Product Description

"For anyone who needs to understand different types of life insurance, as well as considerations for purchasing and managing policies, this book should be on your nearby reference shelf. If you've frequently found yourself fumbling around with terminology, such as the differences between variable, universal, and variable universal life (VUL) policies, you'll finally see some light through the haze." - MorningstarAdvisor.com

Life insurance doesn't have to be complex or intimidating. Ben Baldwin's completely revised and updated guidebook makes it clear and logical, discussing how to analyze insurance products based on their investment merits and best overall financial returns. This clear, authoritative resource for consumer insurance information covers the pros and cons of Internet purchases, techniques to use capital within a policy, the fixed premium feature, insurance for different stages of life, and the new emergence of "immediate annuities."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47167 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

From the Back Cover
Today's Most Authoritative Resource on Term Life, Whole Life, Universal Life, Variable Life, and More­­and Which Products Are Best for You and Your Family

Life insurance has evolved from a sleepy, slow-growing financial product into one of today's most dynamic, adaptable investment vehicles. From the simplicity of term life to the complexity of variable universal life, the choices seem nearly as endless as the possibilities.

The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor, Second Edition, explains how to analyze insurance products based on their investment merits and overall financial returns, and gives you the facts you need to make the logical, financially intelligent insurance decision. This clear, authoritative resource for consumer insurance information avoids financial double-speak and endless calculations to give you hands-on information concerning:

• Optimal insurance products for different life stages
• Innovative techniques to use the capital hidden in your policy
• Where to find the best deals­­and avoid getting burned­­buying insurance on the Internet

Life insurance has truly become life insurance, meant to provide financial benefits throughout your entire life. Let The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor introduce you to the many facets of today's life insurance landscape, and show you how to invest in a policy that will pay you today, tomorrow, and well into the future.

"The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor does not treat life insurance academically. It is a consumer's handbook. The objective is to provide the consumer with an understanding of the various life insurance policies available, how to choose among them and, most importantly, how to manage them once they own them."

­­From Chapter One

Life insurance has become an integral component of the average family's investment portfolio and­­as one of today's more informed, demanding consumers­­you rightfully require a thorough understanding of how and where your money is invested. The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor, 2nd Edition, provides you with that understanding and more.

This top-rated consumer reference guidebook­­now comprehensively revised and updated for 21st-century life insurance wants and requirements­­pulls back the curtain to reveal the inner workings of today's insurance industry. It goes beyond the mortality benefits of life insurance to describe the cash value aspects of life insurance, and techniques and strategies you can use to create an ongoing and accessible financial resource.

Term Life Insurance ... Whole Life ... Universal Life ... Variable Life ... Variable Universal Life ... All types of life insurance are covered in detail, giving you as much­­or more­­knowledge than the majority of insurance sales representatives. But beyond simply providing product knowledge, The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor gives you the practical, hands-on expertise to know which product will work best for you, and your unique situation. Use its plain language, no-nonsense descriptions to determine:

• Your place in the life insurance products matrix that professional financial planners and insurance salespersons follow
• How and why to change coverages when you find a better deal­­and what exactly constitutes a better deal for you
• Strategies to assure yourself a steady income stream through your retirement years­­plus a substantial, guaranteed life insurance benefit

Life insurance doesn't have to be complex or intimidating. The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor, Second Edition, explains life insurance in clear, logical terms, terms you can understand and use when making your insurance decision. Completely updated to reflect today's transformed financial environment, it is the best and most authoritative guidebook on the market.

About the Author

Ben G. Baldwin, CLU, ChFC, CFP, is president and owner of Baldwin Financial Systems, a registered advisory firm serving both individual and corporate clients. The winner of numerous sales awards throughout his career and a former member of the Board of Governors for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, he has consulted for major insurance companies including New York Life, Transamerica, Prudential, CNA, AIG, ING, AXA, and Equitable. Along with the first edition of The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor, Baldwin also wrote The Complete Book of Insurance and The Lawyer's Guide to Insurance.

Customer Reviews

So far, so good...
I'm an avid reader and have ordered dozens of books through Amazon, but this is the first one I've taken the time to write a review for, because I believe this book can help others in the same situation I was.
I ordered this book when I was applying for Life Insurance, based on the investment strategy in Douglas Andrew's book, "Missed Fortune 101". I wanted to review another reference on life insurance to learn more about it, and to corroborate Andrews' strategy. This is the only other book I could find that discussed LI from a financial investment perspective. This is a very comprehensive book about LI. It's a large book, and so far I've only read portions, skipping around to the areas I needed to understand the type of policy I was applying for, and to justify in my mind that indeed it was the right one for me (I'm working with a financial planner who recommended a particular plan, and has largely focused his practice on Doug Andrews' strategy). This book gave me a lot of the information I needed to ask my agent questions about my policy. In fact, he was impressed with my questions and wanted the name of this book.
This is a very easy to read book, with plenty of *understandable* tables as examples. I have also found it to be very objective, discussing the tradeoffs of the different types of policies, and discussing in what personal situations a particular policy might be best. The intent of this book is clearly educational - there's no hidden agenda or bias that I can detect. The author has CFP, CLU, and CHFC credentials.
Finally, and very importantly, this author stresses the need to manage your life insurance policy over time, as you would any other investment - especially the flexible aspects of policies, and including, where necessary, 1035 transfers to a more appropriate policy.

Debunking the myths with great tax advice
VUL is a wonderful product, which if used correctly, can be a great tool for lowering taxes in retirement. I'm not sure what the person below was referring to when he says to buy level term and invest the difference in a better performing mutual fund. The insurance in the VUL is term, which can even be a decreasing term if the insured so pleases. (Why not buy the term insurance with tax-free income in the VUL policy!)I've never heard of a level term that lasts more than thirty years and the investment subaccounts have the same managers and investments as mutual funds! The biases against this tool come from people who have not accumulated much money, since they are unaware of the tax potholes people face from their qualified plans. Other biases come from people who write for WSJ or other media who probably failed as financial professionals. I understand the desire to hate insurance, but people need to ask themselves: between taxes and insurance, (since you have to pay for one or the other)why not pay for the one that is clearly cheaper over the long haul---insurance.

Fair Tradeoff
Variable life is the next best thing to 401(k). This book explains why 85% of the Fortune 500 companies use this tax strategy to fund supplemental retirement plans for top executives. Clearly, one who believes buying term and investing the difference is smart has not built much of a pile of money, so doesn't understand what 1099 income does to their taxes. This book affirms my own actions. While I'd like to avoid the commissions, it is a worthy tradeoff - the avoidance of confiscatory taxes on the growth and, later, on the income I will intentionally generate for retirement. My program functions like a tax free mutual fund, my agent is a CFP, and the overall package was well worth the few thousand of commission I paid. Compared to the unearned commission the IRS charges, this is a bargain for anyone with the intellect and logic to overcome age old biases and heresay. Thanks to this book, I like what I own even better now.