QUOTE(Deane_2005 @ Dec 5 2008, 04:46 AM)
I think that health insurance is really a must as well as house insurance and auto insurance this are the common insurance that is really needed.
Don't tell me you get your financial advice from Suze Orman guys. I'm a Retirement & Wealth Transfer Strategies Specialist meaning I help people retire more comfortably and pass money onto their heirs more efficiently with life insurance and/or annuities. What insurance you need depends on what you have. If you have a car, you DEFINITELY need auto insurance. If you have a home, get homeowner's insurance and make sure your umbrella policy properly covers you so you don't lose your house if someone sues you after getting into an accident. As for life insurance as an investment, it is an investment in your family and your future. Life insurance policies itself are NOT securities (like stocks, bonds, ETFs, etc.) unless they are variable policies. Variable life insurance policies contain an investment component where only agents with a securities license can solicit those types of policies. Only brokers or agents with a securities license can solicit investments period. Plus, they are all should be registered with the NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers). Any agent or broker of life insurance not licensed in securities who solicits investments are in serious violation. The most neutral way I can talk about life insurance is that if you can afford it buy it. If you can afford whole life, universal life, or indexed universal life or any type of policy that isn't term then go for it.
Term insurance is the worse insurance you can buy. Remember cash values accumulate in a permanent policy (Term isn't premanent) that are tax deferred and which you can borrow against later on. Term insurance doesn't offer you that. Term is the last resort if you can't afford a permanent policy which usually is the case if you're older. People usually complain about the price when they're in their 30s and even more so later on. Advice: Buy earlier and you pay less in the long run. You buy earlier for the need later. You can't buy life insurance when you're dead. Also companies have a max issue age fortheir products. Usually the cutoff is around age 70 so they won't insure you if you're past 70.
Another piece of advice: Don't listen to people who is an expert in one field but talk like they know something in another field. Let me break that down for you. Would you want an insurance company banking for you? No I assume. Would you want a bank selling you life insurance? No I assume. Banks don't know how to take care of people's insurance needs and insurance companies don't know how to take care of people's banking needs. So, the next time you visit your local bank for a refi and they ask you if you want to buy life insurance, politely refuse.