When you choose a life insurance policy, your first decision is to pick from term or whole life insurance (or another form of permanent life insurance). Term life insurance is cost-effective and will give benefits to your family if you die but if you fail to die (so to speak), nobody gets anything (except the life insurance company). Whole life insurance will provide coverage for all your life and you can either cash in or borrow against it in case you live through the life of the policy. You get the payout amount or even more because your premiums might have have earned dividends and interest over time.
In a debate of term life insurance vs. whole life insurance it would be unfair to call any better than the other because both of them have their objectives, which they serve perfectly.
Term life insurance provides death benefits and usually ranges from 10 to 30 years. If you live past the term, you get no money back. Term life insurance is generally cheaper than whole life insurance. Whole life insurance builds a savings account along with the risk coverage it offers. Therefore, the benefits are available as long as the premiums are paid. If you do not die, then you can cash in on the policy or borrow against it. However, the premiums are definitely higher.
There is a big debate over term life insurance versus whole life insurance most of the time. A major difference between whole vs. term life insurance is that the premiums for terms life stay the same while premiums for whole life insurance might vary over the life of the policy.
Generally younger people are advised to invest in term life insurance because it is cheaper while the difference between its premium and whole life insurance premium can be invested elsewhere. The younger population is not going to reap benefit of the whole life insurance in near future, say 20 to 30 years. However, when the term life insurance expires, its owner grows in age and deteriorates in health, thus making it even costlier to buy a life insurance again.
A combination of whole term life insurance policies could be the answer. Consult first with an insurance professional, and ask his opinion of getting a small whole life insurance policy along with a term life insurance policy. Life insurance by its very nature is not a simple product because its premiums, interests, depends on a lot of uncertain factors like market, your health, age, insurance company and much more. Thus you have to decide for yourself from the two by assessing your future needs, risks involved and present financial position.