Series of Questions from an About-to-Grad

21 making $37.5K/year, but that will dip a year or so when I graduate and finally enter my desired field. I pay for college and will graduate debt free.

First, a friend got a job at Northwestern Mutual and took me as a client. First thing him and his mentor sold me was Whole Life Insurance. Essentially, the way I understand it, I pay a monthly and it goes into an account that grows for my use upon retirement or illness/injury/death, and I get dividends. The two of them made it sound like the best thing a 21 year old with a bit of extra cash right now to do to set up a secured future. I know at 21 years old with no descendants that if I die the income of approximately 0 other people are impacted. Did they fuck me? My policy came in the mail today and I'm just nervous.

Second, I make enough to cover my expenses so loans and credit have never been in my realm of thought. However, I know I need good credit in order to buy house, car, and stuff like that. So, I went to my bank and got a credit card. No biggie. Now, five months later, they are changing my account from a standard line of credit (with a 500 cap that I chose) to a secured account, essentially meaning I have to keep 500 aside for no reason. Obviously if I wanted to do this, I'd have started with a secure card, and so I decided to switch banks. The issue is that the new bank (in fact, any organization that I apply to) refuses to give me a credit card, no matter how good my credit score is. My month-end balance is less that 20% of the max, but I max and pay the card off in full probably 2-3 times a month. I've never missed a payment, and never paid a cent of interest, but my credit is only 5 months old. I don't need a credit card, I'm just used to racking up rewards, and would like to continue to do so (preferably not with a secured account situation) and if I'm not mistaken it actually hurts you to cancel a credit card. Am I wrong? What am I doing incorrectly, or what could I do better to get the best score and the best approval odds? Im scared I'm fucking myself with hard inquiries.