text: There are two different types of life insurance\n1) Insurance with savings included in the package (known as cash value life insurance). These types of policies are also knowned as Whole Life, Universal Life, or Variable Life (or mixture of those words). They are always expensive because you are paying for two things (insurance and savings). Rate of return on savings are very low. In the first 3 years of the policy, no savings are accumulated. After 3 years, cash value starts to accumulate and you can borrow it anytime and pay it back with interest. If you borrow any cash value for whatever reasons, and you die without paying it back, this amount will be deducted from your face amount. Upon your death, all cash value will be kept by the insurance company. (All this info is stated in every cash value life policy).\n\n2) Regular insurance such as car insurance (known as Term insurance). These policies are known as "pure insurance." They are inexpensive, therefore you can get lots of coverage for a period of time. Since it is inexpensive, it gives you room to invest your money in the market (such as mutual funds). When investing, you should invest in the long term. No matter how the market performs, you should always continue to invest and don't pull out when the market does badly. Depending on how much you invest, you may not need life insurance or not as much coverage in 20 or 30 years. By that time, you should have less financial obligations to pay such as child support, college education, credit card debts, and mortgage. If you are still considering life insurance in 20 to 30 years, you should seek to lower your coverage because of your lower financial obligations than you have now.\n\nI personally own Primerica Life insurance. I bought a 30 year Term with $250,000 coverage. I pay approximately $35/month for it. I also invest $100/month into mutual funds. I'm hoping in 30 years, my mutual fund value is bigger than my life coverage by then. If I were to buy whole life insurance from Metlife, it would of cost me at least $200/month. So which company is good in NY? I would have to say Primerica. Even though I live in NJ, we're close enough.