The type of insurance you pick will determine not only how much the coverage costs but also what you can do with your policy. Term and cash-value policies are vastly different.
Term is the type of insurance that everybody understands.
You pay a premium, and the insurance company promises to pay a death benefit if you die during the term in which the policy is in force. Normally, that term lasts a year, but many term policies guarantee you the right to renew the policy for the next year if you pay another premium. As in Vegas, it depends on the odds. At an insurance company, the oddsmaker is called an actuary. If you are buying term insurance when you are young and healthy, then, the odds are slim that you'll die in the year your policy is in force.