Dennis,
I work for a top rated insurance company so I might be able to help you out a bit.
Whole life is a great product if you need the coverage for your whole life, thus the name. Whole life is no means the best investment product. Whole life also begins to accumulate a guaranteed cash value, and about 12-15 years on average, your cash value meets what you have paid in premiums.
Term insurance is great for a younger family who might not have alot of cash flow, but they have a large insurance need. Many larger companies offer 20 and 30 year term at a very affordable rate. Take a peek at the premiums when the 20-30 year terms are up, they are sky high, nobody can afford it. Term insurance is the biggest profit maker for insurance companies an average of 2.5% of term policies are actually cashed in. So if you have a mortgage, children, or a gap in income between spouses you probably have a large insurance need.
You might hear about "buy term and invest the difference", this bascally means buy term and spend the difference, 90% of people will not invest the difference, they spend it.
Also are options of variable universal life (VUL) that combines life insurance with investments, such as mutual funds, and the cash value fluctuates along with the performance of the funds. This is a higher risk investment, but can bring large returns.
Flexible Universal life might be a possiblity, where u could variate the amount of money you put in there...
Alot of different options available to you. The first thing you need to do is determing the amount of insurance you need, and then determine your budget and investment objectives. Almost always the best fit is usually a combination of term insurance and permanent insurance.
Send me an email with the companies you are considering and the products, if you want, I have comparison software that will look up everything on the company (ratings, products, ETC.) . If you have any other questions i'd be glad to help.
Good Luck!
~Murt
casey38boost@yahoo.com