Term to 100

The simplest permanent policy

Term to 100 does exactly one thing. It pays a death benefit whenever you die, and it charges a level premium to fund that.

There is no investment account to monitor, no dividend scale to interpret, no cost of insurance structure to choose. The name is slightly misleading because it is not a term policy: the coverage does not end at 100. In most contracts the premiums stop at 100 and the coverage continues for life.

Why it costs less than whole life

Whole life and Term to 100 both promise a death benefit for life. The difference is what else the insurer is funding.

A whole life premium builds a guaranteed cash value that belongs to you, and on a participating policy it also funds a share of the participating account. Term to 100 does neither. All you are buying is the death benefit.

Strip out the savings element and the premium falls. For the same coverage amount at the same age, Term to 100 is normally noticeably less expensive than whole life.

What you give up

Cash value, and with it every option that depends on cash value.

You cannot borrow against a policy with no cash value. You cannot surrender it for a payout. You cannot use it as collateral in the way a funded whole life policy can be used. If circumstances change and you stop paying, the policy lapses and there is nothing to recover.

Some insurers offer versions with a limited cash surrender value appearing after a set number of years. Those sit between the two products and cost accordingly. Read the specific contract rather than assuming.

Who it suits

Someone who wants the death benefit and nothing else. If the goal is that a specific amount of money exists whenever you die, this delivers it at the lowest permanent cost. Adding a savings component you did not ask for is just a more expensive way to get the same death benefit.

Estate liquidity on a budget. A family expecting a tax bill on a cottage needs cash in the estate. Term to 100 provides it without the premium a comparable whole life policy would require. See estate planning.

Final expenses. For someone who wants funeral and settlement costs covered and has no interest in accumulating value inside a policy, this is a clean fit. See final expense insurance.

People who prefer to keep insurance and investing separate. A perfectly reasonable position, and Term to 100 is the permanent product that respects it.

Older buyers. At 65 or 70, the years available for cash value to compound are limited, so the savings component in a whole life policy delivers less than it would for a 40-year-old. Paying only for the death benefit often makes more sense at that stage.

Who it does not

Anyone who wants the policy to do double duty as a tax-sheltered savings vehicle. That is what whole life and universal life are for.

Anyone who might need access to money inside the policy later. There is nothing to access.

Anyone whose need has an end date. Term coverage is far cheaper for a defined period, and paying permanent premiums for a temporary need is money spent on protection you will not use.

The thing to check before signing

Whether premiums genuinely stop at 100.

Most contracts are structured that way. Some require payment for as long as you live, which for someone reaching 103 is a difference that matters. It is a single question and the answer is in the contract.

Also worth confirming: whether the policy has any cash surrender value at all, and if so from what year. Products vary more than the shared name suggests.