Don’t be scammed into thinking Whole Life Insurance is a good retirement investment

I recently got married, so I decided to do a bunch of research on different insurance products that are out there. A few weeks earlier, I ran into a webinar on where some very wealthy people use a whole life insurance investment strategy to safely grow and protect their wealth.

Of course they didn’t tell me straight away that is was whole life insurance (because they were trying to sell me an educational product), but I was able to figure it out on my own since they said you’re not limited on how much you can invest, you earn reinvested dividends plus about 5% to 7% annual tax-deferred growth, guaranteed never to lose value, you can borrow against your cash value, you earn the interest instead of paying the banks interest, and you can Will the policy off to your children, etc…. Sounds great, right?

This all enticed me greatly because it all sounds really good. I knew that there would be a cost, since it’s an insurance product, but I figure it will pay for itself over time.

After doing a little bit more research I decided to go with Bank on Yourself to get one of their free consultations. They were very nice. After my hour long appointment with a sales representative. I told them I would be willing to do no less than $250.00 a month, but no more than $500.00 a month. Of course the sales rep tried to over sell me even on the $500.00 a month and it sounded better with a $250,000 life insurance policy right off the bat.

I was told that I would get a guaranteed 6% to 7% annually plus dividends. I would have a cash value of at least $15,000.0o by the year 2014 and by the time I reach 71 years old, my investment would be around $1.3 million dollars. That all sounded pretty good, buy that’s $500.00 a month for the rest of my life and if you really think about it, a 6% annual return is a pretty poor return. I can make a 6% return with one stock in less than a week. Of course I could lose that much just as easily, but investing is all about cash management.

What I found out about borrowing against yourself instead of a bank is that the insurance company charges you about 5% or what they will lose on not having access to the cash value and you pay yourself back on your own terms with extra interest to yourself being careful not to go over your maximum annual premium.

The main problem I have with whole life insurance is you have to pay a pretty hefty premium that they don’t tell you about and measly 5% to 7% annual return is pretty pathetic.

In fact, don’t take my word for it, find out what Suze Orman says about whole life insurance.

• I HATE WHOLE LIFE INSURANCE
• I HATE UNIVERSAL LIFE INSURANCE
• I HATE VARIABLE LIFE INSURANCE
• THE ONLY TYPE I LIKE – FOR THE PURPOSES FOR INSURING YOUR LIFE – IS TERM INSURANCE!

If you are smart with the money you have today and you get rid of your mortgages, car loans and credit card debt and put money into retirement plans you don’t need insurance 30 years from now to protect your family when you die.

Suze Orman

It’s also worth taking a look at what Dave Ramsey says about whole life insurance.

Myth: Cash value life insurance, like whole life, will help me retire wealthy .
Truth: Cash value life insurance is one of the worst financial products available.

Dave Ramsey

In conclusion, instead of throwing all your money at insurance products, which are really only out there to get your money in the end, you should educate yourself and learn how to invest your money on your own because you’ll get a way better return in the end.

Simply purchase low cost term insurance for 20 or 30 years to protect your family and if you invest your money wisely, you won’t need an insurance policy anymore by the time you retire. And if the need ever rises where you’ll ever want to borrow money from yourself, well, that won’t be a problem either, because you won’t have to pay a 5% penalty for borrowing your own money if you’re wise with it and you won’t have to pay it back.

Good luck!!!