12 Responses to “Insurance Agents: Should You Sell Whole Life Insurance?”

1. lighteclipseca Says:
   November 22nd, 2008 at 3:37 am

   T100 is going to be better if they pay it off in 10 or 20 years. They get the face amount if they live to 100. The premiums are lower. They can stop paying after 10 or 20 years and they still have their policy, etc.. There is no longer a need for whole life.

2. chivamisfit Says:
   November 22nd, 2008 at 3:57 am

   BUY TERM AND INVEST THE DIFFERENCE!

3. carie Says:
   November 22nd, 2008 at 3:22 am

   Basically insurance only works when a large groups of people own that particular insurance. Everyone pays to protect their income, but not everyone is going to use their insurance. So that's how basically insurance companies stay in business, unless something extraordinary has happen in this country where there's lots of people are filing for claims and the insurance company can't pay them all (such as the Hurricane Katrina event).

   What is whole life insurance?
   1) Its a level term insurance to a specified age (usually to age 95, 98 or 100) plus cash value.
   2) It is very expensive when compared to term insurance
   3) Cash value grows at a very low rate of return. In the first 10 years, you see a negative return on your money. But long term average is anywhere between 1-4%, depending on the company.
   4) If you want to take money out, you have to borrow it and pay loan interest of 5-8%.
   5) If you die someday, the insurance company pay the face amount of the policy (minus loans and missed premiums) to the beneficiary, but they keep all the cash value.
   6) If you do get to live by the end of policy date (when you around age 100), the insurance company pay you the cash value, but you lose the insurance.

   There's only one reason why that agent is trying to sell you whole life insurance: MONEY!
   Next thing you'll know, that agent would try to sell you universal life insurance, a product that is more horrible than whole life, but it pays out more commissions.

   Go with your instinct and find a different company who would listen to your needs. Try this site

   http://free-best-life-insures-comparator-usa.blogspot.com/

   Here you can get quotes from different life insurance companies in your area, its the best way to find an affordable life insurance with a reliable company.

4. Lai L Says:
   November 22nd, 2008 at 4:12 am

   Most people can cover their needs with a term policy, and usually should only consider a permanent life policy if they have a permanent need for insurance.

   Having said that, WL policies will only let you borrow from the cash value, while UL policies will usually let you withdrawal your cost basis and then borrow the remaining surrender value. The difference is that if you borrow from your policy, you reduce the death benefit by an equal amount. Given the option, I would rather withdrawal money from a life policy over borrowing it. Please note if you do either of these, you might be swimming in treacherous waters and you should order an "inforce illustration" each year and carefully review it.

   Technically, there is not a life policy that will pay both the death benefit and the cash value, but you can buy a policy whose death benefit increases along with the cash value. If you had a policy whose death benefit increased along with your cash value, there is a cost to the increasing death benefit. If you have an increasing insurance need, it usually doesn't increase at the same rate as your cash value. If you really need an increasing death benefit, you are usually better off buying a guaranteed UL whose death benefit goes up each time you make a premium payment. You are usually better off getting the amount you need or will need, and not worrying about the cash value.

   If an agent is selling "tax-free investments" when they mean life insurace, get them to put this in writing and take it to your state's Department of Insurance. It's a scam. If they are selling life insurance because you have a need for the protection AND you would like to enjoy a "potentially income tax-free retirement benefit", that's different. It MAY be income tax-free, and if it is, that DOES NOT mean it avoids other taxes – like estate tax.

   You should understand that you have to pay taxes on the premium you put in first and once your distributions (withdrawals or loans) from the policy exceed what you put in, you may have a tax liability. The only way to keep paying income taxes on that amount is to keep the policy in force, which is sometimes trickier than it sounds. To do this, you would have to own the policy and the death benefit would be included in your estate's evaluation for taxes at the time of your death.

   Here are two relevant links:

5. Larhonda C Says:
   November 22nd, 2008 at 8:02 am

   Investing into life insurance plans are never a good idea. Why? In most cases, you or the beneficiary are getting one or the other. Not both.

   Buying term and investing the difference is the best approach. That way, as your investments grow and your financial obligations goes down, you won't need as much coverage later on in your life.

6. slobomotion Says:
   November 22nd, 2008 at 5:40 pm

   When I sold life insurance, I emphasized disability income insurance, and linked it then to a whole life policy which could eventually pay the premiums on both. I only sold term insurance as a rider on top of whole life. I did not sell universal life insurance, but I did later buy two policies on my spouse, which have not performed very well. My own whole life insurance is paid up and is a good source of collateral or emergency loans to myself. Good luck to you.

7. pumky_2001 Says:
   November 22nd, 2008 at 4:00 pm

   you should be able to convert the term to whole life and the disability should pay for it. But, you should put your disability claim through first to make sure.

   Then your plan will accumulate cash and if set up properly the face value should grow. They will not go back retroactively since you didn't make a claim 'til now and the only downside is if you eventually come off the disability you'll now owe the premium on the whole life plan each month.

   hope that helps…

   http://www.InsurancePIckle.com

8. isabella Says:
   November 22nd, 2008 at 8:01 pm

   I hate to break it to you but your husband is a loser. I am a firm believer that if one paycheck cannot cover a household, then both husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, should be working. You are to blame however. You have allowed him to push you around and make you go to work while he sits around and does nothing. I know the economy is bad, but while he sits there and yells at you saying 'you should have cleaned those toilets,' I would've yelled back and said, 'no you should have.' He's basically saying take what you can get right? Well what about him. I'm sure McDonalds is hiring. Any money is better than no money. So stop feeding into him. Give him an ultimatum……Either you find a job or go home to your mama. Seriously.

   My fiance was just got laid off on Thursday and since Thursday he's been running around crazy looking for a job. He's not wasting anytime. And I make enough money where we will be okay for a while without struggling, but that's not enough for him, as a man. You said you were making 700 a month to make ends meet. That's crazy. I don't know how you are even feeding yourself. If he don't care about what you guys are going through, then why should you?

   Stop being a sucker and put your foot down.

9. Louis C Says:
   November 23rd, 2008 at 8:09 am
10. bizygal Says:
    November 23rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    Neither is good. Go for term life and put the difference in premium to an investment account.

11. Benji C Says:
    November 24th, 2008 at 3:41 am

    AIM is not major medical insurance.

    I don't think it is a scam BUT you don't want to mislead people into thinking they have a major medical policy if they buy it. It doesn't cover much.

12. The Standard Says:
    November 25th, 2008 at 1:42 am

    People used to complain that term insurance was like throwing money away. At the end of the term, you had nothing to show for it. Whole life was created. At the end of the term, you still had the policy value and never needed to pay anything to get coverage. Thus unlike term, when you later died, your estate got the value of the policy.

    Insurance should be insurance, and savings should be savings. Don't mix the two. Buy term life when you are young and need to cover your salary to make sure that your kids are provided for if you die, and save as much of your money as you can for retirement.

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