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Is it better to buy life insurance or term life insurance?

This isn't spam and I don't want spam as answers, but what type of life insurance is better and why? Is there a pros/cons list anywhere? I've already got the companies lined up that I'm going to use to buy the insurance, but I'm not sure if it's better to get the cheaper term life insurance or if I should pay more for "regular" life insurance.

Public Comments

1. Get the real life insurance. Term life insurance is set up so that they will cover you for maybe 10-20 years, and then you have nothing. Life insurance is for life, you might pay more but you always are protected, or more correctly your family is. Throw away the term life insurance forms and go with the lifetime life insurance. ps, I'm a geologist, not an insurance salesperson.
2. Regular life insurance? Term IS regular life insurance. Whole life is a hybrid of insuance and an investment. Since most people don't do their investing at an insurance company, it is easy to see why whole life is not a very wise choice. Buy 30 year level term equal to 8 to 10 times your annual earnings.
3. Term life is great (cheaper) for covering a certain period of time. Like the time to pay off a car loan or mortgage, or backup up a pension for a period of years. Whole life has built in savings plan with insurance. So it really depends on what you want to accomplish and for how long...
4. It depends on what you want it for. If you are younger, term life is cheaper for a higher face amount. Whole life is more expensive for lesser face amount. If you get term, get convertible term, you are guaranteed a conversion to a whole life policy.
5. Depends on your financial standing and where you are headed. If you subscribe to the Dave Ramsey school of thought - buy term for now - and use the savings for save investments.
6. Term life. Term life protects you for the period of time you need it most for the cheapest possible price without complicating (and expensive) add ons. Financial theory (outside the insurance industry!) is that you need life insurance only to the extent that your family cannot live without your income, particularly during the adjustment period between your death and creating a new life without your income. A single person, for example, does not need life insurance. Nor, in most cases, does a retired couple with pensions, SS, & paid off house. In a practical example, a married couple would buy term life for the period their children are young until they are in high school or college. The amount of coverage would be some multiple of the salary that would be "missing" if one income earner died. The older the kids and the older the family the lower the multiple. A young family might want 3,5...10 times the salary to ensure that the other spouse would not have to be the primarily bread winner while the children needed full time care. On the other hand, a family with high school students might only need 2 or 3 years salary to transition to the new financial situation. It is worth emphasizing, however, that you are FAR more likely to fall short in your retirement years than you are to die young. Meaning, large amounts of money should go to retirement planning, not life insurance.
7. For me it makes better sense to buy term life insurance and invest the difference. If you would just spend the savings and not save it, maybe you could make a case for whole life.
8. That's like asking, is it better to have a philips screwdriver, or a flathead? You have to define the job you want it to do, before you can pick the right tool. Same thing for insurance. MOST people, can meet the goal most effectively with term insurance. *I* have term insurance. But without defining the GOAL, what you want it to DO for you, the question is impossible to answer effectively.
9. It all depends on your needs. term is best for needs that will disappear in 10,15,20 or 30 years. you can buy a term policy to cover this need and once the need is gone, cancel the insurance. regular or cash value insurance may be best for longer term needs, estate plans, pension maximization needs, high income earners needs, etc..