Of course, you want to protect your family and your savings from unforeseen consequences, but is life insurance the best option? Can life insurance be an investment rather than a cost? In today's episode of the Rational Reminder Podcast, we take a look at everything life insurance and dig into some hard-hitting research on the subject. We break down the various insurance products available and unravel the nuances regarding returns, dividends, and the associated fees. We discuss why there is so much confusion regarding returns and associated risk, how your contribution can affect your returns, and why you may not get the payout you expected. We also delve into what makes each insurance product different from the next, whether predictions on insurance policy returns are possible, and how insurance compares to other asset classes. If you’re looking for insight into the potential tax benefits of life insurance and a breakdown of the different scenarios where life insurance is needed, this is the episode for you! Participate in our Community Discussion about this Episode: https://community.rationalreminder.ca/t/episode-221-permanent-life-insurance-discussion-thread/19522 Books From Today’s Episode: The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters — https://amzn.to/3CxeyRd Your Investment Philosophy: A Guide to Managing Wealth & Protecting it from Fraudsters, Marketers & Doom Merchants — https://amzn.to/3e2qOjp Links From Today’s Episode: Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582. Rational Reminder Website — https://rationalreminder.ca/ Shop Merch — https://shop.rationalreminder.ca/ Join the Community — https://community.rationalreminder.ca/ Follow us on Twitter — https://twitter.com/RationalRemind Follow us on Instagram — @rationalreminder Benjamin on Twitter — https://twitter.com/benjaminwfelix Cameron on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CameronPassmore 'Bad Advice: Explaining the Persistence of Whole Life Insurance' — https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1786624 'The Long-Horizon Returns of Stocks, Bonds, and Bills: Evidence from a Broad Sample of Developed Markets' — https://business.unl.edu/academic-programs/departments/finance/about/seminar-series/documents/MikeODoherty.pdf 'The Sensitivity of Life Insurance Firms to Interest Rate Changes' — https://www.chicagofed.org/publications/economic-perspectives/2013/2q-berends-mcmenamin-plestis-rosen 'The Canada Life Assurance Company (the Company) Participating Policyholder Dividend Policy' — https://www.canadalife.com/content/dam/canadalife/documents/insurance/par-whole-life-insurance/en/Policyholder_Dividend_Policy.pdf 'Canada Life open participating account: Historical investment related performance' — https://www.canadalife.com/content/dam/canadalife/documents/insurance/par-whole-life-insurance/en/46-11488Z_FF_CL_Historical-PAR-Financials_Brochure_AODA_FINAL.pdf 'A Dissection of Mutual Fund Fees, Flows, and Performance' — https://www.osc.ca/sites/default/files/2021-09/rp_20151022_81-407_dissection-mutual-fund-fees.pdf 'Equitable Life: Understanding Participating Whole Life Insurance' — https://equitable.ca/media/92738/1038_final.pdf 'Lower for even longer: what does the low interest rate economy mean for insurers? Zurich: Swiss Re Institute' — https://www.swissre.com/dam/jcr:034ab136-3b5b-47a0-9021-56513647c6aa/expertise-publication-swiss-re-institute-low-interest-rates.pdf?msclkid=a8f5ca5cb5b111ecaf3f180f204d4bd5 'Behavioral Aspects of Household Portfolio Choice: Effects of Loss Aversion on Life Insurance Uptake and Savings' — https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2924196 'Understanding the Shift in Demand for Cash Value Life Insurance' — https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2752193 'Your guide to participating life insurance' — https://www.sunnet.sunlife.com/files/advisor/english/PDF/810-3596.pdf 'Policyholder Exercise Behavior in Life Insurance: The State of Affairs' — https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=rmi_facpub 'Long-Horizon Losses in Stocks, Bonds, and Bills: Evidence from a Broad Sample of Developed Markets' — https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3964908 'Finance: Function Matters, Not Size' — https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.27.2.29