Making the decision to buy a life insurance policy is a major step, involving a host of different motivations such as retirement planning, mortgage protection, and replacing lost income after the "breadwinner" of the family unexpectedly passes away.

Looking for a new life insurance policy? If you aren't already familiar with the details and terminology of the industry, you begin with a significant disadvantage. Easy fixes to that disadvantage include diligent research and targeted discussions with an experienced life insurance broker.

Getting ready to enjoy your "golden years" and saving and planning to do the same isn't a simple, easy proposition in today's economy. And while you might not want to think about it, the fact is, an untimely passing of yourself or your spouse could completely disrupt those plans for the survivor.

When you really think about it, life insurance is not at all focused simply on money, numbers, forms, medical exams, and contracts. All that is only a part of the legal requirements and processes involved, but at bottom - life insurance policies are all about relationships.

It's almost always a good decision to buy some form of life insurance, be it term life or whole life, but one of the main reasons that a lot of people buy life insurance is directly related to their also buying a new home.

From the perspective of life insurance companies, it obviously makes a huge difference what level of health their policyholders are in when they sign up for coverage. That's why a simple medical exam and health history check is built into the underwriting process. But there are also companies that offer term life without requiring a medical exam, and sometimes, such a policy is highly desirable.

Although there is a myriad of hyper-specific types of life insurance policies on the market today, there are really only two major basic types: term life and whole life.