Anonymous
Post 04/05/2014 12:40     Subject: Life Insurance? Where to start?
Anonymous wrote:There are universal life products that work great for HHI folks. Not going to debate it here though because this is a pretty anti-non term life insurance group.


I used to work on that kind of insurance/tax planning and IMO, although it's sold to high HHI people as having benefit as a tax shelter, it's really only ever a good idea for the super-wealthy for estate tax planning purposes. When giving advice on this board I don't tend to give it with an eye towards people who are super-wealthy and are (or at least should be) paying for real financial/tax planning.

Of course if you are one of those posters who is excited at being allowed to pay 2/20 to a hedge fund, then probably you have a different view.
Anonymous
Post 04/05/2014 11:00     Subject: Life Insurance? Where to start?
Anonymous wrote:Do all insurance companies require a physical exam for term life?

It depends on the amount. Our broker couldn't find anything over 250K without an exam available at reasonable rates. Plus policies with no exam are always more expensive vs. what you get with an exam. We're in the process of getting a 30-year term for 1 million and there was bloodwork plus medical records for the last 5 years.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2014 17:26     Subject: Life Insurance? Where to start?
There are universal life products that work great for HHI folks. Not going to debate it here though because this is a pretty anti-non term life insurance group.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2014 16:41     Subject: Life Insurance? Where to start?
I think the comment was that 'there are no pros' and 'its a ripoff' - I thought the response was OK, in that this is not always true, even if it doesn't fit everyone.

I am always interested when the upper HHI folks post here to get that perspective.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2014 16:06     Subject: Life Insurance? Where to start?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are no pros to whole life. It's a ripoff.

Decide how much coverage you need (there are a million calculators online) and then get a term life policy that's good for 20 years. I'm sure there are also online reviews of life insurance companies, too. We had Northwestern Mutual until we paid off the mortgage. Then we cancelled, since our purpose for insurance was to pay off the house.


Completely not true. Lot's of reasons for whole life. It shouldn't be the only piece to your puzzle but it can be a good piece. It is a long term investment piece - tax deferred earnings, a chance to borrow against it if you need it down the road and finally some insurance to help family deal with expenses and estate taxes when the final day comes.

It is absolutely not for everyone and it is expensive but you can look at it as a conservative, net 4-5% (again, when taxes are considered) and allows you to take risk in other parts of your portfolio.



Spoken like a true insurance agent, or 0.1 percenter.

There are very very few people for whom whole life makes sense and I would be willing to bet a large sum of money that OP is not one of them-- that in fact anyone seeking advice about whether/how to buy life insurance on this site is not one of them.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2014 16:05     Subject: Life Insurance? Where to start?
Anonymous wrote:There are no pros to whole life. It's a ripoff.

Decide how much coverage you need (there are a million calculators online) and then get a term life policy that's good for 20 years. I'm sure there are also online reviews of life insurance companies, too. We had Northwestern Mutual until we paid off the mortgage. Then we cancelled, since our purpose for insurance was to pay off the house.


Completely not true. Lot's of reasons for whole life. It shouldn't be the only piece to your puzzle but it can be a good piece. It is a long term investment piece - tax deferred earnings, a chance to borrow against it if you need it down the road and finally some insurance to help family deal with expenses and estate taxes when the final day comes.

It is absolutely not for everyone and it is expensive but you can look at it as a conservative, net 4-5% (again, when taxes are considered) and allows you to take risk in other parts of your portfolio.