in multiple shapes and sizes. Two of the most common are whole life and term life policies.

• Term life policies only last for a certain number of years. They provide a death benefit (the value of the policy) when you die. You have to renew a policy if you want to keep it active after the term expires.
• Whole life policies can last for the rest of your life. Among their benefits is their ability to accumulate cash value. The cash value usually accumulates in addition to the death benefit. That means you might be able to leave extra benefits to your family. Whole life policies might be more expensive than term policies however.

Term and whole life policies both contain options that policyholders can tailor to their needs. Ask your insurance agent which of these policies is better for you, specifically. Your age, overall health, finances and more might play a role in your choice.

Determine the Value of Your Policy

When you first talk to your insurance agent, you’ll want to establish how much value you want the policy to have. This is the amount that your survivors will receive when you die.

Every policyholder will have different-sized estates. For example, you might need to leave money to pay for a child’s education, a mortgage or general living expenses. Your policy’s value should reflect these anticipated costs.

Follow the Enrollment Process

You will have to provide certain information to your insurer to enroll in coverage. Among these might be personal information, tax returns and even a medical exam.

Medical exams often help insurers determine your overall health and eligibility for coverage. It is usually quite simple and relatively non-invasive. Often, the better your health, the lower your policy prices might be. Never skip taking the medical exam if you have that option.

Your insurance agent can help you determine the best coverage and policy for you. So, don’t wait. It’s never too early to get life insurance.