I've read a bunch of advice on here and other places about how much of a racket whole life insurance is, and I'm finally waking up to it. I would appreciate advice, as I've been paying for the whole life for 5 years and have some sunken costs (queue ghostly psychology music).
Details:
I'm 28 making 80k a year pre-tax, no debts, currently max my roth IRA, and contribute as much as I can to a betterment savings plan. I'm in good health, however I have alzheimers, parkinsons, and heart disease in my family. My girlfriend is a freelance writer, but could carry on without me just fine financially. When I was 23 I got roped into a whole life insurance plan by someone I trusted and basically ignored the heebie jeebies I had in my gut when buying it at the time.
Here are the details of my whole life plan:
Currently annual premiums (paid monthly): $1,869.12
Current annual dividends: $338.56 -- I believe I can use this dividends to partly pay the premiums but it would still leave me out 1500 a year
Net cash value: $5,295.23 -- which I can take out an 8% loan against... hmpf
I also have a term rider:
Annual premiums of $483.60
What do you guys think? Is this something I should simply surrender for a pittance and recoup my 2k ish a year into a better system? Or should I stick it out for another 5 years and hope that my dividends can completely pay my policy price at that time?