Golden sunsets
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2013
- Messages
- 2,524
There is another active thread on VUL policies which is of interest to me and I don't want to hijack it as my questions on this type of policy are quite different. PB4uski I know that you are very knowledgable about insurance in general and this type of policy in particular. I would love your take on my situation.
Bought this policy 15 years ago. Face Amount $500,000. DH and I 67/69 now. It is actually a Second to Die Policy purchased in our family trust set up by our estate attorney. He recommended it at a time when the Federal Inheritance tax exemption was much lower as a vehicle to pay estate taxes that were likely to accrue at the death of my DH and I.
We have paid 15 years of premiums of $5,480 or $82,200 thus far. The policy plan actually shows stopping premium payments if we desire after 15 years, at which point the Cash Value theoretically covers all future premiums. In reality however I don't think that if we stopped making premium payments that the funds would be there to pay the increasing cost of insurance assuming that we live into our 90's. The Cash Value is currently $101,000 and is invested in a Moderate Aggressive portfolio of Vanguard ETF funds. There is no longer a surrender charge, starting this year. Fees other than the cost of insurance are currently 242/yr but if we make no more premium payments, fees would drop to $100 and never be greater than $120/yr.
We can well afford the premiums and have always looked at this as more or an investment vehicle for our heirs vs an insurance product. I have asked our attorney what his thoughts are on the policy now that the estate exemption has increased so much. He was neutral on it. Frankly I don't really even connect the policy to the estate tax exemption anymore and have not for some time. We do anticipate leaving a significant estate to our heirs. I also asked a fee only FA who we hired for a one off review of our situation a few years ago his thoughts on this particular product and he was ambivalent.
One thought I had is, say we continue making the premium payments and the cash value continues to grow, as the modeling shows, to several million dollars by age 100. It seems as though the COI will be very high relative to the value of the insurance and that the $500,000 will be a minor part of the death benefit when adding the face amount of the policy to the cash value. Would it not make sense at that point to stop paying the COI premiums and eliminate the insurance component of the investment? Is that even possible?
I'm really quite muddled about this and would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions. Thanks in advance for responses.
Bought this policy 15 years ago. Face Amount $500,000. DH and I 67/69 now. It is actually a Second to Die Policy purchased in our family trust set up by our estate attorney. He recommended it at a time when the Federal Inheritance tax exemption was much lower as a vehicle to pay estate taxes that were likely to accrue at the death of my DH and I.
We have paid 15 years of premiums of $5,480 or $82,200 thus far. The policy plan actually shows stopping premium payments if we desire after 15 years, at which point the Cash Value theoretically covers all future premiums. In reality however I don't think that if we stopped making premium payments that the funds would be there to pay the increasing cost of insurance assuming that we live into our 90's. The Cash Value is currently $101,000 and is invested in a Moderate Aggressive portfolio of Vanguard ETF funds. There is no longer a surrender charge, starting this year. Fees other than the cost of insurance are currently 242/yr but if we make no more premium payments, fees would drop to $100 and never be greater than $120/yr.
We can well afford the premiums and have always looked at this as more or an investment vehicle for our heirs vs an insurance product. I have asked our attorney what his thoughts are on the policy now that the estate exemption has increased so much. He was neutral on it. Frankly I don't really even connect the policy to the estate tax exemption anymore and have not for some time. We do anticipate leaving a significant estate to our heirs. I also asked a fee only FA who we hired for a one off review of our situation a few years ago his thoughts on this particular product and he was ambivalent.
One thought I had is, say we continue making the premium payments and the cash value continues to grow, as the modeling shows, to several million dollars by age 100. It seems as though the COI will be very high relative to the value of the insurance and that the $500,000 will be a minor part of the death benefit when adding the face amount of the policy to the cash value. Would it not make sense at that point to stop paying the COI premiums and eliminate the insurance component of the investment? Is that even possible?
I'm really quite muddled about this and would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions. Thanks in advance for responses.
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