Leaving Your Job? Employer Life Portability, Conversion and Individual Term
When you leave a job, ask when employer life insurance ends and whether the plan offers portability, conversion or both. Compare those contractual options with an individual term application before any election deadline. Your last workday, benefit termination date and deadline to continue coverage may be different.
A new employer’s benefits may help, but they do not establish what protection you have during the transition. Get written plan information now, especially if your household depends on the coverage or a health change could make a new application difficult. If leaving employment includes starting or buying a business with SBA financing, review life insurance for an SBA loan separately from the coverage needed for your household.
Ask HR for the documents that control your options
Request the group life certificate or booklet, benefit schedule, termination notice and continuation forms. Confirm the insurer and group policy number. If HR directs you to the carrier or a benefits administrator, keep a record of whom you contacted and when.
Read basic employer-paid life insurance and employee-paid supplemental life separately. Ask about spouse or dependent life and accidental death and dismemberment coverage too. Those benefits may have different continuation rights. Do not assume that an option applying to your own life benefit applies to every line in your benefits statement.
- When does each coverage end, including during leave, severance or retirement?
- Which benefits can be ported or converted, and in what amounts?
- What forms, signatures and payments must be received before the deadline?
- Are there eligibility limits based on age, employment status or other plan provisions?
- What premium will you pay now and later?
- Does the plan provide any protection during an election period, and under what conditions?
Get answers from the plan or insurer rather than assuming a general article applies to your employer. A continuation packet can arrive after your last workday; ask for it promptly and confirm the deadline directly.
Portability, conversion and individual term are different paths
Portability generally lets an eligible employee continue term coverage under the plan’s portability arrangement. Conversion generally lets an eligible person move coverage into an individual permanent policy under the group contract’s conversion provisions. An individual term purchase is a new application for a separately owned policy.
| Path | What to investigate | Main comparison question |
|---|---|---|
| Portability | Eligible benefits, amount limits, rate schedule, age-related changes and continuation rules. | How long will this term protection remain useful and affordable? |
| Conversion | Eligible permanent product, application deadline, guaranteed premiums and benefit provisions. | Does the available permanent protection fit your need and budget? |
| New individual term | Underwriting, approved premium, term length, death benefit and effective date. | Can you obtain appropriate new coverage before existing protection ends? |
These are broad descriptions. Your employer’s certificate and continuation packet determine the available rights. Our individual term versus group life comparison explains the coverage structures; the immediate task here is to preserve and evaluate your actual transition options.
A current carrier example, with limits
MetLife’s continuation guidance, checked October 9, 2026, describes conversion to permanent whole life and portability as term coverage. It says conversion has no medical questions, and standard portability rates do not require medical questions; certain portability options may offer a health-based preferred-rate application.
MetLife also describes a general 31-day continuation window and explicitly directs readers to their paperwork for the applicable rules. That is a reason to act quickly, not a universal deadline for every employer plan or every state. Its described portability rates increase with age, while its described conversion rates stay level.
The separate MetLife conversion page ties the medical-question provision to applying within the timeframe in the Schedule of Benefits. Verify your own schedule rather than treating “no medical questions” as a permission to apply whenever you wish.
Build a timeline with actual dates
Write down the termination date for each benefit, the deadline for each continuation election and the date a new policy could become effective. If your spouse’s coverage depends on your employment, make a separate entry for that benefit.
| Event | Your date | Confirmation to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Employer life benefit ends | __________ | Written notice or insurer confirmation. |
| Portability election due | __________ | Required forms and payment instructions. |
| Conversion election due | __________ | Schedule of Benefits and submission requirements. |
| New individual policy effective | __________ | Insurer’s in-force confirmation and completed delivery requirements. |
| Next employer benefit begins | __________ | Enrollment and any evidence-of-insurability approval. |
Do not infer that a new individual application pauses a group conversion or portability deadline. Ask the group insurer what you must do to preserve an available option while a new application is being considered. Confirm the response in writing.
If a deadline appears to have passed, contact the insurer immediately and explain the dates and notices you received. Ask whether any contractual or applicable notice provisions affect your situation. Do not assume an extension exists or abandon the inquiry based on a generic internet deadline.
Health changes can make continuation rights valuable
Someone who already qualified for employer coverage may face a different review for a new individual policy. A new term application can ask about medical history, prescriptions, tobacco use and other risk information. A no-exam process does not mean no underwriting.
Our no-exam term guide explains that distinction, and the underwriting guide helps you prepare the health summary. Answer the new application accurately and ask what still must be reviewed before relying on its price.
If you have developed a significant condition, establish your existing continuation rights before dismissing them as too expensive. Their value includes the ability to obtain protection under the applicable rules, not just the first payment. You can compare cost while keeping the deadline in view.
Recalculate how much coverage you need
Your employer benefit may have been expressed as a multiple of salary, but your household’s need does not necessarily equal that multiple. Consider income support, debts, childcare, education and any obligations that continue after retirement. Subtract resources that are genuinely available for those purposes.
Use our life insurance coverage calculator to organize the numbers. Then identify how long each need lasts. A temporary income-support need may call for term protection, while a separate lifelong need requires a different comparison.
If you are retiring, compare the survivor income your spouse would actually receive with the expenses that remain. Do not assume a large group benefit must be fully replaced; equally, do not assume retirement eliminates every need.
Compare future costs and benefits, not only the first bill
Request the portability rate schedule and any benefit reductions. For conversion, request the actual product illustration and guaranteed payment requirements. For new term, request the same death benefit and intended duration and label its premium as an estimate until underwriting is complete.
- Does the benefit stay level or reduce at certain ages?
- How long is the premium guaranteed, and what changes later?
- Which riders and exclusions apply?
- Does accidental death coverage continue, or does only the life benefit continue?
- Are you comparing the same payment frequency?
- What happens if you later change jobs again?
Our level term policy guide explains the fixed-premium period. If a new policy’s future conversion option matters, review our convertible term company comparison. That future feature does not replace today’s employer-plan election.
Confirm protection before closing the transition
Keep copies of submitted forms, payments and acknowledgments. Ask the insurer to confirm what coverage is in force and its effective date. The NAIC recommends keeping an existing policy until replacement coverage has been received; when employer coverage ends automatically, the practical goal is to coordinate continuation and new coverage before that end date.
Explore our term life insurance hub, or compare individual coverage before your employer life benefit ends. Bring your continuation packet and tell us the termination and election dates. A useful comparison respects those dates as well as your health, benefit and budget.