I think you guys have missed some salient points regarding whole life vs term insurance. The most important point is to leave a legacy for your loved ones, or to leave property whose mortgage debt is paid up from the proceeds of the life insurance.

The advantage of whole life is that in this case, the insured has guaranteed a legacy, whereas in the case of term life, if the insured outlives the term coverage period, there is no scope of any legacy.

Furthermore, the whole life policy has the potential of being paid up within 15-20 years. Although, I guess this is a controversial subject and I would let Taxguru discuss this when he gets round to giving his opinion on this subject.