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If you've missed part 1 and part 2 of this five-part series, it would be worth your time to go back and listen to both of those episodes. It's not a pre-requisite, but it will help give you a little context for what I'm about to say…
This third argument against owning cash value life insurance (whole life and/or universal life) is the most ridiculous one so far.
The third argument goes something like this, “it just takes too long to see a return on my money”.Look, I understand that we all want to achieve as much of a return as we can in as short a time possible. No harm in wanting that.
I'd like to eat ice cream for lunch and dinner everyday. Why not breakfast? Well, I need coffee more than ice cream in the morning.
Just Because You Want It
Doesn't make it so. Despite what many self-help gurus and televangelists would like to have you believe, we don't actually live in a “name it and claim it” sort of world. Just because you want it, doesn't mean you can have it that way.
You know what's really odd? Most common financial planning and/or investment advice encourages patience and steady focus. However, those same people aren't willing to apply that logic to life insurance cash value returns.
They either don't get it, or are deliberately trying to make life insurance look bad. I'll let you be the judge of that, I have my own opinions.
I've invested thousands of dollars in my children…school stuff, sports, camps, braces, surgery, vacations, educational trips etc. Does that mean I should declare all of that a terrible investment because I've yet to get anything back on that?
My oldest son is 15 and he's yet to become totally self-sufficient. And worse still he's not taking care of me yet. What the heck?
So far, all five of my children have been a terrible investment.
Obviously
I'm being deliberately sarcastic here but I hope it at least gets you to see how ridiculous we can all be. And gives you the ability to sniff out the half-truths you'll hear from the financial press.
To be sure, life insurance is not the panacea (I've said that here at least a dozen times) but it is an effective tool in your arsenal, be open to the possibilities.
Specifics Matter
If you want to see actual data that proves everything I've just written, you gotta head over to this post that Brandon wrote late last year. It's well worth 10 minutes of your time.
