Whole Life Insurance
Life insurance that remains in force during the insured's entire lifetime, provided premiums are paid as specified in the policy. Whole life insurance also builds a savings element (called the cash value) as a result of the level premium approach to funding the death benefit.

Term Life Insurance
The simplest form of life insurance, in which an insurer promises to pay a certain death benefit if you die during the term for which the policy is in effect. Types include annual-renewable and level-premium term.

Advantages to Term Life Insurance
Whole life insurance is expensive, due mainly to its investment aspect, while term life insurance is very affordable. Whole life insurance policies often cost thousands of dollars a year, as opposed to the mere hundreds of dollars a year that the majority of term life insurance policies cost consumers. For example, if you are a healthy, non-smoking 35 year old male, you can get 10-year, $100,000 term life insurance policy for as little as $8.50 a month (or as little as $8.08 a month for a comparable female).

Term life insurance is simple to understand, and allows for personal choice. You pay a (low) monthly premium based on the term length and amount of coverage you choose. That's it. Simple. You can choose term lengths such as 10, 20 or 30 years, and coverage amounts anywhere from $100,000 to several million dollars.

You can invest your hard-earned money yourself, rather than having an insurance company do it for you (as with whole life insurance). Insurance companies are often very conservative with how they invest your money. If you are at all savvy in investing, or good at saving, the extra money a whole life insurance policy costs may not be for you. Instead, buy a cheaper term life policy, and invest the money you saved yourself.