Every kind of life insurance, sorted honestly.

A fixed death benefit for a fixed number of years at a fixed price. No cash value, no games. For the vast majority of families with a temporary need — income replacement while kids are home and the mortgage is unpaid — this is the right answer.

Level term that refunds your premiums if you outlive it. The "free money back" framing hides the opportunity cost: invest the premium difference yourself and you almost always come out ahead. Occasionally worth it as forced savings, rarely on the math.

Genuinely useful in a narrow set of estate-planning and business-succession cases. Oversold in nearly every other, where the "cash value builds wealth" pitch buries a low internal return, a decade of surrender charges, and a premium many times the equivalent term.

The flexibility that sells UL is also its trap: pay the minimum, and rising cost-of-insurance charges can hollow the policy out until it needs a surprise premium hike in your seventies — or lapses. The guaranteed column is the one that matters.

Pitched as "market upside with no downside." In practice, participation caps, index spreads, and non-guaranteed crediting rates turn a glossy 6.5% illustration into something far smaller — and the policy can collapse in the second decade if the assumptions miss.

Universal life with the cash value poured into market subaccounts, so you carry real investment risk and pay layered fund, insurance, and policy fees on top. Sold on tax-advantaged growth; it delivers only after those fees — and the policy can lapse if the market turns against you.

Priced for a lifetime no-lapse guarantee with little or no cash value — essentially "term to age 121." If you genuinely need coverage that never expires, this usually beats whole life on cost. Watch one thing: a late or missed premium can void the guarantee, so the payment discipline is the whole game.

Small whole-life policies marketed for burial costs, often by mail or door-to-door. The premiums-to-benefit math is frequently punishing — it is not unusual to pay in more than the policy will ever pay out. Almost always beaten by simply setting the money aside.

Often subsidized, usually guaranteed-issue, and a fine first layer. The catch: it typically caps at 1–2× salary, is not portable when you leave, and gets expensive if you buy "supplemental" units at older ages. Great as a base, rarely enough on its own.

Marketed by mail right after you close on a house, often as a decreasing benefit that shrinks with your mortgage while the premium stays flat. Frequently just term life dressed up — and a level term policy you own outright is almost always cheaper and more flexible.

Coverage with a few health questions and no medical exam — fast, and increasingly common. You pay for that convenience: rates run higher than fully-underwritten policies and face amounts are capped. Great if you need it done this week; overpriced if you have time and good health.

No health questions, guaranteed approval — for people who can't qualify elsewhere. Expect a small benefit, a steep price, and a two-to-three-year graded period where death from illness returns your premiums plus interest rather than the full death benefit.

A single policy on two people that pays only when the second one dies. A legitimate, cost-efficient tool for estate-tax liquidity and special-needs planning — and close to useless for ordinary income replacement, which is what most buyers actually need.

Pays only if you die by accident — not illness, which is how the overwhelming majority of people actually die. Cheap for a reason. It's a supplement dressed up as life insurance, and it lulls people into feeling covered when, for most causes of death, they aren't.