Life insurance comes in a bewildering array of choices. For a lot of people, simple term coverage will suffice: It's cheap, and you buy it only when you really need it (until the kids are out of college). You can find the best rates via an online service like Quotesmith.com or AccuQuote. But if you are prosperous (assets in seven figures) and concerned about estate taxes, it could make sense to buy whole life, a.k.a. permanent life. It builds up a cash value that can go to you in your retirement or to your heirs at your death. Properly structured, the policy will pay out a death benefit that escapes both estate tax and income tax. The tax benefits, although much exaggerated by insurance salesmen, are sometimes enough to overcome the considerable overhead costs (salesmen's commissions, etc.) of passing on wealth in this fashion.
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