In these days of high-risk living – where ecological disaster, critical terror alerts and imminent water-wars are only round the corner, getting a decent life insurance policy is of paramount importance. Many might take the risk of not having any life insurance at all – but what would happen to your loved friends and relatives if the worst were to befall you? You would like to think that you'd give them at least financial security when you weren't around. Here, a case is made for the importance of life insurance as a means of guaranteeing peace of mind whilst you go about your daily life. Hopefully you'll be convinced enough to do the right thing and insure your life.

The sheer choice of different life insurances can make baffling reading for the amateur insurance buyer. For example, there are specific policies just to help your family pay for any outstanding mortgage costs that they might not be able to meet. How tragic it would be to feel that your family might have to sell up their family home and move because you are not there to keep up repayments on the mortgage. Even such seemingly minor expenses like funeral costs can be met with the right life insurance policy: after all, if you're going to have a respectful send off then costs can mount up, and if times of already financial strain the last thing you want your family to have is yet more costs. If your children are in education and settled at school, the thought of them uprooting and going through the hardship it subsequently brings could be too much to bear. Life insurance will allow them to continue at whatever school they're already at, and they'll be truly grateful. Do you have any outstanding credit card debts? They could prove detrimental to your family's lifestyle if you leave the earth. Store cards, credit cards and secured loans, whilst they might seem small and inconsequential in terms of the bigger picture, could wreak havoc with your loved ones' financial futures.

But you can't spend huge amounts of money on life insurance premiums. As a primer to buying the right sort of life insurance, make sure you know at least the very basics. For people starting out on the exciting path to life insurance joy, there are two principle types of fixed-term, non-investment life insurance. The first is level term life insurance: static payments pay for a fixed-sum to released upon your death. Don't discount the diagnosis of a terminal illness – many policies will account for this and treat it the same as death. Benefits include the ability to be able to budget effectively – as payments remain the same, effective financial planning can be undertaken. Other benefits include the option to set it up as a joint life policy between you and a partner – this means that the lump sum will be payable on the first death, thus cushioning the blow.

In contrast, decreasing term life insurance moves is designed to pay off your mortgage if you die. Lower premiums reflect the fact that less cover is needed as you gradually pay off your mortgage throughout your working life. This is perhaps the more sensible option – whilst your family won't enjoy the big cash dividends that happen with the level term life insurance option, they will be essentially supported to the point where they won't have to move away or take massive cuts in lifestyle. Probably a better option for the lower income family – the premiums won't financially cripple you whilst you are alive, but the level of cover is till there to get your loved ones through the hard times. Like the level term option, there is an option to make it a joint account, and a high degree of flexibility is allowed when choosing how much mortgage to repay.

There is usually an additional illness premium to pay: many places call it a critical illness premium. As stated, this means the policy will pay out a certain amount if certain terminal illnesses are diagnosed: very handy as certain changes in living will have to occur. You could get your house fitted out with ramps, for example, if you suddenly lost the use of your legs due to disease. You may well want to take out injury insurance if the same thing occurs due to a serious health problem, but that would involve different sorts of premiums.

A rough outline of the different sorts of life insurance has been given and hopefully illuminated to the point where you'll be able to see which sort of life insurance suits you the best. Having a decent life insurance is more about the absolute freedom and mental peace-of-mind that it brings than the big cash payouts that your family get when you die. Can you afford not to have it?