[User23]

Term life insurance is basically just a put option on your life with an expiration a couple decades out.

Whole life on the other hand is actually buying equity in your presumptive future earnings. It's considerably more capital intensive, but less expensive overall in most cases.

[civilized]

I don't know anyone outside of a heavily commissioned life insurance agent who thinks whole life is a good deal. You're flushing massive amounts of money down the toilet in the form of agent commissions and other fees. It's just another tax shelter for the wealthy, after they max out more attractive alternatives.

This article sums it up for me: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/insurance/is-whole-life-i...

[User23]

You're not wrong, but from the very good article you linked:

> I think only the top 20% of income earners should consider whole life. Term insurance is cheaper and is almost always the best type of insurance for 80% of the nation.

Many of the readers of this site fall into that 20%. If you're working at SV rates and aren't maxing out your 401(k) you're assuredly doing it wrong. If you are and want to save more, then whole life is an option worth researching.