What is return of premium life insurance?

Especially for young people, Return of Premium Term Life Insurance offers a way to reap all the benefit of a large amount of coverage while it’s most important (when they’re raising children and have a mortgage) and when the term is up—have every penny ever paid returned to them.   The true beauty of the plan is that when  a longer term length is purchased—say 30 years—there is not a significant difference in price between a traditional term and the Return of Premium option.  Couple that with getting all of your money back—and it’s like getting your coverage for free provided you don’t get out too early.  It’s not tied to the markets or interest rates—it’s a simple, elegant way to insure yourself and have a nice tidy sum returned when you approach retirement.  What you put in is what you get back—and it’s all guaranteed as long you keep paying the premiums. 
In addition, most companies will allow conversion to something permanent—either as a pay as you go type of plan or as a reduced paid-up whole life plan that you’ll get free and clear from future payment as long as you’re willing to part with the returned premium when your term is up.
This plan usually makes the most sense when you’re between 20 and 40, you want at least a 30 year term and you’re not looking for a very large face amount—more than $1,000,000 for example.