New Life Insurance Investment Advisor: Achieving Financial Security for You and your Family Through Today's Insurance Products [Hardcover]

Ben Baldwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2001

"For anyone who needs to understand different types of life insurance, as well as considerations for purchasing and managing policies, this book should be on your nearby reference shelf. If you’ve frequently found yourself fumbling around with terminology, such as the differences between variable, universal, and variable universal life (VUL) policies, you’ll finally see some light through the haze." - MorningstarAdvisor.com

Life insurance doesn't have to be complex or intimidating. Ben Baldwin's completely revised and updated guidebook makes it clear and logical, discussing how to analyze insurance products based on their investment merits and best overall financial returns. This clear, authoritative resource for consumer insurance information covers the pros and cons of Internet purchases, techniques to use capital within a policy, the fixed premium feature, insurance for different stages of life, and the new emergence of "immediate annuities."

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Today's Most Authoritative Resource on Term Life, Whole Life, Universal Life, Variable Life, and More­­and Which Products Are Best for You and Your Family

Life insurance has evolved from a sleepy, slow-growing financial product into one of today's most dynamic, adaptable investment vehicles. From the simplicity of term life to the complexity of variable universal life, the choices seem nearly as endless as the possibilities.

The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor, Second Edition, explains how to analyze insurance products based on their investment merits and overall financial returns, and gives you the facts you need to make the logical, financially intelligent insurance decision. This clear, authoritative resource for consumer insurance information avoids financial double-speak and endless calculations to give you hands-on information concerning:

• Optimal insurance products for different life stages
• Innovative techniques to use the capital hidden in your policy
• Where to find the best deals­­and avoid getting burned­­buying insurance on the Internet

Life insurance has truly become life insurance, meant to provide financial benefits throughout your entire life. Let The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor introduce you to the many facets of today's life insurance landscape, and show you how to invest in a policy that will pay you today, tomorrow, and well into the future.

"The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor does not treat life insurance academically. It is a consumer's handbook. The objective is to provide the consumer with an understanding of the various life insurance policies available, how to choose among them and, most importantly, how to manage them once they own them."

­­From Chapter One

Life insurance has become an integral component of the average family's investment portfolio and­­as one of today's more informed, demanding consumers­­you rightfully require a thorough understanding of how and where your money is invested. The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor, 2nd Edition, provides you with that understanding and more.

This top-rated consumer reference guidebook­­now comprehensively revised and updated for 21^st-century life insurance wants and requirements­­pulls back the curtain to reveal the inner workings of today's insurance industry. It goes beyond the mortality benefits of life insurance to describe the cash value aspects of life insurance, and techniques and strategies you can use to create an ongoing and accessible financial resource.

Term Life Insurance ... Whole Life ... Universal Life ... Variable Life ... Variable Universal Life ... All types of life insurance are covered in detail, giving you as much­­or more­­knowledge than the majority of insurance sales representatives. But beyond simply providing product knowledge, The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor gives you the practical, hands-on expertise to know which product will work best for you, and your unique situation. Use its plain language, no-nonsense descriptions to determine:

• Your place in the life insurance products matrix that professional financial planners and insurance salespersons follow
• How and why to change coverages when you find a better deal­­and what exactly constitutes a better deal for you
• Strategies to assure yourself a steady income stream through your retirement years­­plus a substantial, guaranteed life insurance benefit

Life insurance doesn't have to be complex or intimidating. The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor, Second Edition, explains life insurance in clear, logical terms, terms you can understand and use when making your insurance decision. Completely updated to reflect today's transformed financial environment, it is the best and most authoritative guidebook on the market.

About the Author

Ben G. Baldwin, CLU, ChFC, CFP, is president and owner of Baldwin Financial Systems, a registered advisory firm serving both individual and corporate clients. The winner of numerous sales awards throughout his career and a former member of the Board of Governors for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, he has consulted for major insurance companies including New York Life, Transamerica, Prudential, CNA, AIG, ING, AXA, and Equitable. Along with the first edition of The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor, Baldwin also wrote The Complete Book of Insurance and The Lawyer's Guide to Insurance.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 2 edition (July 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071363645
• ISBN-13: 978-0071363648
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Insurance > Life
  • #7 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Insurance > Business

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So far, so good..., October 19, 2005

By 

M. Keen "Financial bookworm" (Orange County, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: New Life Insurance Investment Advisor: Achieving Financial Security for You and your Family Through Today's Insurance Products (Hardcover)

I'm an avid reader and have ordered dozens of books through Amazon, but this is the first one I've taken the time to write a review for, because I believe this book can help others in the same situation I was.
I ordered this book when I was applying for Life Insurance, based on the investment strategy in Douglas Andrew's book, "Missed Fortune 101". I wanted to review another reference on life insurance to learn more about it, and to corroborate Andrews' strategy. This is the only other book I could find that discussed LI from a financial investment perspective. This is a very comprehensive book about LI. It's a large book, and so far I've only read portions, skipping around to the areas I needed to understand the type of policy I was applying for, and to justify in my mind that indeed it was the right one for me (I'm working with a financial planner who recommended a particular plan, and has largely focused his practice on Doug Andrews' strategy). This book gave me a lot of the information I needed to ask my agent questions about my policy. In fact, he was impressed with my questions and wanted the name of this book.
This is a very easy to read book, with plenty of *understandable* tables as examples. I have also found it to be very objective, discussing the tradeoffs of the different types of policies, and discussing in what personal situations a particular policy might be best. The intent of this book is clearly educational - there's no hidden agenda or bias that I can detect. The author has CFP, CLU, and CHFC credentials.
Finally, and very importantly, this author stresses the need to manage your life insurance policy over time, as you would any other investment - especially the flexible aspects of policies, and including, where necessary, 1035 transfers to a more appropriate policy.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The New Life Insurance Investment Advisor, April 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: New Life Insurance Investment Advisor: Achieving Financial Security for You and Your Family Through Today's Insurance Product, Revised Edition (Hardcover)

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.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for industry professionals as well as investors, February 19, 2002

By 

"diverphil" (California, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Life Insurance Investment Advisor: Achieving Financial Security for You and your Family Through Today's Insurance Products (Hardcover)

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.