Buy term and invest the difference ("BTID") is the popular mantra of pretty much everyone in the investment world, from personal finance pundits to blogs to financial industry leaders
This idea (or angle) of BTID originated with Primerica Financial Services founder and longtime CEO Arthur L. Williams. He believed that life insurance was only for protecting the primary breadwinner and so he launched a crusade to convince policyholders of cash value life insurance to trade in their existing, more expensive whole life and universal life policies, and replace it with a cheaper term life insurance policy.
Williams took his one dimensional one size fits all "replacement" approach and profited from it to the tune of billions of dollars in revenue for his Company. He is said to have had a net worth around $1.4 billion in 2008.
Popular pundits such as Dave Ramsey’s and Suze Orman have since jumped on the bandwagon and both regularly proclaim that whole life is too expensive.
While term life insurance (temporary insurance) is certainly cheaper than permanent whole life, there is so much more to consider when making this decision.
Additional things to consider include asking questions about the pros and cons of other supposed investments, including the perils of modern 401(k) accounts. Also, with a one size fits all approach, the unique needs of folks and benefits of approaches are easily missed.
Most life insurance agents, particularly the ones who focus exclusively on term life insurance, don’t understand the Infinite Banking Concept, particularly a properly designed whole life policy. They don’t understand the benefits of the product or how it fits into a comprehensive wealth building plan.