The other kind goes by many names:  whole life insurance, cash value life insurance, universal life insurance, variable life insurance, forced savings life insurance...  Whatever you want to call it, it's a bad deal!  If someone ever tries to sell you one of these, they definitely do NOT have your best interests in mind...  Run, don't walk, to the nearest door!  Hey, anything with that many names has got to be shady!

Whole life insurance isn't just an insurance policy - it also has an "investment" component.  Oh, an investment, you say?  Isn't that good?  Not in this case and you get hit with the problem immediately.  The problem is that the person who sells you your whole life insurance gets a HUGE commission.  And guess where the money for that commission comes from?  You!  It comes right out of the money that you are, supposedly, investing.  This is why that person is not your friend...  Unless, of course, you're in the habit of giving your friends lots of your hard-earned money just for the heck of it.  The other bad parts are that the investments usually aren't that great (low paying) and there are high fees you end up paying the company.  It's just bad all around.

Also, beware that whole life insurance sale people will call themselves "financial planners."  But, remember that their "plan" is to sell you bad insurance.  You'll meet them at parties and they will be very pleasant...  So, watch out!

One note about the good kind of life insurance (term)...  Not everyone needs life insurance.  If you are single and don't have kids, you really don't need it.  It's meant for people whose income supports someone else, like a spouse or kids.  If this is you, experts recommend that your policy amount is somewhere between 10 and 20 times your annual income.  You do NOT need life insurance policies for your children!  Are they financially responsible for anyone?  No.  If someone tries to push this on you, be cautious of anything else they tell you.