What are the different types of life insurance? What are the pros and cons of both?

There are many different types of life insurance. Examples are: Term, Whole Life, Universal Life, Variable Universal Life, Index Equity UL, Survivorship Life, First to Die.

For individuals they fall into two primary categories, term and permanent.

Permanent insurance has a premium that is scheduled to remain level forever. The coverage will be effective forever, you can't outlive the policy. Permanent insurance builds a cash value which is an equity in the policy that you can borrow against or receive if you surrender the policy. The premium is higher for permanent insurance.

Term insurance strictly provides a death benefit, there is no cash value. The premium will remain level for a period of time (the term) but it will eventually increase. Term insurance will expire at some age so you can outlive the policy. The premium for term insurance at time of application is lower than that for permanent insurance.