George Kamel recently released a video on index universal life. On the surface, it looks like a ruthless exposé of a financial scam that millions of Americans are falling for.
But when you scratch just below the surface, his critique of IUL is a steaming cesspool of half-truths and outright lies that are designed to sell you a term insurance policy through a Dave Ramsey-sponsored term insurance broker.
According to Kamel, the IUL is a financial scam marketed as a secret wealth hack, yet in reality, it’s a money-eating monster.
Yes, IULs are marketed by pretty scammy people on social media. However, there is a big difference between scammy life insurance agents and scammy life insurance products.
IUL products are not created equal. It all depends on your personal situation and needs. Some products can be fantastic tools for building and protecting wealth and others can be catastrophic to your retirement.
For David, not only does the IUL serve as an extremely competitive bond alternative, but it’s also a great volatility buffer in retirement.
Financial gurus are not in the business of nuance. It’s all about making sweeping black-and-white characterizations that fit neatly into their tiny box.
According to David, recent studies demonstrate that bonds are much more volatile and much more correlated to the stock market than was previously thought.
David explains that fees are only a problem in the absence of value. And when utilized in the right context, an IUL provides value that you simply can’t get any other way.
David explains how the IUL fees are a strength and not a liability that the uninformed life insurance critics make it out to be.
When George says that the IUL is a money-eating monster, he’s only fixating on the fees in the early years of the contract. If he were to look at the average fees over the life of the program, a much different picture would emerge–one that paints the IUL as lower than the most cost-effective 401K plan.
David goes through the things George gets wrong about the death benefit options in an IUL.
The entire purpose of George’s video is not to educate you on the evils of an IUL. It’s to get you to buy a term life insurance policy through Dave Ramsey’s endorsed broker of choice.
George’s ultimate goal is to get you to take the money that you might otherwise have allocated towards an index universal life policy and redirect it towards a term insurance policy from which Ramsey himself ultimately benefits.
Mentioned in this episode:
David’s books: Power of Zero, Look Before You LIRP, The Volatility Shield, Tax-Free Income for Life and The Infinity Code
PowerOfZero.com (free 3-part video series)
@mcknightandco on Twitter
@davidcmcknight on Instagram
David McKnight on YouTube
Get David’s Tax-free Tool Kit at taxfreetoolkit.com
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