Life insurance basics: how it works and what to ask before you buy
How a life insurance policy works in plain words: owner, insured, and beneficiary, term versus permanent coverage, how much you might need, what underwriting looks at.
Read guideLife insurance guides for Maryland
Understand life insurance before anyone quotes you a number
Guides written for you, not for the insurance company: how each kind of policy works, what drives the cost, what to ask, and what to check before you sign.
Guides by question
Start with the question you have right now
Each guide answers one question and cites the Maryland Insurance Administration or the NAIC. None of them recommends a policy or a carrier, quotes a price, or takes an application; that happens with the insurance company after you decide to apply.
Term life insurance: the most coverage per dollar, for a set number of years
How term life insurance works in Maryland: level, decreasing, renewable, and convertible term, choosing the length, what renewal costs later, conversion rights, and the questions to ask.
Read guideWhole life insurance: what is guaranteed, what the cash value really does, and what to ask
How whole life insurance works in Maryland: lifetime coverage with fixed premiums, how cash value builds, what a policy loan does to the benefit, dividends, and “paid-up” promises.
Read guideTerm, whole, universal, or indexed universal life: the same need, four different contracts
How term, whole, universal, and indexed universal life differ in duration, premiums, guarantees, cash value, and what can make the policy lapse, so you can compare them on the same need.
Read guideWhat decides what you pay for life insurance
Why two people pay different premiums for the same coverage: age, health, tobacco, amount, term, policy type, riders, and underwriting class, plus why an online quote is not your price.
Read guideMortgage protection life insurance: four things people confuse, and the one that matters
What mortgage protection life insurance means for a Maryland homeowner, how it differs from homeowners insurance, PMI, and credit life, and why it is never a condition of getting a mortgage.
Read guideFinal expense insurance: a small whole life policy for funeral costs, with fine print that matters
What final expense or burial insurance is, how simplified-issue and guaranteed-issue policies differ, what a graded benefit pays in the first years, why it costs so much per dollar.
Read guideLife insurance after 60: what changes, what is still available, and what to protect
Life insurance for Maryland residents over 60: why premiums rise with age, the options that still exist, what to check on a policy you own, cautions about selling one.
Read guideLife insurance for your children, and life insurance on your parents: two different questions
Two questions Maryland families ask: insuring a child through a rider or a small policy, and buying coverage on an aging parent with their consent. Plus how to name a minor as beneficiary.
Read guideWhat these guides cover
Topics in the current education scope
Paola helps Maryland residents understand exactly the topics below. Reading about a topic, or asking her about it, is not choosing a product.
- Term life insurance education
- Life insurance for mortgage and family protection
- Whole life insurance education
- Indexed universal life (IUL) education
- Final expense life insurance education
- Indexed annuity education
- College funding education
- Estate and legacy education
- General life insurance education
Scope of this guide: Neutral insurance education for Maryland residents, and a way to reach Paola. This page does not recommend a policy or carrier and does not complete an application or transaction.
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Tell Paola which topic you want to understand and she will call you. Do not include health or financial details in the public form.