Is Insurance an Investment?
By Kevin Estes
Healthy Debate
There’s some debate on whether insurance is an investment.
It helps to consider:
the definition of an investment,
how insurance benefits are taxed,
the way accounting treats insurance premiums,
how premiums are used by insurance companies, and
the results of a recent poll.
1. Investment Definition
Investopedia says:
An investment is an asset or item acquired to generate income or gain appreciation.
That’s not how insurance works! Pure insurance protects against loss.
Indemnity
Insurance pays for what someone loses. This concept of indemnity is at the heart of insurance.
If an insurance company paid more than what’s lost, bad things could happen.
Consider a warehouse. If the building was insured for more than it’s worth, the owner might hire someone to destroy it! Think: arson.
Yes, it’s illegal.
However, the incentives are bad. The situation creates a moral hazard.
Limited Payouts
Insurance companies work hard to prevent such situations:
Deductibles often require someone to pay out of pocket before insurance pays anything.
Exclusions keep insurers from paying for some types of losses such as negligence.
Long-term disability insurance typically pays 60-80% of income.
Insurance often pays less than what’s lost.
2. Tax Treatment
It’s in the government’s interest to define income broadly.
According to the U.S. Treasury, about 94% of federal revenue came from income taxes in 2023:
49% individual income taxes
36% Social Security and Medicare
9% corporate income taxes
The rest came from:
excise taxes, 2%
customs duties, 2%
estate and gift taxes, 1%
miscellaneous income, 1%
However, insurance benefits usually aren’t taxed.
Payouts are typically either:
due to bad luck or
a return of premiums paid.
Since insurance payouts generally don’t make someone better off than they were before the loss, the government rarely treats benefits as income.
Claims Paid
If someone pays the insurance premiums, benefits often aren’t taxed.
Disability insurance usually works that way:
Benefits aren’t taxed if the employee paid the premiums.
Benefits are taxed if the employer paid the premiums.
Also, most lump sum life insurance payouts are tax-free to beneficiaries.
Return of Premiums
For policies that build a cash value, the federal government typically lets someone take out what they contributed tax-free. Limits apply.
3. Accounting Treatment
The U.S. uses accounting standards called Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
Insurance seldom pays out. Otherwise, an insurer would either:
charge a lot more or
drop the insurance coverage!
Because payouts are unlikely, GAAP treats insurance premiums as expenses - not as investments.
4. Use of Premiums
Essentially everyone wants insurance companies to receive more premiums than they pay in claims:
Companies - pay claims, employees, and shareholders
Policyholders - avoid bad things happening
Regulators - ensure the company can pay its claims
Commissions
Insurance agents are paid a commission when they sell a policy.
According to Insurance Business America, whole and universal life insurance often pay:
… at least 100% of the premiums the policyholder pays in the first year…
The same source suggests payouts for term insurance are lower at 30% to 80% of the annual premiums.
Closer to Investments
There are insurance products which offer something like investment returns. Take Indexed Universal Life (IUL).
IUL policies allow you to grow your cash value by putting a portion toward an index account like the S&P 500 or NASDAQ.
Cap and Floor
Indexed Universal Life policies may have a:
cap of 8-12% and a
floor of 0%.
If the stock index rises 25%, the balance might only grow 10% because of the cap.
However, if the stock index falls 25%, the balance wouldn’t fall because of the 0% floor.
Let’s consider the S&P 500® with a:
10% cap and
0% floor.
There’s more volatility with the index than with a cap and floor.
According to Morningstar, the range of annual returns from 2014 to 2023 was:
-19.50% to +31.61% for the S&P 500® and
0% to 10% for the example floor and cap.
The index hit the:
cap seven of the ten years (70%)
floor two of the ten year (20%)
The value of $10,000 invested over the decade might have grown to:
$30,520 with the S&P 500® index
$19,666 with the 10% cap and 0% floor
These results exclude fees. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Also, this example isn’t a recommendation to either buy or sell the S&P 500®.
Participation Rate
A similar setup is participation rate.
Let’s say the participation rate is 70% and the index rises 10%. The account balance would grow 7% (70% of 10%).
The floor would likely still be 0%.
Follow the Money
Insurance companies must receive more in premiums than they pay in claims.
The premiums, caps, and fees cover:
insurance agent commissions,
marketing and operating expenses,
years when the index falls, and
profits or dividends.
5. Recent Poll
91% of people who voted on a LinkedIn poll I ran didn’t consider insurance an investment.
The poll ran from 7/26-8/2/2024 and received 65 votes.
People who commented on the post considered insurance:
a transfer of risk,
protection against lost income,
an estate planning tool,
future security, and
an expense.
Insurance is probably a bit of all of them!
Usually Not an Investment
Insurance isn’t generally considered an investment.
It normally:
doesn’t generate income or appreciation,
isn’t taxed by the IRS as income,
is considered an expense by U.S. accounting standards,
funds the commissions, expenses, and profits of insurers, and
wasn’t considered an investment in a recent poll.
For more, check out:
How Disability Insurance Works!
Shop Auto Insurance
I hope this helps!
If you’re interested in a review of your specific situation…
Disclaimer
In addition to the usual disclaimers, neither this post nor these images include any financial, tax, or legal advice.
