I stick to what the Florida Department of Financial Services publishes. Before you sign, look up the agent and the insurer with the Department, me included.
Life insurance explained: term and permanent, side by side
Term coverage lasts a set number of years. Permanent coverage is designed to last a lifetime. Let me walk you through how each one works, what to decide before you apply, and what sets the premium.
Jeannie Pond, Licensed Insurance Agent, NPN 8940178, licensed since 2009
We do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 14 organizations which offer 52 products in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.
1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), TTY 1-877-486-2048, 24 hours a day/7 days a week
Life insurance pays a death benefit to the beneficiary you name when the insured person dies. There are two basic kinds: term life, which lasts a set number of years and has no cash value, and permanent life, which is designed to last a lifetime and can build cash value. The insurer sets the premium in underwriting, looking at things like age, health history and occupation.
Term beside permanent: two lines from one start
Read the drawing left to right, as time since the policy started. The term line stops when its term ends, and the permanent line keeps going. A dashed line shows something a policy may allow, not something every policy does.
Florida DFS: Life Insurance OverviewOn a phone, slide the drawing sideways to read every label.
Term life insurance
Term life is the simplest type. It covers a set period, typically ten, fifteen, twenty or thirty years, and pays a level death benefit if the insured dies during that period. It has no cash value.
After the first term, a policy may allow renewal at a higher premium. Most term policies can also be converted to permanent coverage without evidence of insurability, at a higher premium.
Permanent life insurance
Permanent life is designed to last a lifetime and can build cash value that can be tapped with loans or withdrawals. Cash values are very low or nonexistent in the early years and build up over time.
Whole life keeps the same premium for the life of the insured. Universal life lets premiums change, and its cost of insurance rises each year as the insured ages. A loan that is not repaid, with its interest, comes out of the death benefit.
Three things to decide before you apply
Start by deciding how much coverage you need, for how long, and what you can afford to pay. South Carolina’s Department of Insurance calls that the first step. Then pick the person who will receive the money.
How much coverage
Start with who depends on your income. Ask yourself whether the people you leave behind could cover the cost of your burial, rent or mortgage payments, other bills and any remaining medical costs, and still keep their normal life.
For how long
Term coverage fits a need with an end date, since it lasts a set number of years. Permanent coverage is designed for the whole of life. You can also combine cash value life insurance with term insurance for the period of your greatest need.
Who the beneficiary is
The beneficiary is the person you name to receive the death benefit. Review your policies once a year to keep beneficiaries up to date, and again after a birth, a marriage or a divorce. Then tell your beneficiaries about the policy and the insurer’s name.
What a life insurance premium depends on
Underwriting is how an insurer decides whether to issue a policy and what premium to charge. In Florida, a company may consider:
- Age and gender
- Health, medical history and habits
- Family health history
- Occupation and hobbies
- Financial status
- Overseas travel
Smaller policies may need little medical history. Higher coverage limits usually mean a closer look, which may include your medical records and a medical exam. A quote is an estimate, and the insurance company may change it after it reviews your application.
Answer every application question correctly. If information is wrong, whether on purpose or not, the policy may be rescinded and a claim denied later. In the first two years of a policy, the insurer may review the insured’s medical records before it pays a claim.
After a policy is delivered, Florida gives you at least fourteen days to review it. Return it in that time for any reason and the premium is refunded in full; for indexed universal and variable life, the refund can be adjusted to market value.
Florida DFS: Purchasing Insurance
Before you sign: what to check in Florida
It’s illegal to market insurance in Florida without a license, so check before you sign a contract or write a check. The Florida Department of Financial Services suggests these steps.
Have a question about a company or an agent? Call the Florida Insurance Consumer Helpline, toll-free at 1-877-693-5236.
Florida DFS: Purchasing InsuranceThe company is licensed in Florida
Look the company up in the Department’s search of active companies, using its full legal name. The Department also posts regulatory actions against life and health companies.
The company’s financial ratings
Independent firms such as A.M. Best, Fitch Ratings, Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and DemoTech grade insurers with letters. A rating reflects a company’s financial ability to pay claims, not the quality of its claim handling. Each firm sets its own criteria, so look at ratings from several sources.
The agent is licensed and appointed
Agents must be licensed and hold active appointments with specific companies to sell their insurance legally. Besides the licensee search, the Department posts recent disciplinary actions against agents and agencies.
The application, line by line
If the agent fills in the application, review every question and answer before you sign. You may be asked to take a physical or a blood test, and coverage may not begin until the company approves it. The company may also cover you but exclude benefits if you die from certain illnesses, called riders or exclusions.
How you pay
Two more cautions from South Carolina’s Department of Insurance: make the check payable to the company, not the agent, and buy only a policy you intend to keep, since quitting in the early years may be very costly.
If a premium goes unpaid: grace, lapse and reinstatement
When a premium is missed in Florida, things happen in this order. Your own policy spells out exactly how yours works.
A grace period of at least 30 days
You have no less than thirty days after the due date to make the payment.
Cash value may cover the premium
On a cash value policy, the company may borrow from the cash value to pay a missed premium. If that loan isn’t repaid, interest builds, and the cash value and death benefit go down.
After a lapse, the cash value isn’t forfeited
Florida requires a non-forfeiture provision. After a lapse or surrender, you have sixty days to choose: take the cash surrender value, less any surrender charges; use it to buy extended term insurance; or keep a smaller, paid-up policy with no more premiums due. If you don’t choose, the insurer typically picks extended term.
Reinstatement, up to three years later
The insurer may reinstate a lapsed policy up to three years after the lapse, once you give evidence of insurability. All back premiums must be paid, normally with interest.
When a universal life premium has to rise
If the interest credited to a universal life policy hasn’t kept up with its rising cost of insurance, you may need to pay more to avoid a lapse. Ask the company for a current illustration showing how long the policy should last at your current payments, or ask whether it will let you reduce the death benefit.
Yearly notices about changing your policy
Insurers must send a yearly notice saying that if you are thinking about changing your policy, you should contact a licensed agent or another financial professional. The notice is just informational. If you aren’t planning a change, you don’t need to do anything.
When the beneficiary is unclear
After many beneficiary changes over the years, it may not be clear who the rightful beneficiary is. The insurer can then file for interpleader: the death benefit is deposited with a court, and the court decides how it is paid out.
Life insurance at or near retirement
Term length and age
Most companies won’t sell term insurance for a term that ends past your eightieth birthday, Minnesota’s Department of Commerce notes. One common kind of term runs to a specified age, usually sixty-five.
A second notice before a lapse
In Florida, a life policy covering someone sixty-four or older that has been in force for at least a year can’t lapse for an unpaid premium unless the insurer has mailed a notice at least twenty-one days ahead to the policyowner and to a secondary addressee, if one is named. You are told of the right to name one when you apply.
A smaller policy for burial costs
A whole life policy with a small death benefit, bought for funeral and burial costs, is usually called burial or final expense insurance. You can read more in final expense insurance, explained.
Annuities and long-term care, on their own pages
Florida’s regulator explains annuities separately from life insurance, and so do I: how annuities work. The Administration for Community Living lists life insurance options among the private ways people pay for long-term care, so see the long-term care insurance page too. Every other kind of coverage is on the services page.
My license, and how to check it
Jeannie Pond, Licensed Insurance Agent, NPN 8940178. Florida W272782; Arizona 8940178; California 4524185; Georgia 2669678; Indiana 4017600 (health only); Michigan 8940178; New Jersey 3004406991; North Carolina 8940178; Tennessee 960426; Texas 1617709; Virginia 1447142 (health only); Washington 1346341.
Jeannie Pond has been a licensed insurance agent since 2009.
Jeannie Pond offers life insurance, annuities, final expense and long-term care coverage.
Before you sign an application, check the license of the agent and the insurance company. That goes for me too: you can look up each of my license numbers on the state’s insurance license search.
We do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 14 organizations which offer 52 products in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.
1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), TTY 1-877-486-2048, 24 hours a day/7 days a week
Questions you might ask me about life insurance
How much does life insurance cost each month?
It depends on the policy and on you. The insurer sets the premium in underwriting, looking at things like your age, health history and occupation, plus the amount and kind of coverage you pick. Term generally has lower premiums than permanent coverage. Your actual figure comes from the insurer’s quote, and that can change after the insurer reviews your application. Ask me about your own situation and I’ll answer when you first get in touch.
What happens when a term life policy ends, and what are the downsides of term life?
When the term ends, the coverage stops unless the policy allows renewal, which comes at a higher premium; most term policies can also be converted to permanent coverage without evidence of insurability, at a higher premium. Term builds no cash value, and if it expires without a claim, the premiums are not refunded unless the policy has a return of premium feature, which costs significantly more. Your own policy spells out what applies to you, and I’ll go over your situation when you first reach me.
Is there an age limit for buying life insurance?
It depends on the insurer and the kind of policy. Each company weighs your age in underwriting, and some kinds of term coverage run only to a specified age. The insurer’s application and the policy itself tell you what applies. Ask me, and I’ll answer for your situation when you first get in touch.
Want to talk it through? I’ll call you back.
Leave your name and the best way to reach you, or call me.Medicare help in Lakeland and nearby cities
We do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent 14 organizations which offer 52 products in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.
1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), TTY 1-877-486-2048, 24 hours a day/7 days a week
Jeannie Pond, Licensed Insurance Agent, NPN 8940178. Florida W272782; Arizona 8940178; California 4524185; Georgia 2669678; Indiana 4017600 (health only); Michigan 8940178; New Jersey 3004406991; North Carolina 8940178; Tennessee 960426; Texas 1617709; Virginia 1447142 (health only); Washington 1346341.
Vista Consultants LLC dba Vista Insurance Services holds Florida insurance agency license L135539 (agency NPN 22164003), issued March 19, 2026, with Jeannie Pond as agent in charge.