When it comes to life insurance, TERM insurance is the way to go. Whole life insurance is the payday lender of the middle class... DON'T fall for it. If anyone besides yourself depends on your income, I recommend that you have 10-12 times your annual income worth of TERM life insurance. (For stay-at-home parents, I recommend a term policy valued between $250,000 - $400,000.) Whole life insurance is what most insurance companies will try to sell you. It's expensive and it's stealing your money. I ONLY recommend term life insurance. Why? You can get the same amount of coverage for a fraction of the price of a whole life policy. A term policy lasts for a set number of years (usually 20) and you pay a low rate each month for the coverage you need. At the end of the term, yes, that policy has ended, but what the critics fail to remember is that you've had 20 years of affordable coverage. In that time, you can use the money you’re saving to pay off debt, save for emergencies, and inve...