As Life Insurance Premiums can seem pricey in the current economic constraints,what are the current alternatives?

I worked as a Prudential agent back in the 80s when the company was still collecting and servicing the old penny policies. I have no recent experience of the life assurance industry, but if you parallel it to building societies and banks, the rising basic cost of being a service provider combined with small investment returns for funds must mean that the raw product is going to cost more. I don't think mortality rates have risen in any way, in fact I am told that people are living longer, and life assurance companies are smart enough to underwrite to their unique advantage. The day of the endowment policy is I suspect all but dead and as such large investment policies are not the norm, producing less income. With policies tending towards the simple term or whole life assurance angle, the risks have to paid out of less income and hence prices must go up. I think the only option is to shop around at length if cover is a must. Internet research has never played such a big part in this and makes life so much easier in that direction. And of course it all depends on whether you want to cover a £100,000 mortgage or basic funeral costs. You just have to decide what cover is important and necessary and take it from there. In a perfect world, we would all have adequate life cover, buildings insurance, contents insurance, cooker insurance, accident insurance, comprehensive car insurance, legal liability insurance, travel insurance, health insurance, critical illness insurance and even have the three cats and one dog covered. But we don't live in a perfect world and we have to balance need against budget and sensibility.