Term life insurance is like permanent life insurance in that it uses the same mortality tables in order to calculate the cost of insurance as well as the death benefit. The death benefit with both is going to be income tax free, if the policy is actually in force, and all of the premiums have been paid currently. This is the same for both permanent insurance and term life insurance. However, the way that the premiums work in both cases is going to be very different.
The reason that there are different costs that are associated with term life insurance than with permanent life insurance is that the terms of the term life insurance policy might actual expire before anything is paid out. With permanent life insurance, there is going to be a guaranteed pay out for anyone who has a policy. However, with term life insurance, sometimes terms expire before a person dies, and they do not get their payouts at all. Permanent life insurance isn't always a cheaper option, however, because many new policies have built in cash accumulations that the insurer must pay, which also makes that program more expensive than it would be.
Many of the studies that are done with term life insurance actually show that it is unlikely that term life insurance will actually pay out the death benefit. It is a way for a person to protect themselves, and to insure that their families will be taken care of, but it is not often something that is actually paid out, because the terms usually expire and renewing the term life insurance policy becomes too expensive for a person to continue. Therefore, most people buy term life insurance policies to make sure that if they die while they are younger their families will be taken care of. The vast majority of people switch to a whole life or permanent type of life insurance program as they get older, so that they will be able to be covered no matter how long they live. Those that end up getting the death benefit from a term life insurance policy usually will end up with a higher benefit, however, due to the higher costs of staying with a term life insurance policy to the end.
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