Term insurance would be the least expensive. The insurance will remain in force for a certain period of time. He could purchase level term insurance where the death benefit remains level for a certain period of years with the premium amount guaranteed for each of the years. The period of time could be anywhere from 5 - 30 years. At the end of the last period the insurance will cease or he could possibly renew it or convert it to another type of insurance. However, the premium will increase at the end of the period.
Generally, term insurance is purchased when the need is only for a certain number of years (for example, after children are grown, mortgage paid off, up until retirement, etc).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_life_insurance
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5028729_term-insurance.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art
If the primary purpose for purchasing the life insurance is to provide a lump sum for you in the event of your husband's premature death then term insurance would be the best type of policy to purchase. If the objective is to provide a lump sum and also to serve as a forced savings arrangement then a universal life (UL) policy might be best. The universal life policy is a permanent policy where the premiums are somewhat flexible and cash value builds in the policy that can be borrowed from and/or withdrawn. However, the premium is going to be significantly more on a UL policy than a term policy. For example, if your husband is in good health and obtains a preferred rating then the annual premium for a 15 level term policy for $1,000,000 would be about $1,400 - $1,600. For a UL policy the premium could be $8,000 - $10,000. The premium is more because a portion of the premium is used to cover mortality and policy expenses with the remaining portion invested in the cash value. The UL policy may guarantee a minimum growth rate on the cash value of 1 - 2% based on current market interest rates.
http://www.lifeinsurance.net/about-universal-life-insurance.htm
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Since your total premium payments of $162,000 exceed the cash value of $102,000 there would be no tax consequences from surrendering the policy. You may want to check with the insurance company to see if there is a surrender charge. As long as your husband is in good health and there are no surrender charges then in my opinion the term insurance would be a better alternative. He should obtain the term insurance first before surrendering the policy in the event that something happened to him in the interim if he surrendered the policy first before having the term insurance in effect.
Since he will receive a significant amount of funds from surrendering the policy, if he has his own practice then he could consider funding a retirement plan if he doesn't already have a plan in place.