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Whole versus term life insurance discussion on Bogleheads forum

Drizzt’s Take:

Still here. Really hope i get an early outprocess for this ICT. If i don’t, then hao you have one less brother liao. This week has been rather okay. But the highlight of the week has to be seeing Shlow make some post here and there in SGFUNDs forum. Whether he is back for a longer time this time, I for one is glad to have him back. He brings so much experience in terms of setting up a portfolio that i think many would benefit from it.

Folks can find his blog IndexTown at my blog roll on the right.

A very interesting post that i saw this week from his blog is on the subject of buy term and invest the difference. Readers of my insurance philosophy would know well that i do practice buy term and invest the difference. Here i shall leave you with the blockquote taken from IndexTown.

Recently, on the Bogleheads forum, there is a long discussion weighing in this issue. I think it is quite a balanced discussion with many issues raised and debated. HERE is the link to the discussion.

I end this blog entry with a post by nisiprius:

First of all, every source of unbiassed advice I’ve ever read, starting with Consumer Reports in the 1960s, says it is better to “buy term and invest the different.” Nobody has ever recommended whole life except someone who was selling it.

Now, yes, the “enforced savings” feature of whole life is a Good Thing. So you should make sure you really do “invest the difference” by setting up some kind of automatic deduction from your paycheck that goes into some kind of investment account. Believe me, this is easy to do. Any mutual fund company or brokerage will fall over themselves with happiness to make this easy for you.

There are two reasons for this. First, term life insurance is pure protection, and you can only get it from an insurance company. Whole life is a combination product which mixes up the insurance you need with an investment component. There’s nothing magic the insurance company does with the investment that you couldn’t do better yourself, the investment may not be quite what you need/want, the insurance company always rakes in more than the expense ratio of a good mutual fund, and you’ve pretty well locked yourself into the investment for no good reason.

The second reason is that most people can afford enough term insurance and can’t afford enough whole-life.

Remember that the need for life insurance is temporary. Once the house is paid off and the kids are through college and you’ve got a few years’ salary saved, you don’t need life insurance any more. The purpose of life insurance is to provide an instant estate for your dependents if you die before you’ve managed to accumulate enough to provide for them. As the kids grow up, fewer dependents. As you accumulate, eventually you have enough, and your spouse does not need the protection of life insurance.

The cost of term life insurance does increase as you age and starts to skyrocket somewhere around age 55. But that’s not a problem because it doesn’t cost much and you usually can afford to pay the higher premiums as your career advances. The time the premiums become really huge is about the time you don’t need the insurance.

Oh, a tip: buy several smaller term policies, not one big one… because there is a point at which you both need less and can afford less, but still need some, and it’s helpful to be able to cancel the policies one at a time, instead of all at one [once].

Having said all that, buying whole life is not the worst thing in the world that can happen to someone. I think, yes, you should bail if you still can. I think you should buy term and invest the difference.

Yes, if the insurance agent is any good he or she will manage to make you feel lousy about it. Tough it out.

Kyith

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Jomel Ng

Friday 13th of January 2012

Hi Drizzt

I am an insurance agent with Great Eastern voicing out my opinion. I advocate for term when I present to my clients, except if they are die-hard fans of whole life insurance. Yes the commissions are unattractive but I think that it is good cheap protection at a low cost for the clients. But since the policy does not last whole life, they should purchase another term policy when they are about 40 years old and have more cash, lest the term policy ends. Caution! There are risks of the inability to be insured at an older age as you may have strike a disease, but the benefits still outweigh the costs of term. As an advice, use the money saved from buying term insurance to insure yourself properly against other negative events e.g. Sickness, medical expenses and partial and total disabilities. Striking an illness is More financially draining than death!

Regards Jomel Life Planner

Drizzt

Saturday 14th of January 2012

Given the case of insurability and cost, what is the lowest cost solution to this problem?

Mickey Pennelle

Tuesday 23rd of November 2010

Many UK Life insurance brokers only provide quotes on term life insurance and critical illness policies. However we believe that clients need a more varied approach to life insurance planning.

magna

Tuesday 2nd of February 2010

Can you intro me insurance agents who are less than 30 years old? I am from the Y-Gen so I prefer buying insurance from younger generation peeps. I can communicate better with them! Thanks! Email me with their name and contact. Thanks

Drizzt

Wednesday 3rd of February 2010

it is best that you look up one that is matured and experience in this area. there is a high propensity for them to leave the business should they struggle to make any headway in the business.

Drizzt

Monday 17th of December 2007

don't mentioned it. its a good discussion that all that matters.

indexfundfan

Monday 10th of December 2007

Drizzt, thanks for the mention.

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