Opening a Whole Life policy on your kids could be a powerful way to teach them how to be good stewards of money…and have a lot of fun in the process. The two main alternatives we see for parents trying to save for their kids is either a bank savings account, or a 529 college savings plan. Whole Life is a better alternative in most instances than the bank savings account because of the guaranteed growth of 4-5% you experience in the policy, plus the ability to access this capital, and of course the death benefit we already discussed. And Whole Life policy could also be a better alternative than a 529 college savings plan because with the way the education system is going, there is a likelihood that your child may never go to college. Fortunately, as of this year you can now roll 529 plans into Roth IRA’s if they aren’t used for education; however with a Roth IRA you are deferring the use of all of that capital, every dollar, until your kid is 59 ½! This all comes back to challenging the notion of typical financial advice. Deferring your dollars means you are giving up control of those dollars and they can’t be used to make your life better today. Now, to reiterate, we aren’t comparing a Whole Life policy to an investment account, like a 529 plan. Whole Life is a banking alternative, a place to store capital, not an investment. But…you can leverage that capital to invest in assets such as real estate to make an even higher return with those dollars. Axiom founders, Mike Bargetto and Katie Bargetto walk you through the concept.