Most people spend too much for their life insurance. Why? Because they didn't take the time to compare rates. Here's how to compare life insurance to get the best rate.

Understanding Life Insurance

There are two basic types of life insurance - term life insurance and cash value life insurance.

* Term life insurance is pure life insurance. All you pay for is a policy that pays a death benefit to your designated beneficiary when you die. This is the cheapest form of insurance initially, but your premiums increase with age.

* Cash value life insurance (whole life, universal life, variable life) is insurance plus an investment account. You pay for life insurance plus put money into a tax-deferred investment account. This is the most expensive type of insurance, but your premiums can remain level.

Which is The Best Insurance?

If you want the cheapest coverage then term life is the best insurance for you. If you're willing to spend more for your insurance so you can have a tax-deferred investment that you can borrow against and that will go to your beneficiary tax-free, then whole life, universal life, or variable life insurance is what you want.

Universal life policies let you to adjust your premiums as well as your death benefit. Variable life allows you to choose how you want to invest your policy's cash value.

Comparing Rates

Life insurance rates can vary dramatically from one company to the next, so if you want to get the best rate you need to do some comparison shopping.

Thanks to the Internet you no longer have to go to one agency after another and fill out form after from to get quotes. You can go to an insurance comparison website, fill out one simple questionnaire, then can get rates from a number of companies. You can even purchase your policy online.

The best comparison websites only deal with A-rated companies so you know you'll be dealing with a reliable company. They also have what's known as a '"chat" feature that allows you to talk with insurance experts to get answers to your questions without getting a sales pitch (see link below).