The life insurance industry offers many different kinds of polices. It's representatives have a vested interest in meeting your insurance needs so it's up to you to decide what kind of policy you want. If you are attracted to what is offered by a joint life insurance policy bear in mind these policies have a dual character.



Joint life insurance comes in two forms, as a term policy or as a whole life policy.



Term life policies have a defined premium, a defined face value or death benefit and are for a specified number of years.



Whole life policies remain in place for the whole of the policy owners life at which time his or her heirs get both a death benefit and most of the accrued value of the premiums paid.



If you add the word 'joint' in front of both these types of policies you can see what the dual identity is of each these types of policies.



Should you buy one of these policies?



These policies are usually bought by either a married couple or a common law couple. They are designed to help the surviving partner cope with all the expenses of a mortgage and of child rearing now one partner has died. What the surviving partner gets depends on whether the policy is a whole life one or a term one. A whole life policy will give both a death benefit and return of premiums minus admin costs. The joint term life policy will pay only a death benefit but the premiums will have been cheaper.



People often want to make sure the financial well-being of their family is protected when mortgage payments and child rearing responsibilities are at their heaviest and a 10 year joint life policy with defined premiums will meet this need. Your insurance company will let you renew when your term life policy runs out, but most families let the policy lapse once that time of maximum financial vulnerability is past. Most families with these policies think the value of the premiums is wort it to ensure their peace of mind during the term of the policy




The cost of covering a mortgage can be considerable. Joint term life insurance is often taken out by a couple to insure against one partner having to meet that cost on their own. For this reason joint term policies are often also called mortgage insurance.



Who chooses these policies?



Even though families with young children often take these policies out there are others who also choose to buy them. A joint term life policy can be very attractive to a couple in their retirement. If a retired couple have an established lifestyle that can be put at risk if one partner dies.



The term of a joint term policy can be 1 year, 10 years or longer. A 10 year policy is very attractive to a young family but if there are going to be college expenses needing to be paid in future they may want a 20 year or even a 30 year policy. A quote from a reputable insurance company will let you know what kind of premiums you will have to pay and then you can assess what works best for you, taking the family budget and needs into account.