X-Message-Number: 9522
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 1998 10:08:17 -0700
From: Tim Freeman <>
Subject: Insurance (Was Re: CryoNet #9511 - #9519)

From: Jan Coetzee <>
>A whole life policy is not under the same laws that protect your
>assests, the way that a term life policy is.

The person Jan is quoting is alluding to subtle legal issues that are
trumped by obvious practical ones.  I don't have an opinion about the
subtle legal issues, but I'll talk about the latter here.

If you're using term insurance to fund your cryonics policy, then you
should be investing money on the side so that when you get old enough
that the term insurance is no longer affordable, you will have enough
money to fund your cryonics outright.  If you're doing this, then the
"laws that protect your assets" are simple: you control stuff you own.
Term insurance also has the advantage that it's a deal that is simple
easy to analyze and get competitive bids on.

On the other hand, if you're using whole life, then the life insurance
company is investing the money for you, and if they go under it's
pretty unclear whether that money is protected in any way.  Every
complicated life insurance policy is completely different, so it is
impossible to get directly competitive bids and therefore the free
market doesn't work nearly as well for the consumer.

On the third hand (I have plenty of 'em), if for any reason a person
is doing term insurance without investing the money on the side, that
person would be better doing whole life, since there is a positive
chance that the life insurance company will be competent.
-- 
Tim Freeman       
            http://www.infoscreen.com/resume.html
Web-centered Java, Perl, and C++ programming in Silicon Valley or offsite

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