Invest Like a Billionaire The Truth About Whole Life Insurance: Experts Debate (Part 1 of 2)
Jan 6, 2026
Caleb Guilliams, founder of BetterWealth.com, advocates for whole life insurance as a strategic financial tool. Jim Dew, from Dew Wealth Management, brings 30 years of expertise serving entrepreneurs. Together, they dissect the pros and cons of whole life vs. term insurance. They highlight the complexity and common pitfalls of insurance sales tactics. The duo debates the suitability of whole life for investors, emphasizing timing, opportunity costs, and the importance of policy design while also flagging some products to avoid.
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Whole Life Is A Complex Contract
- Whole life is a complex, long-term contract between you and an insurance company with guaranteed and non-guaranteed parts.
- Insurance companies and agents have incentives that often misalign with clients, so product choice matters.
Agent Incentives Shaped A Career
- Jim began his career being pitched whole life as a huge commission opportunity and recognizes the agent incentive problem firsthand.
- He later stopped selling and now buys life insurance for clients, so he sees both sides of the market.
Beware Investment Claims And Arbitrage Pitches
- Selling life insurance as an 'investment' is misleading and illustrations can be deceptive.
- Cash-value borrowing rarely creates true arbitrage because loan costs often exceed cash-value growth.