If your employer matches a portion of your 401(k) contribution, these accounts are an obvious place to start squirreling away retirement funds. But where do you go once youve taken full advantage of these matching funds, or if your place of work doesnt offer any?
A lot of workers continue to fund their workplace plan regardless, but you have some other options, too. One is to contribute to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), which usually offers a little more flexibility.
Another possible route is to buy permanent life insurance. In addition to offering a death benefit that will protect your family members when you die, these policies also feature a savings component. Part of your premium goes toward your death benefit; another portion builds up your cash-value account, which grows on a tax-deferred basis.
In certain cases, the insurance as an investment approach can be a wise move. But when you take a look at these products more closely, youll find that they usually come with higher fees and greater constraints than an IRA.
When You Save With an IRA
Between these two strategies, an IRA is the more straightforward way to save for retirement. You simply create an account with a brokerage firm, mutual fund company or bank, and select the investments that youd like to make with your contributions. These can include everything from individual stocks to mutual funds and gold bullion.
The main perk of these accounts is their tax treatment. With a traditional IRA, your qualified contributions up to $5,500 ($6,500 if you are 50 or older) in 2015 are tax-deductible, and the investments grow on a tax-deferred basis. In retirement, you pay ordinary income tax on whatever you withdraw.
A Roth IRA has similar benefits, but in reverse. You invest using after-tax dollars, but you dont pay a dime in additional taxes as long as youve owned the account for at least five years and have reached age 59½ before making a withdrawal.
When You Save With Permanent Life Insurance
Permanent life insurance policies are a little more complicated. Each time you pay a premium, part of it goes toward a cash-value account. With a whole life policy, the carrier credits your account by a certain percentage based on how its own investments perform. If youve had your policy for a few years, youll typically see annual returns in the 3% to 6% range.
Other types of permanent life insurance work a little differently. For example, with a variable universal policy, the amount of the credit is tied to the performance of stock and bond funds of your choosing. The potential returns are higher, but so is the risk. If the market loses ground over a given period, you may have to pay a higher premium in order to keep your coverage in place.
Investors who rely on life insurance for retirement needs should think long-term it can take 10 to 20 years to build up a sizable cash-value. Once your balance is big enough, there are a few ways you can draw on your policy for personal needs.
One possibility is to make periodic withdrawals. As long you dont pull out more than your basis that is, how much you paid in premiums you wont experience a tax hit for doing so. Any additional amount is subject to ordinary income tax rates.
To keep the IRS at bay, some folks stop making withdrawals once they reach their basis. From there, they take out a loan against their policy, which is usually tax-free.
Yet another option is to surrender your policy and get the cash-value in one lump sum, minus any outstanding loans.
But theres an important catch: Any time you take money out, youre decreasing the death benefit. If you take a loan against your policy, you have to pay it back (with interest) in order to build it back up again. And if you surrender it, youll probably lose your coverage altogether.
Compare this to someone who buys a much cheaper term life policy, which has no savings feature, and invests the difference in an IRA. They can dip into their savings at any time after age 59½ without affecting the death benefit. And they can leave any remaining balance to their family members, which cant be said of your cash-value account.
A Costly Approach
Perhaps the biggest knock on permanent life insurance policies is their cost. First, theres the upfront fee that helps pay the agents commission. Often, this can eat up half your first-year premiums. Consequently, it takes a few years for your cash-value account to really start growing.
On top of that, policyholders tend to face steep investment fees, often around 3% a year. By contrast, the average mutual fund has an expense ratio of 1.25%, according to the research firm Morningstar. So investing in an IRA allows you to eliminate this significant drag on your returns.
But thats not all. You also have to worry about surrender charges if your policy lapses within the first few years. So youll not only lose your death benefit, but a considerable portion of your cash balance as well. With most policies, the amount of the fee gradually decreases over a period of years and then disappears.
Does it ever make sense, then, to use life insurance as an investment? Absolutely, in some limited cases. For example, wealthier individuals will sometimes set up whats known as an irrevocable life insurance trust so their heirs can avoid estate taxes. Technically, the trust is paying the premiums for the life insurance policy, so the death benefit isnt considered part of the deceased family members estate.
Beyond that, life insurance is sometimes a reasonable choice for everyday investors who have maxed out their allowable 401(k) and IRA contributions. But even then, its worth evaluating whether the sizable fees outweigh the potential tax benefits.
The Bottom Line
Agents make a lot of money selling the idea that life insurance is a great way to save for retirement. But given the considerable cost of these policies, youre probably better off purchasing a low-cost term policy and investing in something simpler, like an IRA.
See also: Is Life Insurance A Smart Investment? and Strategies To Use Life Insurance For Retirement.
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