Whole Life Insurance versus Term Life Insurance
There are pros and cons to getting whole life and term life insurance policies. Whole life is permanent and accumulates cash growth, yet it is more expensive. Term life insurance is only temporary, has no cash growth and can be cheaper depending on when you purchase it. They have slightly different functions with the same goal, to make sure that your family is taken care of when you pass away.
It is important to consider a whole life policy when you are younger, so that it will be cheaper and you will not have to pay the high premiums when you are older. Whole life insurance allows you to remove money from your policy after you reach a certain age. It gives you peace of mind to know that your family and spouse will be taken care of once you die and can take care of any estate taxes.
Term insurance policies are great to purchase when you are about to start a family and take on any debt that you do not want anyone else to worry about. This policy will give you the peace of mind that your children and spouse will not go into debt or homeless. They will be taken care of for a given amount of years, depending on when your term life insurance policy runs out. Most policies last between 20 to 30 years, so your children will be old enough to be responsible for themselves. The problem with term insurance is that once your policy expires, you need to purchase another life insurance policy to cover the time until you die.
It is possible to purchase both. It would be wise to purchase a whole life insurance policy when you are young to get the cheaper premiums and do not have any children or large debt. Then once you do start thinking about having a family and buying a home, it would be a good idea to then purchase a term life insurance policy. This guarantees that your family will always have insurance and be protected until your children are old enough. This also guarantees that you will have life insurance your entire life and will not have to purchase an additional life insurance policy once your first one runs out.