Knowing The Importance Of Buy Term And Invest The Difference
You have probably heard of the saying "Buy term, invest the difference" when getting insurance and putting your money in investments. But do we really comprehend what it actually means? What could be the reason why majority of financial planners strongly recommend that you should "buy term and invest the difference" ? On the other hand why is your insurance agent forcing you to buy his or her recommended product?
The majority of whole life insurance products available today is tantamount to "rip offs." In fact, these kinds of products has already been phased out in the United States. When we talk about "term insurance", this refers to insurance with life coverage only. On the other hand whole life insurance is a term policy coupled with investments. Your insurance agent will always present whole life insurance as something that will "force" you to save for your retirement. This is actually good, but the problem with this setup is that most insurance companies do not usually give a good rate of return for the "investment" component. Sad to say, whole life insurance products are still actively sold in the Philippines. People still buy these products because of lack of financial know-how.
To drive home the point, let me give you an actual situation. Sometime last week, my mother asked me if she should continue paying an insurance product she got for my sister. The total price for it was about P 400,000.00 (Philippine Peso). Half of it is already been paid leaving a balance of P200,000.00.
According to her, the benefits of the insurance product are as follows; After 20 years, my sister who is still 18 years old will receive P 40,000.00 per annum until she reaches 65 years of age; At the age of 65 she can either choose to receive P400,000.00 lump sum or continue receiving P 40,000.00 until she dies, plus she is also insured for two million pesos for as long as she lives.
To determine whether she should pay the remaining balance of P200,000.00, the benefits of the insurance product must be pitted against the benefits of the "Buy term, invest the difference" strategy.
The total money that my sister will be receiving under the insurance scheme is around P3,520,000.00. This is derived from the P 40,000.00 she will receive per month until she reaches 65. Add to this the P 400,000.00 she will receive lump sum during that age. We should also take into consideration that she is insured for P2,000,000.00 hence giving us total benefits of around P 3,520,000.00
On the other hand, if we follow the buy term invest the difference scheme, if her insurance company will allow her, she will convert what she has already paid into "term insurance" which usually runs for only 20 years and then invest the P 200,000.00. If she will invest the P 200,000.00 at a vehicle of investment that gives about 10 % return per annum and also re-invest the returns of the investment taking full advantage of compounded interest at age 65 she will get a whooping P 17,639,497.05.
Can you see the big difference? What is P 1,500,000.00 plus P2,000,000.00 insurance vs. P 17,000,000.00+.
You might ask what about insurance protection? Take note that pure term insurance is very cheap. She can just buy term insurance and renew it every 20 years.
But where do you get 10 % return per annum? There are lots of them. Examples of these are mutual funds and directly investing in the stock market. The returns here are not guaranteed though. However historical data will show that the rate of return for mutual fund companies is always above 10 % per annum especially if invested in equities. Investing in the stock market always proves profitable. Even the most conservative investors here gets a return of not less than 10 % per annum.
Now you know why buying term and investing the difference does makes sense !!! - 23211
The majority of whole life insurance products available today is tantamount to "rip offs." In fact, these kinds of products has already been phased out in the United States. When we talk about "term insurance", this refers to insurance with life coverage only. On the other hand whole life insurance is a term policy coupled with investments. Your insurance agent will always present whole life insurance as something that will "force" you to save for your retirement. This is actually good, but the problem with this setup is that most insurance companies do not usually give a good rate of return for the "investment" component. Sad to say, whole life insurance products are still actively sold in the Philippines. People still buy these products because of lack of financial know-how.
To drive home the point, let me give you an actual situation. Sometime last week, my mother asked me if she should continue paying an insurance product she got for my sister. The total price for it was about P 400,000.00 (Philippine Peso). Half of it is already been paid leaving a balance of P200,000.00.
According to her, the benefits of the insurance product are as follows; After 20 years, my sister who is still 18 years old will receive P 40,000.00 per annum until she reaches 65 years of age; At the age of 65 she can either choose to receive P400,000.00 lump sum or continue receiving P 40,000.00 until she dies, plus she is also insured for two million pesos for as long as she lives.
To determine whether she should pay the remaining balance of P200,000.00, the benefits of the insurance product must be pitted against the benefits of the "Buy term, invest the difference" strategy.
The total money that my sister will be receiving under the insurance scheme is around P3,520,000.00. This is derived from the P 40,000.00 she will receive per month until she reaches 65. Add to this the P 400,000.00 she will receive lump sum during that age. We should also take into consideration that she is insured for P2,000,000.00 hence giving us total benefits of around P 3,520,000.00
On the other hand, if we follow the buy term invest the difference scheme, if her insurance company will allow her, she will convert what she has already paid into "term insurance" which usually runs for only 20 years and then invest the P 200,000.00. If she will invest the P 200,000.00 at a vehicle of investment that gives about 10 % return per annum and also re-invest the returns of the investment taking full advantage of compounded interest at age 65 she will get a whooping P 17,639,497.05.
Can you see the big difference? What is P 1,500,000.00 plus P2,000,000.00 insurance vs. P 17,000,000.00+.
You might ask what about insurance protection? Take note that pure term insurance is very cheap. She can just buy term insurance and renew it every 20 years.
But where do you get 10 % return per annum? There are lots of them. Examples of these are mutual funds and directly investing in the stock market. The returns here are not guaranteed though. However historical data will show that the rate of return for mutual fund companies is always above 10 % per annum especially if invested in equities. Investing in the stock market always proves profitable. Even the most conservative investors here gets a return of not less than 10 % per annum.
Now you know why buying term and investing the difference does makes sense !!! - 23211
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Would you like to know more about investment strategies ? Visit the blog of Zigfred Diaz where he writes about several interesting topics such as investments, money management, business, making money online and Stock market investing