Your annual life insurance review, in ten minutes

Check the names

• Is the primary beneficiary still who you'd choose?
• Is there a contingent beneficiary named?
• Are names spelled correctly and relationships accurate?
• Does the group policy through work name the same people?

Check the amount still fits

Coverage sized to your life five years ago may not match it now. Both directions matter — a new mortgage or child raises the need, while a paid-off loan or grown children may lower it.

• Has your mortgage balance changed significantly?
• Has your income changed?
• Have you added a dependent?
• Has other coverage started or ended, including through work?

Check the policy is actually in force

Confirm premiums are being paid, especially if you changed bank accounts or cards in the last year. A lapse for a failed payment is a mundane, entirely preventable way to lose coverage.

If you have a permanent policy, ask for a current in-force illustration so you can see how it's actually performing rather than how it was projected to.

Check people can find it

A policy nobody knows about is a policy nobody claims. Make sure at least one person you trust knows the insurer, roughly what's covered, and where the documents are.

This is the least technical item on the list and the one most likely to matter.

Check any deadlines you're sitting on

If you have term coverage with a conversion option, there's a deadline attached to it. If you've changed jobs, group coverage may have a limited conversion window too.

These pass quietly. Knowing the date is most of the work.