Coverage Schedule
The right policy depends on what it has to do.
Income to replace. A mortgage to retire. A paycheck to protect if you can't work. A partner to buy out. An estate to settle. Start with the job, and the policy follows.
Term Life Insurance
The most common — and usually the simplest and most cost-effective — life insurance in the United States. You choose a policy period (typically 10 to 30 years) and a death benefit, and your beneficiaries are protected for that term.
- Level term pays the same death benefit throughout the policy, the standard choice for income replacement.
- Decreasing term reduces the benefit each year, often paired with a mortgage or other declining debt at a lower premium.
- Conversion options on many term policies let you move to permanent coverage later without new medical underwriting.
Permanent Life Insurance
Permanent policies have no end date — they last your lifetime as long as premiums are paid, and most build cash value you can access through loans or withdrawals for opportunities like a down payment, tuition or retirement income.
- Whole life — fixed premiums, guaranteed death benefit and steady cash value growth; a long-standing estate planning tool.
- Universal life — flexible premiums and a cash value account earning interest, which can offset your cost over time.
- Indexed universal life — cash value growth tied to a market index such as the S&P 500, balancing flexibility with more stability than fully variable designs.
- Variable life — cash value invested in market subaccounts for higher growth potential, with correspondingly higher risk.
Disability Income Insurance
Your ability to earn an income is likely the largest asset you'll ever own — and it's the one most often left unprotected. Disability income insurance pays you a benefit if illness or injury keeps you from working, so a health setback doesn't become a financial one.
- Individual disability income — coverage you own and control, portable between jobs and designed to replace a meaningful share of your earnings.
- Own-occupation protection — benefits payable if you can't perform your specific profession, an important distinction for specialists and high earners.
- Group and supplemental coverage — layering individual coverage on top of an employer plan to close the gap group policies typically leave.
- Business overhead expense — for owners, covering rent, payroll and fixed costs while you recover.
Business & Key Person Coverage
A business can be as dependent on one person as a family is. These policies keep a company funded and in control when it loses a founder, partner or essential employee.
- Key person life insurance — the company owns a policy on an essential employee, providing capital to stabilize operations, recruit a replacement and reassure lenders.
- Buy-sell agreement funding — life insurance guarantees the cash to buy out a deceased partner's ownership share at a pre-agreed price, protecting both the business and the partner's family.
High-Net-Worth & Estate Planning
For substantial estates, life insurance is a liquidity and tax-planning instrument as much as a protection product. Death benefits are generally income-tax-free to beneficiaries, cash value grows tax-deferred, and with proper ownership structure benefits may also be estate-tax-free.
- Liquidity to settle estate taxes and final expenses without forcing the sale of assets.
- Tax-deferred cash value as an accessible, tax-favored reserve during your lifetime.
- Charitable and legacy designs, including charity-owned life insurance.
- Annual policy reviews consistent with fiduciary standards for trust-owned insurance.
Common Questions
Your questions, answered plainly.
Do I really need life insurance?
If anyone depends on you financially — a spouse, children, a business partner, even a co-signed loan — the answer is almost certainly yes. Coverage replaces income, retires debt, pays final expenses and can leave an inheritance, all generally income-tax-free to your beneficiaries.
Isn't my employer's disability coverage enough?
Group disability through work is a good start, but it often replaces only part of your income, may be taxed when paid, and usually ends when you leave the job. An individual policy you own fills that gap, is portable, and pays benefits tax-free when you've paid the premiums yourself.
How much coverage do I need?
A useful starting point adds up income your dependents would need to replace, outstanding debts, education costs and final expenses, then subtracts existing savings and coverage. We walk through that calculation with you before quoting anything.
What does life insurance cost?
Pricing depends on age, health, family history, tobacco use and the amount and type of coverage. Because we broker across many carriers, we can show how the same person prices differently from insurer to insurer — and place you where the underwriting is most favorable.
What are riders?
Riders are optional add-on benefits: waiver of premium if you become disabled, accelerated death benefit for terminal illness, guaranteed insurability to add coverage later without new underwriting, return of premium, long-term care acceleration and more. We'll flag the ones genuinely worth their cost for your situation.
Next Step
Not sure which schedule you belong on?
That's the point of the conversation. Tell us what you're protecting and we'll map the options.