whole life or term life policy...?

I was just about to say the same thing given that a Variable Life product would be out of the question. Term is sounding like the best route.

This is a loaded question with very little info to go on. Things to consider are mortgage, daughter's education, lost income, and possible estate planning. You need to protect your wife and daughter from losing the house and your income in the event of your death. You also want to minimize taxes if you are, or will be, OT wealthy.

One piece of advice I can give you without knowing anymore about you is to ladder term policies (if that's the route you take) in lieu of a single 25 or 30 year term. It'll be much less expensive and give you the protection you need.

Laddering is taking out multiple policies to cover specific needs. If you have 10 years left on the mortgage, take out a 10 year term policy to cover the balance. Daughter's education, 15 yr term for her projected tuition needs. It's much less expensive to do a 10yr and a 15yr for $500k combined than a 30yr for the same amount. Your agent probably won't tell you that because he'll lose commissions on the smaller premiums. Take a third longer term to cover the wife and daughter for your lost income.

Cash value (whole, UL, VL) are more expensive, but can be beneficial if applied to the right situation and structured properly, which most are not. Most of those policies are sold to people who can't afford to keep paying the premiums and they lapse. Good luck.

The policy I have right now is a return of premium term policy. It's pricey per month but I get the return of payments when the policy terminates. It's something to add to the retirement plan should I live that long.