You should choose a policy term till your retirement age or may be till a few years after retirement. Term insurance is taken to cover the risk of loss of income. So ideally take term insurance for a period in which you will be earning money. Beyond that period, the premiums paid by you will become a burden for you.
The higher the term, the higher will be the premiums. So if you take a plan till the age of the 65, you will notice the premiums are lower than the same plan if you had taken it till the age of 75.
Indicative policy terms for different age bands are mentioned below –
| Age at the time of buying | Policy Term |
| Below 25 years | At least 30 |
| 25 to 30 years | 30 or 35 |
| 31 to 35 years | 25 or 30 |
| 36 to 40 years | 20 or 25 |
| 41 to 50 years | 15 or 20 |
| Above 50 years | 10 or 15 |