Term versus whole life insurance

Term is the right tool for a temporary obligation: a mortgage, the years until children finish education, the income gap before retirement savings mature. It is cheap because most policies never pay a claim, and that is exactly what makes it efficient.

Whole life costs more because it is designed to pay eventually. It earns its place where the obligation genuinely never ends — a lifelong dependant, a business buy-out, a final expense plan, or an estate that needs liquidity. Buying it for a temporary need usually means buying far too little cover.

An estimate for planning, not a quote. Medicare and the Marketplace set your real figures.