pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
they are very complex and the way many are marketed is really a lie...
They are actually very simple but the way they are pitched is often very complex.
You pay a fixed premium per period (year, quarter or month - you chose). If you die, your beneficiaries receive the face amount.
If you don't then at any point in time you can cash in the policy for its cash surrender value. The contract will include a schedule of minimum cash surrender values, but your actual cash surrender value will likely be more. The cash surrender value will be negligible in the early years of the contract and then will build.
The contract design is best for people who need life insurance protection for a very long time - which is why it is frequently referred to as "permanent" insurance. The premiums will typically be higher than term life insurance in the early years and lower than term life insurance in the later years - the entire design is to make the cost of insurance level so they collect more early and less later.
Most whole life is "participating" which means that the insurer will pay dividends based on how that group of policies performed.
That's it in a nutshell.