Buying Term And Investing The Difference

Some of us has probably heard of the saying “Buy term, invest the difference” when it comes to buying insurance and considering investments. But do we really understand what this means? And if we do understand what this means, why do financial planners recommend that you buy term and invest the difference while your insurance agent is pushing you to buy their recommended product instead.

Most whole life insurance products in the market today are considered rip offs. In fact, these kinds of products have already been considered obsolete in the United States. (Term insurance refers to insurance with life coverage only, whole life on the other hand refers to term policy with an investment component. These kinds of products are usually presented as helping you “force” to save for retirement. The problem with the investment part is that they do not usually give a good rate of return) Sadly these type of products are still sold in the Philippines and people still buy them because of lack of financial literacy.

To fully understand this, let me give you an example. The other week, my mom asked me if she should continue paying a certain type of insurance product that she bought for my sister. It was worth about P 400,000.00 (Philippine Peso) the balance left is P 200,000.00 as she has already paid half of it.

In order to weigh the pros and cons of the product I asked her to tell me what the benefits were. According to her, the benefits are that after 20 years, my sister (still 18 years old as of this time) will receive P40,000.00 per year until she reach 65. At the age of 65 she can choose to either receive P400,000.00 lump sum or continue receiving P 40,000.00 perpetually. She is also insured for two million pesos.

To determine whether she should pay the remaining balance of P200,000.00, the benefits of the insurance product must be pitted against the benefits of the “Buy term, invest the difference” strategy.

If you add the total money that my sister will be receiving, she will get a total of P1,520,000.00 at age 65, that is if she opts to get the lump sum at age 65, plus she is insured for two million pesos.

Under the “buy term invest the difference scheme” since she has already paid partially for the insurance product she will convert what she has already paid into “term insurance” (That is if the insurance company allows it) This is usually good for only 20 years. The P 200,000.00 will then be invested at a vehicle of investment that gives about 10 %+ return per annum. The profits derived from the investment will also be re-invested in order to take full advantage of compounded interest. If she faithfully does this until she reaches the age of 65, she will get an estimated P17,639,497.05.

Now do you see the difference? What is P 1,500,000.00 vs. P 17,000,000.00+. Even if you add the insurance coverage that is only a mere P 3,500,000.00, it still cannot compare to the P 17,000,000.00.

Insurance protection is no problem. Term insurance is very cheap. In order to be protected if ever her investments will suffer losses, she will just buy term insurance an renew it every now and then.

You might be wondering what investment vehicle would give you 10 % return per annum? There are several of them out there. You can invest in mutual funds where returns can run from 10 % to 70 % or more. However these returns are not guaranteed but historically the rate of return does not fall below 10 % per annum. (that is if they are invested in equities) You can also invest in the stock market. In the Philippines, a bullish stock market gives a high rate of return that even the most conservative investors in the stock market earns more than 10 % per annum.

Buy term invest the difference? It certainly does make sense!!!

Would you like to know more about investment strategies ? Visit the blog of Zigfred Diaz where he blogs about several interesting topics such as investments, financial management, business, making financial online and Stock market investing