Life insurance Archives - The Golden AlbatrossThe Golden Albatross

A New Hope … For Time to Create a Better Death Binder

Young kids fractionalize your free time as a parent, making long-term projects difficult. That may sound ironic coming from an early retiree and pensioner like me, but it’s nonetheless true, especially during the summer holidays. As I pen this post, it’s February, and we’re nearing the end of summer in New Zealand (NZ). The kids recently started their new school year, which is great because my family and I were busy with all the fun things that typify the NZ summer lifestyle for the six preceding weeks. This includes going to the beach, road-tripping, camping, hiking, kayaking, bike riding, summer football (i.e., soccer), and rock jumping into emerald pools of cold mountain river water! Needless to say, all that fun didn’t leave much time for the long-overdue transformation of my original death binder into a pensioner’s death binder. Continue reading →

What’s Your Opinion on Insurance Products?

Let me level with you up front: I don’t have a lot of experience with insurance products — especially the type that mirror investments. Prior to my experience related in the below story; the only other time I dealt with insurance investments was successfully extracting Mrs. Grumpus from one of the two products she invested in as a young worker in her home country. Up to now, I really hadn’t given them a lot of thought. As a result, I never held strong opinions about them in either direction. Maybe the most I ever felt was lucky for not getting involved with them — which I suppose is better than the regret I routinely express from other investment choices!

Of course, I’m not completely unaware of the arguments for and against such products. I hear them routinely denounced on several podcasts I listen to. Jill Schlesinger from “Jill on Money” is probably the most vocal, but certainly not the only one. The costs associated with such insurance “investment” products are often what draws the most negativity. Insurance sales people who push insurance products as a panacea to all money problems, is another issue that stirs emotion the wrong way.

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