After what year should one stop paying into a "Whole Life Ins. Policy?"?

Question

I was told after like 14 or 15 yrs a Whole life polic has enough dividends to pay for itself and continue to grow and maitain the policy. To continue to put $ in would be like savings acct.

Answer 1

It all depends on the company's dividends (past and future). You should call the ins. company at least once a year and ask for an in force illustration. Your agent should be doing this for you. It sounds like the agent that sold this told you an average figure. Some Whole Life policies do have enough dividends to pay the premium after 14 years. Some but not all.

Xpo and Sheeran are right. DT does not know a thing about your financial life. Term work ONLY when you can accumulate enough money to cover all of your future expenses - even ones you don't know about yet.

Talk to a financial planner.

Answer 2

A person should stop paying into a whole life policy after recognizing rate of return on savings is very low.

And the story about the policy will be able to pay itself is absolutely false. When you receive a dividend from an insurance policy, that means you are overpaying your premiums. If you do not pay your premiums, the money will be withdrawn from the cash value until it hits zero. Fact: "Nothing is free."

Dividend from an insurance policy is not the same as dividend received from stock or mutual fund. When you receive dividend from stock or mutual fund, this means profits has been recognized and so the company distributes it to shareholders as a "dividend." Dividend from life insurance is a return of overpaid premiums or in simpler terms, "refund of overpayment."

Answer 3

dividends are a return on the insurance companies profits. the more the company makes the quicker you can stop paying. My company (at this point) it is about 11 years. However if you bought your policy back in the 80's you were probable told a very short payment period. If you remember the 80's interest rates were much higher then they are now. Higher interest rates usually means more profit for the company.

Answer 4

The number of years can range between 14-20 years depending on the policy. I would recommend speaking to you insurance professional and ask when the "natural pay" will occur based on the dividend projections.

Answer 5

Well, that's not exactly accurate. After you've paid thousands and thousands and thousands into it, IF there's enough dividends (aka, interest, usually around 2-3% of what you've paid), you can stop paying, but if the dividends drop to 1% or less, you have to go back paying again.

It's a ripoff.

Answer 6

"Whole life" in the whole life policy refers to the coverage period and not the payment period. Based on the terms of the policy, payment of premium is only for a limited no. of years. You have the right info.

Answer 7

It depends. Call the insurance company and they will be able to tell you or at least estimate what year you can stop paying. I have seen them in as few as 10 years and as long as 30 years.

Answer 8

borrow 100% of the cash value to cover the premium and interest and turn it into a term policy