New Life Insurance Investment Advisor: Achieving Financial Security for You and Your Family Through Today's Insurance Products

Ben Baldwin has always been one of the clearest writers about life insurance from a financial planning perspective. The explanations of what the insurance industry would call "Advanced Underwriting" uses of life insurance in this book are clear, concise and free of jargon. Although this is a consumer book, I would recommend it to financial planning professionals to enhance their own understanding and to see how to explain complex financial topics to clients.

This book is a must own for any financial services professional as well as any investor. Ben Baldwin takes the new investor through the basics of financial planning, teaches about mutual funds, life insurance, annuities in an easy to understand way pointing out the pros and cons of each product. Originally one of the fiercest detractors of variable products, Ben Baldwin was open minded enough to take a serious look and study variable products. His volte-face is as impressive as his credentials. To those who keep claiming that variable products are expensive, fee ridden products, maybe you should really open your mind and study these products. You might even change your mind and realize maybe is knows something you don't, that VUL might actually be the swiss army knife of financial planning.

This book is a must read, for anyone attempting to accumulate significant amounts of wealth and ample case reserves for a secure retirement. Once you grasp the full understanding of how best to pay for Life Insurance, the hardest part may be finding a qualified Financial Advisor to assist you over the long run. This is a long term arrangement, one that requires a long term Advisor, to assist you in doing what most people are not capable of doing....accumulating wealth. The book will also be a guide to refer back to, from time to time.

VUL is a wonderful product, which if used correctly, can be a great tool for lowering taxes in retirement. I'm not sure what the person below was referring to when he says to buy level term and invest the difference in a better performing mutual fund. The insurance in the VUL is term, which can even be a decreasing term if the insured so pleases. (Why not buy the term insurance with tax-free income in the VUL policy!)I've never heard of a level term that lasts more than thirty years and the investment subaccounts have the same managers and investments as mutual funds! The biases against this tool come from people who have not accumulated much money, since they are unaware of the tax potholes people face from their qualified plans. Other biases come from people who write for WSJ or other media who probably failed as financial professionals. I understand the desire to hate insurance, but people need to ask themselves: between taxes and insurance, (since you have to pay for one or the other)why not pay for the one that is clearly cheaper over the long haul---insurance.