Whole life insurance is a form of permanent life insurance, which means that it has a cash value amount that builds up over time based on the premiums that you pay over the years, and in the case of whole life, the interest that accrues on those premiums. Whole life is the simplest form of permanent insurance in that you may borrow against the policy, but you have very little additional flexibility in terms of where you can invest the policy’s cash value amount. As long as you make your premium payments each month, your loved ones, or beneficiaries, will receive a payout when you pass away.

The first thing to decide is what kind of permanent life insurance would suit your needs the best, or if in fact a term policy would be most appropriate. Assuming you have settled on whole life, there is a critical question to consider before you buy insurance based on instant whole life insurance quotes. And that is: what are you forfeiting when you act on an “instant” quote?

Insurance companies aggressively advertise instant quote life insurance because they know the people who are in less than optimal health need a way to get life insurance without getting a medical examination. They know how attractive the prospect is even to people who may be in good health, but simply not sure what a doctor’s checkup might reveal about their overall condition. As low as an instant whole life insurance quote may appear to be, you can be sure that either there is padding built into the premium price or the payout is lower than it would be otherwise, based on the increased risk that the insurance company has to take to insure people without knowing about possible health issues.

How to get around these increased premiums or lower payout? Take a deep breath and buy life insurance that requires a medical exam. Not only will the premiums be lower for similar amounts of coverage, you might surprise yourself by being in better health than you thought. Even if you’re not in perfect health, you might still get a better deal by submitting to the medical exam.

If you look at insurance policies for a given amount of coverage, term life insurance is clearly the cheapest: no more than a fast online search is required to drive this point home. However, when you really take the time to consider the pros and cons of term vs permanent policies like whole life, then you will find that they all have strong points. After all, would there even be such a thing as whole life insurance if it wasn’t right for some people? The intricacies might not be that clear when you simply go through whole life insurance quotes online.

But take time to study all life insurance plans, and you just might find WL the more attractive option, depending on your own situation. You really should examine all your options anyway, to make an informed decision.

With whole life insurance, you are covered for your entire life. Unlike term insurance, with WL, for as long as you are alive, your policy covers you, so this there is a reassurance for some people in this. The monthly premium cost of the policy to you is higher, often multiples of term coverage, but it’s the price you pay for a guaranteed payout. Any instant whole life insurance quotes you get might immediately put you off this kind of policy, but what are some benefits of it? Well, payments are the same through the life of the policy, so they are more predictable than other forms of permanent life insurance like variable life or universal life. Whole life is actually safer than they are, assuming you can make the premium payments, as there is some financial risk transferred to the policy holder with VL or UL. Keep this in mind when you are surfing the web, running through instant whole life insurance quotes!

Having said all this, most experts advise against whole life insurance, mainly because the premiums are so high. If you buy term life insurance and wisely invest even a part of the difference between what the term policy costs and what similar whole life costs, the chances are pretty good that by the end of the term policy you’ll have a larger nest egg than the death benefit payout that you paid so much to secure with whole life.

To make the right decision you will probably require more than a whole life insurance online quote. Questions that you’ll certainly have may be best answered sometimes by a real agent from a company like TIAA Cref, for instance. Their agents are salaried, so you can get a whole life insurance rate quote without fear of being brow beaten by a high pressure agent. Browse through as many policies as you need, so that you can make a very informed decision in the end.