What's the Cheapest Life Insurance?

I hear this question a lot, and it is a easy question to answer.  It's the life insurance that you buy when you are young, healthy and don't need it.  So what do you do if you've let the years slip by and find yourself in need of a policy to protect your family?  I'll give you the short and simple answer.

Straight annual renewable term, which renews automatically each year and is based on your age.  But if you are getting up there in age this quickly becomes too expensive.  This type of term is the cheapest if you are talking about right now.

Traditional whole life which builds cash value and eventually begins paying it's own premiums when purchased for a young person will be the cheapest when they are older because the cost never goes up and it will have value to use later.

But my favorite cheap life insurance is the FREE kind!  It's called Return of Premium term.  The name says it all, it is a term policy that lasts for 20 or 30 years and if you die during that time your heirs get the death benefit but if you live (which most are hoping to do) you get all your premium back (tax free).

Why doesn't everyone buy this option, you ask?  Well some financial experts (the next statement makes this sound funny) suggest it is smarter to buy the slightly less expensive term policy and invest the difference between the two.  Hhhhhmmmm?!?!?!?  Sounds good except you are not guaranteed to even make back what you invest let alone enough to pay for the life insurance and still come out ahead.  Why not buy the Return of Premium policy and in 20 years have a lump sum to invest (guaranteed) and have protected your family all along the way?

So, what's the cheapest life insurance? Free!

J