One of the benefits claimed for capitalism is that the investment market calls for transparency. That means all companies selling stocks through the various exchanges must disclose reasonably full details of their financial performance – at least enough to allow investors to make an informed decision on whether to buy or sell. If the information is deliberately incomplete or misleading in a real way, the company (and its senior executives) can be prosecuted. In theory, this keeps companies honest. In March 2010, the economists are still arguing about whether the recession is over. Some are passionately asserting that all the major economies will now start positive growth. Others are equally passionate in warning about double dip recession or stagnation. Whichever camp eventually proves right, one very interesting piece of news to come out of the companies selling life insurance is that their more conservative approach to investment has produced steady growth throughout the recession. When you think of all the companies selling their expertise for the management of investments or the exploitation of movements in value through the hedge funds, it is good to see traditional values of prudence paying off. The returns may have been relatively small, i.e. between 3 and 4%, but any investment manager showing a positive return during a recession is something of a superstar.

What does whole life coverage assume?

As you can guess from the name, whole life coverage is designed to keep you protected for your entire life in contrast to term insurance where there’s a specific period of time for this. With most whole life policies the death benefit and premiums are usually constant. Moreover, such policies allow you to accumulate cash value as a portion of the premiums you pay that can be later used as an investment tool. In addition, the cash value is not tax-deductible before withdrawal so you can use it for securing your loans.

What are there any options with such policies?