Acquaintance advises me NOT to get term life insurance – waste of money

Hello,

I am a 29y male. Have a wife and 3 toddlers. I work a decent wage and have a 200k mortgage. I am able to fully contribute to retirement so I have been researching life insurance recently because I am the only income for the family. I want some type of insurance to know that if I were to accidentally die or become terminally ill, my wife could pay for all funeral expenses and the mortgage so she would not be stuck.

I don’t ever plan on refinancing the home and currently have 28 years left on the mortgage. I just want something that can cover the mortgage if I pass away so my wife is not left with it.

An acquaintance of mine told me not to get term life insurance because it would be a waste of money if I pay monthly for it and end up not dying in 30 years. Also, since I am young and healthy the odds of me dying are so slim I should put that money towards other investments. And the insurance companies will try to get out of paying my beneficiary anyways.

I already am fully contributing to a Roth IRA, fully contributing to one for my wife, matching my employers 401k, and putting some money away for my children. I feel like I am already investing enough and I just want some assurance that my wife and kids would be taken care of if it all comes to an end prematurely, meaning before I pay off the house in 28 years. So I am looking for a 30 year term.

Some of my questions:

How reliable is life insurance? If I were to die accidentally or from a terminal illness will insurance companies try to get out of paying my family? similar to how home or car insurances look for ways out of paying their customers?

Is a term life insurance the best option for me since I am already investing quite well for retirement and just want something to cover the mortgage in case I die before paying it off?

Should I talk to a professional? This acquaintance of mine urges me not to because it is the equivalent of talking to a salesman and they will say anything to get me to buy insurance.

Sorry for the wall of text. I just felt like term insurance was such a good idea until I talked with this guy and he told me all this stuff.