You can learn the nuts and bolts of buying life insurance. Life insurance, like other kinds of insurance, is a kind of gambling proposition. You bet that something bad will happen to you, while the insurance company bets that it won't, at least not until it's made enough money to cover its losses if you win your bet. Of course, with life insurance, if you do win, you're not around to collect on your wager. The proceeds of your policy will be given to whomever you name in the policy as your beneficiary.
Life insurance comes in a bewildering array of variations.
There's whole life insurance, variable life insurance, and universal life insurance, all of which are collectively known as cash value life insurance policies. With these policies, a portion of the premium you pay goes to purchase insurance coverage, while another portion is used as an investment. Taxes on the investment portion of the policy are generally deferred until you collect the proceeds. Insurance companies love to sell cash value policies, since the amount they pay you on the investment portion of the policy is always less than what they expect to make on the investment of your money, and their salespeople will almost always try to convince you that a cash value policy is the best way for you to insure your life. But no matter how persuasive they may be in this regard, it's important to remember that insurance salespeople rarely have your best interests as their sole motivating factor.