The reality is that many people do not think about life insurance as a financial asset and don’t review their life insurance needs frequently enough. But many Americans are not well informed about their life insurance needs, policy specifics, or planning options. From a fundamental life insurance planning standpoint, these changes reduced the need for some individuals to have life insurance to protect an estate from federal estate taxes and improved the tax situation surrounding the sale of a life insurance policy. Many people facing the estate tax use life insurance as a funding mechanism to create liquidity to pay the estate tax. (For more information on life insurance as a retirement asset, read Why Life Insurance Is Essential For Retirement Planning.)

Source: Forbes February 20, 2018 14:37 UTC