Term' or 'whole of life' cover? One other life insurance option is 'whole of life' insurance: life insurance with an investment component - kind of like having your life insurance and a savings vehicle wrapped into one. The premiums for this are huge, part of them going to pay for the insurance and part building up as savings. The idea is that your life insurance builds up value over time - if you don't make a claim you have savings that you can access. While we have heard of cases where this kind of insurance is worth having, they really are very, very rare. So usually our advice would be to keep your investments and insurance separate - there are much better places to put your money.