Insurance Pro Blog Podcast

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If you’ve been around the life insurance industry for more than five minutes, it’s pretty likely that you’ve encountered all sorts of reasons as to why whole life insurance is bad. In fact, it’s probably the most maligned of any financial product.

A few days ago, we set out to find the absolute dumbest arguments against whole life insurance. The volume of bad and misleading information is almost astounding.

I say “almost” because, in nearly 20 years of selling whole life insurance, it’s hard to imagine anything that most personal finance gurus hate more. It’s not even that much of a stretch to say that there are some very popular people who’ve built financial-advice-giving empires tearing the product to bits (in theory).

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We originally released our opinion on the best whole life products for cash value accumulation in 2013.  We re-visited the subject in 2014, and then never again discussed the topic.  In truth, the topic became a bit boring to me.  Year in and year out the list didn't change much, and the reason for various companies appearing or not appearing on the list remained the same.  I didn't personally find a lot of value in reiterating the same information year after year so the subject died quietly.

The subject resurfaced recently following several events and I decided to look over the original lists from 2013 and 2014.  A number of things have changed since we published those blog posts and now I have a lot more to say about this subject and the companies we profiled back then.

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Why is that life insurance companies seem so reluctant to answer important questions? If you've been in the life insurance biz long enough this is probably one of your many laments. It certainly is for us.

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Before anyone reads the title for this post/podcast and thinks we've suddenly reversed course on our fondness for cash value life insurance, think again. We've not changed our minds, we're just pointing out a few things that you might like to know in advance if you plan on using policy loans with your whole life insurance or indexed universal life insurance.

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Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission has started taking comments from the public in an effort to build their own version of the failed DOL fiduciary rule.

Take a few minutes and look at the comments

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The DOL Fiduciary Rule is dead.  It went out with an unceremonious whimper last week.  Financial media sources covered the news almost no one cares about through short articles noting the progress that led to the death of the Rule sprinkling in a comment or two from sources who cared to opine on the subject.

The sparse commentary leads me to believe that finding those who supported the rule with vigor was likely a crowd no larger than enough to fill an elementary school cafeteria.  While some might suggest this is a blow to the American investor and a win for Wall Street corporations, I'd like to take a moment to point out our final (and I promise after this we are done) thoughts on the subject.

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Today’s topic is not so much about the mechanics of everyday life insurance but diverges into the seedy underbelly of the industry and the problems that certain transactions have caused. Well, one particular transaction is in the news as we speak and rightfully so.

We’re revisiting a topic that we covered six years ago, and there was doubt expressed even then. Saying that we predicted it would be wrong, but there was definitely some warranted skepticism.

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It occurred to me recently that 2018 marks a milestone anniversary for me.  I've now worked professionally in the financial services/insurance industry for 10 years.  That's 10 years of being paid to assist people to navigate various financial mazes.  Most usually the primary topic at hand is life insurance, but there are plenty of circumstances that warrant discussions outside of the insurance topic.

Like a lot of people who reach round number milestones such as this one, I've spent some time recently reflecting on the things I've learned, the things I've experienced/witnessed, the things I look at as victories and the things I look at as defeats.

Today I want to spend some time with a subject I place in the “defeat” category.  Not necessarily a defeat for me personally.  But a defeat for most of the industry.

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