Financial debates over whether term or permanent is a better choice for life insurance often seem to turn on cost. While that is a definite consideration, do not overlook what may be the key decision question: Is your need for protection temporary?

Most people have both permanent and temporary needs for life insurance protection. College costs, support for dependents until they grow up, mortgage payoffs—those are all temporary. Estate taxes and funeral expenses: Those fall under permanent needs. So the best answer to the “term versus permanent” debate? Both.

Properly coordinating your permanent life insurance needs with your temporary ones is best done with the advice and counsel of a financial professional. Solutions for your individual needs may require separate policies or a “hybrid,” which combines elements of both term and permanent in a single policy.

If you are still working and still have dependents, you are not too old to look at a combination of both types of life insurance.

If you have purchased permanent life insurance (also known as “whole life”) and have held it long enough to create cash value, your cash value creates options that may be unavailable under pure term policies. Known as “non-forfeiture” options, three are standard:

Cash: You can surrender your policy and receive the current cash value. The downside is you will no longer have any insurance protection under the policy.

Reduced Paid-Up Insurance: Your current cash value is used to purchase a lower, but fully paid for, amount of insurance. No further premiums will be due.

Extended Term Insurance: Your current cash value is applied to purchase an amount of term insurance equal to your original policy protection for as long a period of time as the cash value allows. At the end of that time, you will no longer have protection under the policy.

Additional options may be available under certain policy forms from various insurance companies.

New baby? New house? New job? New marriage? All of the above?

Major life changes, even the best, can create major stress and confusion in our financial lives. Don’t worry. With a few hours and a few simple steps, you can bring order to your plans and get a good handle on where you need to go.

Carrie Schwab-Pomeranz, an experienced financial advisor with Charles Schwab, offers the following checklist for adjusting your plans based on the changes your life undergoes:

1. Create a personal net worth statement: Know where you are, and set a base point for measuring progress.

2. Review your monthly cash flow: Distinguish between needs and desires, and put savings up with mortgage/rent to force cuts elsewhere.

3. Get the right insurance coverage: Don’t skimp, but don’t overdo on life, health, auto and home.

4. Set savings goals: Budget for emergencies, college and retirement.

5. Make a will: Include not just assets, but protection and guardians for your children and other dependents.

6. Start investing: Start small, but have a plan.

7. Take all the above just one step at a time: Do not get overwhelmed by trying to accomplish everything at once.

Even some dictionaries will say these terms have the same meaning. But that’s not the case when referring to disability insurance! And in this case, what you don’t know can definitely hurt you.

Non-cancelable means your insurance company cannot change either your benefits or premiums as long as you pay on time.

Guaranteed renewable says the same with regard to benefits, but premiums can be changed on a policy anniversary. There’s one additional protection for you: The premiums can be changed only as long as the same change is made for your entire class of policyholders. In other words, your individual premiums will not change due to your individual health or welfare. But if, for example, everyone’s premiums go up at age 55, then so will yours.

Since the premiums are fixed, non-cancelable coverage where available is typically more expensive. Depending upon your individual needs and desired premiums levels, other options might also be available. Talk with your agent about possible choices for your best disability coverage.

For those who have accumulated sufficient assets to incur estate taxes, one key non-negotiable need is liquidity because the IRS wants its money on time and in cash.

Since many large estates have significant values in illiquid assets such as land, businesses or investments, converting these assets to cash at the exact moment the need is created, i.e., death, can negatively impact even the best inheritance planning.

The value of property that is being sold by heirs or administrators under pressure of estate tax deadlines rather than at optimal market rates can decline significantly. In addition, an heir who may have preferred to retain the property intact for emotional reasons or the possibility of future financial gain loses those options.

Fortunately, there is a financial product specifically designed to provide needed liquidity precisely at the moment of death: life insurance. While often discussed primarily in reference to temporary situations—such as support of dependents or the paying off of debts such as mortgages or college loans— permanent, or whole life, life insurance is a resource that’s available whenever death may occur, even at an old age when dependents have long grown up and major debts have been paid off.

Consider it when undertaking your estate planning.

More individual investors are including target-date funds in their retirement plans, but recent studies show that buyers don’t really understand the product.

Essentially, a target-date fund is a mutual fund that invests in more conservative securities the closer it gets to its “target date” year. It is not a guaranteed-return investment along the lines of an annuity. It is possible it will lose value over the course of its life.

Some investors mistakenly believe that these funds will make guaranteed payments as of the target date in the name of the fund. Additionally, some don’t know that their target-date fund companies can and do make investments in riskier products closer to the target year to make up for lost yield in previous years. That exposes the investor to the risk of bigger losses right near the time he will be expecting payout.

If you are hoping for a guaranteed payment from a retirement investment, a target-date fund may not be the product for you. It might be better as part of a broader investment portfolio that combines variable products with guaranteed products. Let’s sit down and talk about what your goals are and how soon you will need to receive payments. That way, we can craft a retirement plan together that will best serve your future needs.