Term life insurance provides life insurance for a fixed period of time. If the insured dies within that period of time, the policy pays out. It is the cheapest form of life insurance, and is usually taken out for 5 yrs, 10 yrs, or 15 yrs.

Term Life Insurance is basically a "risk" insurance.

A person can take out Term Life Insurance while s/he is working that would, in effect, replace his/her income if s/he sustained an injury that precludes him/her from earning a living.

The person would be betting someone/a company that s/he will be able to continue working for a set period of time without having any type of disabling accidents.

Unlike Permanent Life Insurance, Whole Life Insurance, or Universal Life Insurance, Term Life Insurance does not build up equity as you pay your premiums. When your term of insurance (how long your "bet" was for) is done, you cannot recover your cash value of premiums paid.

Daddyevil

Term life insurance is life insurance for that term say ten years or twenty years. Term is the best type of insurance to buy. Another type of insurance that the salesman or saleswoman will always try to sell you is called whole life insurance and that is insurance that is like term that goes for a certain term but it also has a cash value. But one thing they will always tell you it's like an investment.
Term life insurance is very cheap you can get a half million dollar policy for say forty dollars a month. Not bad right, you might even get it less depending on your age and such. But whole life will cost you much more like over one hundred dollars or more depending on the amount and your health. But when you get older you can turn it in and get an amount back unlike the term life insurance. But personally I like to keep my insurance and my investments separate.

It's a life policy which is purchased for a certain number of years. My husband and I both have supplemental term life in addition to what our places of employment give us. We each have 20 year term policies. We pay a monthly amount, but at the end of the 20 years, that's it. We will no longer be insured unless we convert our policies to a small life insurance policy to cover the funeral expenses only. Right now, we have larger amounts, as we have kids in college and would want to make sure their education was paid for. But when they're out and on their own, we only will need enough to cover the cost of burial, so we will convert the term policy. Also, the price is locked in on a term policy for the number of years you purchased. It's a good policy to have, especially if you know you will have some hefty expenses which will burden your loved ones.