Talking about life insurance sounds about as fun as unclogging your shower drain. But if you have people depending on you (like your spouse or kids), it’s important!

But relax! Navigating life insurance (not shower drains) will feel a lot less tangled after a quick breakdown of the two main types of life insurance: term life and whole life. Let’s dive in!

• Provides simple and affordable coverage
• Lasts for a specific length of time or term (10–30 years)
• Gives your beneficiaries a payout if you die during the term
• Does a straightforward job of replacing your income if you die
• Allows you to save and invest separately for better returns

• Lasts your whole life (so you pay high premiums)
• Combines insurance and investing (making it complicated and costly)
• Has a “cash value” investment account (Spoiler alert: It’s a rip-off.)
• Pays out the original policy amount if you die (but not the cash value)
• Beats having no life insurance at all (if you actually need it)

Term policies don’t last forever. But here’s the thing:

1. Life insurance isn’t supposed to last forever.
2. You only need it while your loved ones depend on your income.
3. You can add another short policy later if you need to.
4. You don’t need it once you get out of debt and build enough wealth to insure yourself (aka become self-insured).

It doesn’t offer an investment option. But we’ve got some quick tips on that:

1. You can get much higher rates of return by investing separately.
2.  It’s better to invest with an actual investment pro (not an insurance agent).

• It’s expensive and confusing because of the investment account.
• If you die, the insurance company keeps the cash value (not your beneficiaries).
• You get hit with high fees if you withdraw any of the cash value (your own cash).
• High premiums make it hard to save toward becoming self-insured.

• Term life (25-year-old male): $12.18
• Whole life (25-year-old male): $142.12
• Savings with term life: $129.94

We recommend getting term life insurance worth 10–12 times your yearly income for a term length of 15–20 years. You can use this tool see a range of term life prices specific to your situation!