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Penny Mann was just 15 years old when her father died in an automobile accident. William Tejes, 45, was the manager of the water-treatment plant in South Beloit, Ill., and a school board member. He was on his way to Chicago for work when he lost control of his truck on an unsealed, wet county road and hit a tree. In addition to daughter Penny, Tejes left behind a wife and a son in college. But he also left behind a good life insurance policy, one that carried the stricken family financially. "We could just grieve him and not ... worry about the financial stuff," Mann said. "I knew [my dad] had done what he needed to get done." But insurance agents say many Americans put off buying life insurance. Nearly a third have no coverage at all, according to a survey by LIMRA International, an industry trade group. It's not surprising why: Few people are eager to consider their own mortality. Cost is another reason why many people avoid buying an individual policy. Wage earners need insurance most when their families are young, precisely the time when they're most strapped, said Don Thompson, a Prudential Financial agent who worked with the Tejes family. That's why term insurance is so popular. A $500,000 policy for a young, healthy nonsmoker can cost less than $300 a year. Term insurance allows level payments for the length of the contract, usually 10, 20 or 30 years. The drawback is, once the term is up, there is no more insurance. Although buying term young keeps the premiums low, trying to get a new term policy in middle age can be much more expensive, especially if health problems such as diabetes or heart disease have cropped up.

Permanent insurance avoids those problems, but it costs a lot more. Several different varieties -- whole, universal and variable life -- all use premiums to build a cash value that can be borrowed. Different types provide choices such as flexible premiums, investment options and guaranteed returns.

After her experience as a teenager, Mann is a big believer in life insurance. She has a $100,000 term policy that she bought with her husband when they got married.

The couple are divorced, but her ex-husband became diabetic and would now find it difficult to get an affordable policy, Thompson said.