I have no idea why anyone would buy a whole life policy right now anyway. just put the extra premium one would normally spend on whole life in the bank. term life policies are typically convertable to whole life.
take a young 35 yr old guy with a wife and family. he can get 1 million in cvg for 30 yrs... if he is in good health it might be less than $50/month. Fast fwd 30 years... the guy survived his term.. he's 65 yrs old and thinking about retiring. his need for cvg is drastically lower. Kids are gone, house is paid off. He takes that same policy and converts a small portion to whole life at a similar rating class to the one he was given 30 years ago. If this same guy now has say... cancer... he's still going to keep his previous preferred risk rating from when he was young and healthy.
if this same guy instead choose "whole life" at age 35 instead of term, he is probably going to spend $250+ / month for that million in cvg. And for what? So he build some cash value to borrow against? F that man. Gimme 1 mil peace of mind for $50 bucks/month.
I'm not against permanent policies. Whole life is a very expensive permananet policy. There are much better permananet policies out there and term is an option, especially because you can convert it like the poster said.
Whole life is guaranteed, which is why it is expensive, but if you plan on using any of the cash values down the road, which is why you would take out Whole Life, your guarantees are gone anyway.
I have been in the insurance business for a lot of years but we don't sell whole life so not sure on commissions but I believe it is usually around 50%.
I would never focus on what the agent is going to make. All those commissions are priced into the product. Just focus on if this is the right policy for you.
The big question is what is the purpose of the insurance. That will help decide which type of policy you should buy. Whatever that answer is, there is probably a better policy than a Whole Life policy that fits that answer.