Your term is ending. What now?
The options are better if you look at them early.
Term life policies end. That's the deal you made, and it's why the premium was what it was.
What surprises people is how the ending works — it usually isn't a clean stop, and the choices available shrink the longer you wait.
Option one: let it end
Entirely reasonable if the obligation it covered is gone. If the mortgage is paid, the children are independent, and your household would be fine without your income, the policy did its job.
Work through that honestly rather than by default, though. "I think we're probably fine" is not the same as having checked.
Option two: renew, carefully
Many term policies allow renewal after the level period, usually on an annually increasing basis priced at your current age. It requires no new medical underwriting, which is genuinely valuable if your health has changed.
It is also typically much more expensive than the premium you'd been paying, and it climbs each year. Renewal is a bridge, not a destination.
Option three: convert, before the deadline
If your policy includes a conversion privilege, you may be able to convert to permanent coverage without new medical underwriting. That matters enormously if your health has changed since you first applied.
Conversion privileges have deadlines, often expiring before the term itself does. This is the option most worth checking early, because it's the one that disappears quietly.
The thing to do first
Find out three dates: when the level term ends, when any conversion privilege expires, and when the insurer will notify you. Then work backwards.
Shopping a new policy while your existing one is still in force keeps every option open. Waiting until after it lapses closes most of them.
Want this checked for your situation?
General information only. A licensed insurance professional can tell you what actually applies to you.
General information only, not insurance advice. Coverage, availability, and terms vary by insurer and by state. Quote My Policy LLC is a licensed insurance producer.