The main thing in common between whole of life insurance and term insurance, or term assurance, is that both policies pay out to the holder on death for the length of the policy. The big difference is with the meaning of term. For whole of life the policy is valid for the whole time of the insured person's life whereas with term insurance the policy is only valid for a specific period of time.

Because of this fundamental difference, term insurance, and in particular short term insurance, normally works out a whole lot cheaper than its whole of life cousin. This is due to the policy being set within a time frame, so there is a chance that the insured party will outlive the policy and therefore will receive no payout. By contrast, whole of life policies are guaranteed to pay out on death, and as death is inevitable, there is no chance of a non-payout so these policies are more expensive.

Another reason whole life insurance can be dearer is the fact that a lot of plans, though not all, do build up an investment element and again this is not without cost. Now at this point it is worth pointing out that whole of life insurance is not a very effective savings plan so if you are ever looking for a good investment whole of life insurance is probably not the right product for you.

The element of investment built into this type of plan is there to cover the unforeseen eventualities that may occur for the duration of the policy. Part of the process of creating a life insurance plan is for the life insurance company to assess the practicalities of the client's state of being and the risk involved and cost the policy accordingly. Now no one knows for sure what the future holds and this is what makes the process of coverage all the more complicated so the insurance companies factor in investment as a way of covering the cost of the many changes that may occur for the duration of the policy, for the benefit of both themselves and the insured.

Now to get to the second part of the article, how to make it less expensive. Now with any whole of life insurance policy there are levels on which they are quoted. Three are based on premiums and three are based on benefits. Now they are essentially the same but the difference is whether the individual client wants a certain sum assured or whether his interest lies with the premium levels.

The maximum benefit premium based plan is designed to give the best sum assured for a given premium. What we get is the highest life cover for the lowest cost. It should be noted however that this is based on a 10 year timescale after which it is reassessed with either the premium increasing or the end yield decreasing. As with all good things the high end yield means that some other part of the policy will be affected, in this case the investment element, so there would be a negligible fund value.

The next plan we will discuss is standard cover. Standard cover plans will formulate a quote which will hold true for the life of the contract. This is the best sort of whole of life insurance as it is the best formulated quote for the long term. This is because the life insurance broker is giving you their quote based on what they think it will cost to provide you cover for the rest of your life, so the quote is fixed.

Last of all is minimum sum assured, and due to the fact that it is based around investment within the plan, whilst paying little attention to the life insurance aspect, will undoubtedly be the most expensive option to pursue. Now of this is the sort of plan that interests you then my advice would be to seek the experience of an independent financial adviser, if for no other reason than that he will be able to guide you towards far better investment options.

So for a standard premium there is standard cover, for maximum premium there is minimum cover, and, it goes without saying, for minimum premium there is maximum cover. What is important is that no matter what sort of policy or cover you think you would like, always consult an independent financial adviser before making that final decision. His professional experience will be better suited to advising on a policy that will apply to your individual situation and needs, both now and in the future.

And so, in order to get the cheapest whole of life insurance policy, you need to look for either the maximum cover or minimum premium plans available to you. Although these plans will give you the best cover for the least possible premium for a while, you must remember that this will not go on forever as you will have to pay the rest at some stage. Nevertheless, it is indeed a good way of getting some whole of life cover for a time at a more affordable price.