Flexible Paid-up Additions Riders: When a Paid-up Addition is not just another Paid-up Addition

Flexible Paid-up Additions Riders

Paid-up Additions are a crucial component to whole life insurance when someone wants to focus on cash value accumulation. In fact, we declared the rider–the magic of cash value life insurance a long time ago.

But we’ve tended to be real loosey-goosey about a very important distinction between paid-up additions, which was entirely by accident. And today I’m going to try to further solidify precisely what we look at when it comes to sorting out coveted policy features specifically regarding whole life insurance as those features pertain to life insurance as a low risk asset class.

Keep Reading

Top Indexed Universal Life Insurance Carriers for Cash Value Accumulation

Top Indexed Universal Life Insurance

Indexed universal life insurance is the product that can rival participating whole life insurance for cash accumulation and income strategies. It’s risk profile is similar, and it brings even more flexibility to the table than a well-designed blended whole life policy.

Several months ago we dished on what carriers we felt were best bets for whole life insurance when cash accumulation was top of mind. Today we’ll details our picks for indexed universal life insurance.

Keep Reading

10 Pay Whole Life Round Up: Who is the Best

2013 Annuity Report

10 pay whole life insurance is a straight forward product. An insured/policy holder makes 10 payments to the contract and after that the policy is guaranteed paid up forever and always. Not surprisingly a given level of death benefit for a 10 pay whole life product will have a considerably higher required premium than a whole life policy that requires premium payments for a longer period of time (say to age 100).

The product is well known for its generally higher rate of return for both cash value and death benefit given premium vs. other whole life products, but the market for 10 pay whole life insurance is pretty thin. Luckily, however, a few common participating whole life insurance players entered the 10 pay market this year and we’ve been waiting for an opportunity to compare their products and we figured there’s no better way to do that than to round up performance among most everyone in the market at the moment.

Keep Reading

Whole Life Insurance Myths Busted

whole life insuranceWhole life insurance has a pretty wild reputation around the interwebs. There are those who would have you believe it’s the devil seeking to ruin your financial affairs, and others—like us—who believe it’s a pretty cool place to store and accumulate cash—and we’ve encountered plenty of people who agree with us on that front.

Despite the products long established position as a stable asset, there are still those who champion misconceptions about the product, and so we figured we’d take on the top five misconceptions and set the record straight.

Keep Reading

Can you “Bank” on Universal Life Insurance?

Can you “Bank” on Universal Life Insurance

Bank on Yourself® and the Infinite Banking Concept® are well known selling systems that promote whole life insurance, but can we apply the secret sauce of these ideas to universal life insurance as well as whole life insurance?

The purests (i.e. those with a vested interest in promoting whole life insurance) would tell you know. But not one to avoid a fight, I’m going to suggest they may be lying to you.

Keep Reading

Top Reasons for Owning Cash Value Life Insurance: #1 Liquidity

Cash Value Life Insurance LiquidityToday we’re going to discuss what I have always felt was the best reason to have money in cash value life insurance and use it as part of your financial strategy. This may seem counter-intuitive. It may even seem incorrect. But I assure you that when implemented properly this is most assuredly the best feature the product brings to the table for wise investor/saver.

That benefit is simply…liquidity.

Keep Reading

Why Your Rate of Return is always Different

Why Your Rate of Return is always Different

Most of us have seen the marketing brochures distributed by mutual fund companies and investment products salespeople as an inducement to place our money in a fund. At the very least, we’ve encountered historical returns posted within a 401k plan that some people use to help select where they place their money.

But have you ever noticed that when you look at the historical return data, your rate of return seems to magically be different? What gives? Some might explain this as entry and exit variances that alter the yield vs. the calendar year assumptions put in place on the historical data and to some degree this is true. But the real answer to this lies a little deeper and has to do with a little slight of hand, and some simple mathematics.

Keep Reading

Top Reasons for Owning Cash Value Life Insurance: #2 Leverage

cash value life insuranceFinance is a funny topic. For some it means little more than buying some low cost index funds and not accumulating massive amounts of debt. For others it’s mostly about contributing to a 401k or traditional IRA so they can raise a middle finger to the IRS (but the IRS may get the last laugh). For us, it’s a game of strategy.

A semi-complex circumstance that requires foresight and focuses on bigger picture considerations rather than drill hopelessly into situational (and most commonly transient) event. The game is best played when one can gain an upper hand. And few financial products bring leverage to the table like cash value life insurance.

Keep Reading