I am a single woman in my mid-30s and unfortunately have not been able to save much for retirement. My 401k from a previous job has been all but decimated in the last year, and I am not eligible yet to join my new company’s plan. I sought to open a Roth IRA, but the financial adviser my credit union recommended me to is actually an insurance salesman. He wants to sell me a whole life insurance policy with a 9k death benefit that would cost me 0 per month. I keep reading that whole life insurance is typically a bad investment unless you plan to keep the policy for more than 20 years. If I sign up for the policy, I would do so with the intention of keeping it as a long-term investment. The term insurance I have through work would only pay my beneficiary k, and I would prefer that my mortgage and other potential bills not be left for someone else to take care of if I got hit by a car and killed tomorrow. The projected rate of return over 30+ years looks good, but I do realize the guaranteed rate is the only, well, guarantee. And I understand my premium will stay the same unless I opt to buy more insurance. But everything I am reading from financial experts (Suze Orman, for instance) says it is better to buy term insurance and invest the difference. Is this a blanket guideline?Can a small whole life insurance policy ever be a good idea in combination with other investment strategies? I am so confused.

I am a single woman in my mid-30s and unfortunately have not been able to save much for retirement. My 401k from a previous job has been all but decimated in the last year, and I am not eligible yet to join my new company’s plan. I sought to open a Roth IRA, but the financial adviser my credit union recommended me to is actually an insurance salesman. He wants to sell me a whole life insurance policy with a 9k death benefit that would cost me 0 per month. I keep reading that whole life insurance is typically a bad investment unless you plan to keep the policy for more than 20 years. If I sign up for the policy, I would do so with the intention of keeping it as a long-term investment. The term insurance I have through work would only pay my beneficiary k, and I would prefer that my mortgage and other potential bills not be left for someone else to take care of if I got hit by a car and killed tomorrow. The projected rate of return over 30+ years looks good, but I do realize the guaranteed rate is the only, well, guarantee. And I understand my premium will stay the same unless I opt to buy more insurance. But everything I am reading from financial experts (Suze Orman, for instance) says it is better to buy term insurance and invest the difference. Is this a blanket guideline?Can a small whole life insurance policy ever be a good idea in combination with other investment strategies? I am so confused.