Chances are, if you have recently purchased a home (or are planning on it), a mortgage was (or will be) involved. If this doesn't apply to you - congratualtions. This is for the rest of us.
When you signed (or will sign) for your mortgage, almost certainly you were offered Mortgage Insurance. Mortgage Insurance is a very specific form of Life Insurance. If you die, your remaining mortgage is paid off and your dependants won't be out of a home (or trying desperately to cover mortgage payments without your financial support). This sounds like a very reasonable idea, and when the banker tries to sell it to you, she isn't being greedy and looking for a commission. There is a very real chance she's had to do the unthinkable and call in a mortgage on some family already reeling from a tragedy. Honestly, she's a good person looking out for you. But that doesn't mean that her product is right for you.
Let's look at that definition again: "... your remaining mortgage is paid off."
So if I die one year after buying my house, my widow gets (roughly) $300k. If I die ten years into home ownership, my widow gets $200k (or however much we have left). Notice that the payout decreases the longer I pay into the insurance.
There is a better way. It's called good old fashioned Life Insurance (or maybe Term Life Insurance). Here you pay for a set payout. In our case, we are insured for $200k. I am insured through work for an additional $100k, so if I die, my widow has the mortgage paid off, and if she dies, my income will let me continue to make payments on the remaining mortgage without her support. This $200k (or whatever you chose) is paid out no matter the length into the mortgage. Mortgage almost paid off? Good, then the insurance money can go to investments for your widow's retirement or your children's educations.
There's a second benefit to regular old life insurance too - lower cost. We were paying roughly $50/month for the Mortgage Insurance that we signed up for when we bought our house. Through the same bank, we'd save about $10/month for regular old life insurance. Through the group life insurance offered to my union, we pay one third of that.
Check with your local insurance providers. Many banks and brokers also offer group discounts to unions, university almuni, or members of professional associations (such as professional engineers). There is a lot of money to be saved by doing a little bit of leg work.
We will be saving more than $30 per month, and have better long term coverage. I felt that was worth sharing.