Is it better to have term life insurance or whole life insurance?

I am 26 years old and just had a baby and want to know which insurance is better whole or term.

How do I determine how much to get?

Who besides my daughter if anyone should be the beneficiary? Note: Her father and I aren't married but I was considering leaving him a percentage so that he could have extra $ to provide for or daughter if neccessary - Is this a good idea?

Never buy a whole life policy. Here is a good article explaining why:

http://lifeinsurancenow.com/how-to-buy- ... ce-policy/

Term will be your best value. You can get the best quote here:

https://www.expert-quotes.net/term_life ... ce/lin.htm

What's The differerence between ;Whole life Insurance & Term Life Insurance?

And which one is better ?

When buying life ins.. it isnt going to be for you, but those you leave behind, paying your final expenses, and helping them too... Funerals...And they are high.. 6-9 thousand,... Whole, and Unversal life insurace are the cadillac of life insurance, expensive. but cover your whole life existance, as long as you pay the premiums. Term is the chevy.. payes for the term of contract (ex.30years).. If you die during the term, it pays MORE than the others.. If you want to spend the money you can have both whole and term..When do you expect to die? No one knows that answer. I have experieince with both with dealing with loved ones having one or the other.. My opinion: Whole life is a scam,with higher commisions to the agent too than Term....so which one do they want to sell you?? Term pays if the policy hasnt expired, so renew it...... What do you want to leave behind for your family when you die... That is the hardest question you will ever ask yourself, because we all dont know our own mortality.. I say all this in dealing with my own life experience with BOTH kinds.. One more bit of FREE advice, I had a Aunt with no husband or children pass away just over a year ago, she prepaid her funeral, and left behind her whole funeral service too, (the songs, the pall bearers, everything) she made the day and the planning go alot easier...

What is the difference between whole life insurance and term life insurance? What is the difference between whole life insurance and term life insurance?

There are a number of differences between the two types of policies. The simplest way of looking at it is that term is like renting and whole life, or permanent, insurance is like owning.

Term insurance provides you with typically the lowest priced insurance product because the only accept the risk that you will die before reaching a specified date. If you do die during that time then the insurance company pays the established death benefit. If you out live the policy, you will typically not receive anything back.

With whole life insurance, you are paying the insurance company to provide your family with the insurance pay out when you die. Whole life insurance will usually last until at least age 100, regardless of when you begin the policy. There are some variations of whole life which also allow you to finish paying on the policy at a specified age, or after a set time period, but in these cases, the policy lives on even though you are no longer paying for it.

What is the difference between whole life insurance and term life insurance? Which is better?

That's like saying, what's better, apples or oranges?

BEFORE you buy life insurance, sit down, and write out what you want it to DO for you. You should have a GOAL, and an EXIT STRATEGY, just like any OTHER financial tool you use.

Then sit down with your local agent and see which tool fits your needs.

For MOST people, they want life insurance around when they have minor or college age children - as they get older and more financially secure, and the kids leave the nest, and the mortgage is paid off, and they start acquiring some real serious assets, they don't need the life insurance - so TERM life fits that need best, and is the most affordable type coverage.

But some people, especially those that own a family business (think, family farm!) need a policy to pay ESTATE TAXES so the family doesn't have to literally, sell the farm, in order to pay the estate taxes. It doesn't MATTER that you don't have kids any more. Or maybe, you're dying of cancer, and want to leave your grandkids $1,000,000 each, without Uncle Sam taking 40% in estate taxes FIRST. If you buy a WHOLE LIFE policy, even if it costs more than the $1,000,000, it WON'T cost as much as paying estate taxes will, and then you get to leave tax free benefits to someone.

So, just like everything else, you need to pick the right tool for the job. But you need to define the job, first.

What's the difference between term life insurance and whole life insurance? What's the difference between term life insurance and whole life insurance?

Term insurance is where you see the need that you only need temporary life insurance and don't expect anyone to be dependent on your income if you outlive the term. There are inexpensive and most term policies are renewable when the level term expires. The policy itself doesn't expire, it just renews itself when it expires. When it renews, your premiums will go up since you are older. Most people get a 30 year term because they have a 30 year mortgage.

Since term is so inexpensive, people usually invest the difference into their retirement accounts. Whether its a 401k, 403b, IRA, etc.

Whole life is a permanent insurance that contains cash value in it. You are covered for life or until you reach age 100. Whole life is the most expensive life insurance product out there. While cash value grows tax-deferred, it is important to know that if you ever wanted to use it, you have to borrow it with a loan interest of 5-8%. If you die, you will lose all cash value. Only way you can take the cash value is that you surrender the policy. Surrender charges may apply.

Here's a hypothetical illustration of the costs for a 30 year old male seeking $100,000 coverage.
With a 30 year term, it would cost around $300/year.
With whole life, it would cost around $2000/year.

That's a $1700 difference!

As you can see, the bigger the annual premiums, the bigger the commissions a life insurance agent will make. You can see why whole life insurance is more commonly sold than term. Agents will say anything to make people buy whole life or some other cash value life insurance policy. They'll say things like term insurance rarely pays death claims. Well, do you know when you going to die? Of course not. So how would insurance agents know that term rarely pays death claims? I'll tell you how. They never sold a term policy in their life and yet they own it themselves!

Life agents will also say that term gets more expensive when you renew it. While that is true, most people who buy term buy a long term policy such as 20 year or 30 year term. When the term expires, their needs change and so they might not need as much coverage or probably don't need life insurance any more. You have to be careful when purchasing term insurance. Most agents will sell you a short term insurance of 5 year or 10 year term and then come back to you to convert it into whole life.