Need advice on Whole Life Insurance Policy!?

Question

Just to make a long story short: I have had a life insurance policy since I was 22. I put in $1200/year. I am now 26. I was talked into getting this policy from someone who I respected but does not now, knowing they did not have my best interests in mind. I do not need life insurance at this moment, although I know there will be a need further down the line when I might have a greater chance of being uninsureable and the premiums will be higher. However, I am rated as preferred so I dont know if that will hold true. Should I surrender this policy? If I do I will have a check for $1331- basically I would lose out in $3469- BUT it might be better to lose that money now than to keep contributing $1200/year while the cash value grows very SLOW and my death benefit is only $176,000 anyways, which is NOT enough anyways... Any advice would be helpful. If I do surrender the policy I plan on opening a ROTH IRA and funding it with $200/month- the 100 from the ins. and 100 more of my money.

Answer 1

Whole life insurance policy is a life policy that contains death benefit plus savings. However, even though there's two products build into one, you only get one of the above. If you die, your beneficiary get the death benefit, but not the savings. If you live to age 98, you get the savings, but you are no longer covered.

Base on what you want, you are better off surrendering the policy and putting it into a Roth IRA. I would invest in aggressive growth fund and growth and income fund. Make sure you invest in the same fund family. For example, if you invest with Legg Mason, stick with Legg Mason funds. That way, when your Legg Mason funds accumulate $25,000 in value, you get sales discount.

But first, I would get a 30 year term insurance and see what your annual premium is (its definetly going to be lower than $1200/year, might be as low as $400/year). If you take the term insurance, then you should surrender your whole life policy and put it into your Roth IRA. But only do this if you qualify for term insurance. "Life insurance is not something you buy, its something you have to qualify for."

After you start your IRA, you should invest the difference (between your whole life and term) each month. Investing each month on the same day of the month lowers your avergage cost per share because on some months, price per share may be high, so you get fewer shares to buy. But on other months, price per share maybe low, so you get more shares. This is called Dollar Cost Averaging.

Answer 2

I might suggest that you visit this internet site where onel can compare quotes from different companies: http://COVERAGE-FINDER.NET/index.html?src=2YAevvuM1m8

RE :Need advice on Whole Life Insurance Policy!?
Just to make a long story short: I have had a life insurance policy since I was 22. I put in $1200/year. I am now 26. I was talked into getting this policy from someone who I respected but does not now, knowing they did not have my best interests in mind. I do not need life insurance at this moment, although I know there will be a need further down the line when I might have a greater chance of being uninsureable and the premiums will be higher. However, I am rated as preferred so I dont know if that will hold true. Should I surrender this policy? If I do I will have a check for $1331- basically I would lose out in $3469- BUT it might be better to lose that money now than to keep contributing $1200/year while the cash value grows very SLOW and my death benefit is only $176,000 anyways, which is NOT enough anyways... Any advice would be helpful. If I do surrender the policy I plan on opening a ROTH IRA and funding it with $200/month- the 100 from the ins. and 100 more of my money.
1 following 11 answers

Answer 3

My strategy, when I had a whole-life policy, was to pay the premiums for 10 years, and then allow the cash value of the policy to make the payments for me, for the rest of my life. That way, my heirs would receive the (tax-free) death benefit, and I would have only had to pay into the policy for 10 years.

Sounds like a good deal, right? The only problem was that, after you hit about 85 or so, your premiums go up so much and so fast that the cash value of the policy won't be enough to pay the annual premiums. So the insurance company would want more money, at a time when I could least afford it.

So I cashed my policy in, and used the cash value as part of the down payment on a house.

Cashing in the policy wasn't a bad deal, for me, since I still have life insurance through my job, and since I've managed to keep saving as much or more than I would have put into the insurance policy. Only problem is that the interest on my savings is taxable.

I've thought about opening a Roth IRA. What's kept me from doing so is mistrust of Congress. They tell you that the interest you earn on those IRAs will be tax-free. But with the problems in Social Security and Medicare coming up, Congress is going to find itself in a bind, financially. I think they'll change the rules. After all, they've done it before, and they'll do it again. Contracts mean nothing to them.

Answer 4

Hi, your friendly insurance guy here again. :)

The policy sounds like it's not in line with your goals. It may be time for a change.

Before you make the decision, please keep in mind a few things. First, if you have insurance in place now it is usually wise to keep it because your health can change. If you "buy term" and have a need for it after that period of time expires, it's a virtual certainty that a new policy will cost you more than it would have cost to keep the Whole Life because you'll probably be 20 years older and health tends to decline with age.

Second, regardless of what other posters have said, Whole Life is not a "ripoff" and "buy term invest the rest" is not the answer to all situations. Each has its place and is useful within certain situations.

What matters here is to determine your real insurance needs and find a way to meet them that works with the rest of your financial strategy. Each type of life insurance has its place. We readers do not know enough of your situation to know for sure what the best course of action is for you.

I can suggest an alternative:

Consider switching the policy to a "reduced paid up policy." This will take the existing value and use it to buy a one shot, fully paid up contract that you can keep without having to pay any more. The face value will drop, but it will be permanently yours with no further payments needed. This would at least let you keep something in place with no further cash outlay. That also means that hwen you go get new insurance, your need will be lower because you will already have some permanent insurance in force.

As one other poster said, consider meeting with a planner you can trust who is not beholded to any company, if that is where your comfort level is. Fee based planners work well for that if you do not have a trustworthy broker.

The downside to that is that you will pay, and probably pay a lot, for the workup needed to properly evaluate your financial situation.

The poster who said we readers and respondants should not be your only source of information was right. There's a wealth of it to be had locally to most people, and an in-person meeting and interview can be very, very valuable.

Best wishes.

Answer 5

Wow.

We have Insurance Agents telling you to cash out, etc., without even knowing your total position. Are you married? Are you responsible for anyone else? What does your total position look like - Debts/Assets/Liabilities, etc?

I WAS an agent for 10+ years. I got my start with the "Buy Term & Invest the Difference" company while it was still known by the owner's name. There are definitely times when that is appropriate, but you need someone educated to look at your entire portfolio before making a decision like surrendering the policy.

Your current "Preferred" rating means nothing with respect to future policies. With most companies, it just means you're a non-smoker.

I do agree that your Premium to Face Value ratio seems high, and you say the face value is too low. Why? How much do you need?

You may want to seek out a "Fee Only" planner to take a look at where you are now vs. where you want to be. Remember, though, you have already passed the contestability period for the policy, and that your cash value will continue to grow tax-deferred for the future. It may not have been the best decision you ever made, but please, please do not decide to do something this serious based on the opinions of a group of people you have never met over the Internet.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

Let me get this straight, you are 26 years old, paying $1,200 per year for an insurance policy with a death benefit of $176,000?

You are getting absolutely robbed. Sorry if that is blunt. If I were you, I wouldn't give this insurance company another dime.

Keep in mind there is no law that says you must have life insurance. The whole idea is to replace your income for your dependents if you were to die unexpectedly. If you have no dependents or if you have enough savings to take care of your dependents, maybe you do not need life insurance at all.

If you do decide to buy life insurance stay away from whole life, buy term and invest the rest. You can find a term policy with a higher death benefit and a lower cost, I assure you.

Where's Kevin? He answered a life insurance policy a week or two ago?

Answer 7

Bummer that you'd lose 3500 bucks. In general, I was under the impression that whole life was not the way to go. Generall, Term Life is better. When will the value be 176k? Should find out what that is (e.g. how many years if you decide to cash out)

Balance that against putting 1200/year away in either a Roth or taxable account and figure 5-9% growth per year. Then you're doing apples to apples comparison. I'd also do a calc on the 200/month you indicated.

good luck.

Answer 8

After reading your question, I have the following advice - figure it out yourself.

You have pointed out all the useful points, articulated different courses of action and the results. In short you have demonstrated a thinking brain - congratulations! You have what it takes to reach the right decision on your own.

The only point which, I think, you are unaware is that the "uninsurable" card played by the industry and it's agents is largely a threat. Anyone who can afford a whole life policy can easily afford to buy term and invest the difference. Look up how much term insurance you can get for $1,200 year (not that you need insurance anyway).

Answer 9

I am changing my whole life policy. I have a policy cash value at $37,000, have paid in $18,000 over 20 yrs. The face value is worth $150,000.

If I surrender it for the $37,000, I have to pay taxes on $19,000 as I have paid in $18,000. I do not want to pay the taxes.

I still see the need for insurance, but do not want to continue paying for it. So I am taking the $37,000 into a new policy, totally paid up worth $250,000 for my family to enjoy when I move on.The bad thing is I get no money, but good thing is I can set my grandkids up with money for college, and I am freeing up $90 a month which equates to $54K if i live anotherh 50 years.

I know you cannot roll over into an IRA, so that was not an option.

Lots of things to consider when you are doing the.

Answer 10

cash it out and surrender it. It's a bad deal.

If you want to buy life insurance cheap, take out a term life insurance policy. You can buy a 20 year, renewalable and convertible, level payout amount of $500,000 for less than $200 a year at your age.

Whole life is a massive ripoff. The longer you keep paying into it, the more money you'll lose. GET OUT FAST!!!