If you have term, a better rate or path may exist

Term is a contract with a clock: a face amount, a level period, a conversion window on many contracts, and an eventual rise in premium or a lapse if nothing is done. An annual review looks at that clock and at whether a different rate or a different path might fit the file you actually have.

A better rate is one possible outcome — not the assignment

Adults under 31 overestimate the true cost of a $250,000 20-year term policy by about five to six times (2026 Insurance Barometer Study, LIMRA and Life Happens). That misperception is about shopping. It is not a promise that your in-force term can be replaced cheaper.

Health, age, nicotine, driving, prescriptions, prior applications, and the face amount all travel with a new application. Coverage decisions are made in underwriting — not by a quote engine. Carriers evaluate data, not intentions.

Conversion vs a new application

Many term contracts include a conversion privilege: a path to permanent coverage without a new full underwriting, on the carrier’s rules and in the window the contract gives you. That can be the better path even when it is not the cheaper premium.

A new application is a different path. It can produce a more favorable class. It can also produce a decline, a rating, or a record other carriers may later see. Informal questions first; formal application only if the path is the one you mean to leave on file.

Workplace term is not individual term

27% of insured Americans have workplace life insurance and no individual coverage (2026 LIMRA Workplace Benefits fact sheet). Group term often ends or shrinks when the job ends. Conversion options at the employer plan, if they exist, are not the same as conversion on an individual term contract.

If workplace is the only layer, the review is not “get a quote.” It is “what remains if you leave, and what would a carrier see if you applied for individual coverage now.”

Records and sequencing

Prior applications, exam findings, and authorized third-party records can follow a new file. Replacing term is not a reset. Keep the old policy in force until a new one, if any, is issued. Do not stack formal applications to hunt a number.

If you have term, a 15-minute review can sort rate vs path — conversion, new application, or leave it — before anyone files.

Call 800.365.TERM (800-365-8376)

Information only. This page is not tax, legal, or investment advice.