There are two basic types of life insurance: Term and Permanent. Permanent life Insurance coverage costs a lot more than term life because it has lifetime coverage and builds cash value inside the policy. Whereas, term life is temporary and is pure life insurance protection with no investment feature. Another reason term life is cheaper is because some people may outlive the duration of their life insurance coverage which means there would be no death benefit payout. Learn more about term life insurance and why it is cheaper than permanent life insurance.