PFIN 5th Edition by Randall Billingsley,Lawrence Gitman,Michael Joehnk

Exercise 5

Choosing among types of life insurance. Amber Hsu, a 38-year-old widowed mother of three children (ages 12, 10, and 4), works as a product analyst for a major consumer products company. Although she's covered by a group life insurance policy at work, she feels, based on some rough calculations, that she needs additional protection. Todd Nugent, an insurance agent from family insurance solutions, has been trying to persuade her to buy a $150,000, 25-year, limited payment whole life policy. However, Amber favors a variable life policy. To further complicate matters, amber's father feels that term life insurance is more suitable to the needs of her young family.
a. Explain to Amber the differences between (i) a whole life policy, (ii) a variable life policy, and (iii) a term life policy.
b. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of each type of policy?
c. In what way is a whole life policy superior to either a variable life or term life policy? In what way is a variable life policy superior? How about term life insurance?
d. Given the limited information in the case, which type of policy would you recommend for Amber? Defend and explain your recommendations.