Can Life Insurance Be An Investment? 
Nope . Life insurance can not be an investment . Think about this question for a second . What is the most essential element in an investment ? It is time . Some investments need time to mature . Other investments need time to increase in value . Example : if you are invested in the stock market , and your investment decreases in value , what should you do ? Should you sell ? Of course not . You would sustain the loss only if you redeem the shares at a lower price than when you bought them . What you should do is let them ride , and if properly managed , they should recoup their value , and then some . Over time . If you die , then you could pass this investment on to a family member , and that person could continue to manage the fund . It could continue to grow in value . Over time , during his or her lifetime . Does life insurance buy you this kind of time ? Absolutely not . The product is designed in just the opposite way . It assumes you will run out of time tomorrow . You get the biggest bang for the buck when a death benefit is paid immediately . Somebody could conceivably buy a policy today , pay one monthly premium , and then die . The beneficiary would receive the entire survivor benefit . Would you call something an investment if it required no time to realize value ? Nope . Or that is guaranteed to pay out , for that matter ? Lets talk about that guarantee for a second . Of all the forms of insurance you might buy , the only one you know for sure will pay a benefit is life insurance . This is because you know for sure you are going to die . You could buy medical insurance , but never get sick . You could buy disability insurance , but never get hurt . You could buy auto insurance , but never have a car accident . You could buy professional liability insurance , but never get sued . You could buy home insurance , but never have a fire . And on and on . However , if you hold on to that life insurance policy , you know your survivors will get paid . For sure . So , life insurance is a uniquely wonderful risk management tool that requires no time at all to realize value , and is absolutely guaranteed . With these characteristics , it meets nobodys definition of an investment . Now : I am sure you know that certain life insurance products can produce cash value . Whole life , universal life . Even term can carry a return of premium feature . But these funds are not to be considered investments . They should be seen as added value . As ways to partially offset your cost . As an extra benefit . They make the purchase of a policy extra attractive . But you should never assume that they will have time to grow . They will disappear as soon as a claim is filed and a benefit paid . And that could be tomorrow . 