Husband wants to get ILP - 24k a year for the next 20 years

Please please educate him in the alternatives to ILPs:

• Give 480k up front to a Nigerian prince
• Invest the same amount each month in a venture that sells underwater hair dryers
• Deposit $2k / month buying cosmetics from a multi-level marketing scheme and then go out and continuously recruit others for a small % of their deposits.

Or just open a brokerage account and invest $1.5k / month in a braod market ETF like IVV or SCHG for good long term returns with far, far, far lower fees and much, much, much greater liquidity - withdraw your money at any time and pay no penalties if you withdraw or stop paying. Then also invest $500 in Singapore Savings Bonds or T-Bills for safety and liquidity and better returns than ILP. Yes it's a bit confusing opening a brokerage account (just like any other bank account) but it's a 1 time thing. It's really a no brainer.

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Honestly people only buy ILPs if they want to invest for the future but just have no idea how and are scared about what to do - this is completely normal. He should ask on places like here instead of insurance salespeople. The ILP literature gives you confidence but it really is a 99% scam. Yes your money might grow, but you'll be paying so much in fees (that ultimately pay for the "financial advisor's" lifestyle) that the opportunity cost is huge. You're locked in to investing so much money in this one thing for most of your earning life and get very little for it in the end. You will definitely regret it. Imagine you realize you got scammed but have to accept that you will keep on getting scammed for 20 years.

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Show this thread to your husband

Can consider T-bill if you don't need for the next 6 months or 1 year

ILP is not the optimized investment vehicle. Shall look at it objectively though. It is not optimal because

1. it embeds relatively high fees including the agent commission, the product fees and the underlying fund fees. And it is not that transparent - accutually MAS requires FA to reveal the fees in detail in order to sell the product so you should see that in the product policy
2. it has a huge sunk cost if you decide to surrender it in the future either you need the money urgently or you find out better investment strategies.
3. it does not necessarily provide you the best "funds" to choose from in order to get an even average investment returns.

I think people could invest in ILPs if they are

1. do not want to learn about the wealth management or investment at all, even the basic concepts like index ETFs and DCA
2. have a bad spending habit and need some way to force them to save
3. have a steady flow of income that could spare certain amount to invest for the next 10-20 years
4. the agent who sells this product is trustable and knowledgable, can explain the fees, risks and able to provide emotional support to encourage the client to stay in market even during the market downturn

if one of the above is not met, highly recommend not get an ILP, especially with such a big portion of the take-home income.

Great that your husband wants to set aside money for the future!

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A good guide is to not mix investment and insurance in a product. While it is convenient to do it (especially if you do not have the know-how or simply no time), your husband and you can look for Professional Wealth Planner who can create a portfolio to tailor to your needs. Otherwise, doing dollar-cost average over the long term (20 years is a long time) on reputable ETF/Index funds should still out-perform the ILP.

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Hope it helps! Personally, I like using robo-advisors to cut expenses and fuss free.