Which is best for your situation? It depends on your reason for buying.
When Is Term Insurance Best?
Term
Term Insurance is useful for providing short term protection and is always the least expensive option because you are simply paying to insure against death occurring in the next year. At the end of the term ( year ) if you choose to renew the policy, it will be at a higher rate. If you have an upcoming expense that you would like to insure against such as putting your kids through college, then you have a short time horizon and it makes sense to use term insurance.
Whole
Whole Life is most commonly used to describe “Permanent Life Insurance” that is designed to keep the premium level over your entire lifetime. Permanent life insurance is used when you want to make sure it is inforce at the time of your death regardless of whether or not it’s a pre-mature death. It’s commonly used for Estate Planning, Business Buyout Agreements and as a means of Forced Savings. The younger you are when you purchase whole life insurance, the lower your premiums will be since there are more years for the funds to accumulate within your policy.