Variable life insurance advice

**disneysteve** · 12-19-2008, 10:45 AM

Cancel it. Pay any surrender fee and get out now.

1. He has no dependents and doesn't need insurance.
2. Variable life is horrendously expensive.
3. Insurance IS NOT an investment. If and when he needs insurance, he should do a term policy. His investments should be totally separate.

**Goldy1** · 12-19-2008, 11:01 AM

ditto to that, talk about lack of research. I was once naive and still learning today.

**disneysteve** · 12-19-2008, 11:07 AM

Originally posted by Goldy1 View Post

I was once naive

Me too. Weren't we all?

I got talked into a variable life policy years ago by a good-looking Prudential agent. Eventually, I wised up and cancelled it and thought that was the end of it.

Some time later, I got a notice for a class action lawsuit against the company for misrepresenting insurance policies as investments. Ultimately, the case was decided against Prudential and I got a settlement equaling approximately what I had paid in premiums.

I was thrilled, of course, but I see that the case accomplished absolutely nothing as insurance agents are still out there selling insurance as an investment. Sad that the regulators can't do anything to stop this nonsense.

**creditcardfree** · 12-19-2008, 02:54 PM

Term life insurance is the only way to go. Variable life insurance has high fees associated with it. Look at the prospectus documents. Usually the fees are disclosed within the first two pages.

The lower the fees you pay the more money you have to invest. So pay low fees for term life insurance, probably about 25% of the cost he is paying now. The rest than can be investing in a roth or to build up an emergency fund. Much wiser choice.

**Alex_Adviser** · 12-19-2008, 08:44 PM

Hi there,

Even i agree totally with disney steve to cancel the variable Life Insurance an pay off the debts before starting a new life. Life insurance is not the option now, they can opt for it in some future time but then to for a Term life insurance rather than the variable one.

All the best............

**getforfree** · 12-20-2008, 01:23 PM

Quote:

know a 26 year old who is getting married this weekend. In early Sept. he opened a variable life ins policy with 2100 and is making 100 per month payments.

The policy has a 250k face value. He has no children or debts and they will be living in an apartment to start. She has a car note and SL that total around 30k.

I'm leaving my opinion out and want you guys to offer recommendations as to how they should go forward. I will be having them read this thread later. Thanks

.........................................

If this person is planning to have kids and maybe to buy a house, he would need the life insurance. And if he started at 26 instead of waiting to 30, he will have lower payments that way.

**Gjowers** · 12-20-2008, 02:15 PM

ditto to everything above. I had a guy once try to sell me whole life when i was single saying that it was an investment. Give me a break. Term life is the only way to go.

**disneysteve** · 12-20-2008, 04:27 PM

Originally posted by getforfree View Post

If this person is planning to have kids and maybe to buy a house, he would need the life insurance. And if he started at 26 instead of waiting to 30, he will have lower payments that way.

If and when he has kids and buys a house, he can buy term insurance for a fraction of what he's paying for this policy. The premium difference between age 26 and 30 will be insignificant.

Bottom line is you should never buy insurance you don't need and you should never buy insurance as an investment.

**arthurb999** · 12-22-2008, 05:30 AM

Cancel it. It's junk.

Variable life insurance advice