Personal Finance | Michael R Lewis, ASJA

August 14, 2013January 3, 2024

Term vs. Whole Life – Which Should You Choose?

Many young men about to propose marriage struggle to choose the perfect wedding ring – whether to buy an elaborate and expensive diamond, or a simpler, less expensive gold band. Each ring serves the same purpose as a symbol of everlasting commitment, but there is a substantial difference in cost, as well as the possible reaction of friends and family and the expectations of the recipient.

Choosing life insurance can pose a similar conundrum. While all life insurance provides funds in the event of the insured’s death, the same factors – the purpose for which the funds are intended, the cost, and the needs of the beneficiary – have to be considered when selecting the type of life insurance most appropriate to your situation.

Life Insurance – How Much Do You Need?

Many people’s first experience with life insurance is when a friend or acquaintance gets an insurance license. In my case, a college friend, recently hired by a major insurance company, contacted me to buy a $10,000 policy. He reached out to several other friends as well, and many of us signed on the dotted line.

Though this isn’t the ideal way to buy life insurance, it is, nonetheless, the way by which most people acquire it: They don’t buy life insurance – it is sold to them.

7 Mutual Fund Performance Measures & What They Mean

For years, investors, fund managers, and stock analysts have sought reliable indicators to project the future return and risk of owning an individual stock, bond, or a portfolio of securities. The underlying assumptions are as follows:

All investments have inherent risk which is assumed upon ownership.
Returns and risk can be objectively quantified by mathematical analysis of historical results.
The correlation of potential return and underlying risk constantly varies, providing opportunities to acquire investments with maximum potential return and minimal risk.

These assumptions exemplify modern portfolio management and are the basis for the widely used capital asset pricing model (CAPM) developed in the 1960s, which led to a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for its creators. Enabled by technology, Wall Street wonks amass and analyze massive amounts of historical data searching for hidden, often arcane relationships to identify undiscovered opportunities for gain without risk. The results of their analysis are often publicly available for use by private investors.

4 Secrets of Investment Success – Tips to Gain Wealth

In the last half-century, the names of Ross Perot, Sam Walton, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett have appeared at the top of the lists of wealthiest Americans, all of whom have been the subject of biographies chronicling their rise to the pinnacle of riches. A reading of those life histories provides no evidence of membership in secret societies, no teachers or advisers who may have passed along confidential knowledge about savings or investments, no super-human skills, and no extraordinary abilities or qualities beyond intelligence and a strong work ethic.

If there are no secrets to wealth-building, what do successful wealth-builders have in common? What personal attributes are equally valuable in industries as diverse as retailing, software development, and investing? Are these identifiable common traits, in fact, the secrets to their success?