The Difference Between Term Life and Whole Life Insurance?

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

A term life insurance policy is temporary life insurance that provide protection for a specified period of time. For instance, if you have a home mortgage loan and you want to protect your family and make sure they have money to pay off the mortgage in case you die, you may want a 30 year term life insurance plan to match the 30 year mortgage loan.

Or, if you have young children, you may want to a 20 or 30 year term life insurance policy to provide protection until the kids are grown up and on their own.

Whole life insurance provides lifetime protection and may build up some cash value inside the policy.

Term life insurance costs a lot less than whole life insurance. That's why many people buy a larger term life insurance policy to meet their short term life insurance needs of 30 years to less, and they also buy a whole life insurance policy to help provide funds for their final expenses.

Here's how you can compare term life and whole life insurance coverage.