Should I invest my money or buy a life insurance policy instead?

A financially comfortable couple in their forties, with young kids and a do-it-yourself ETF habit, are pitched a permanent insurance policy and wonder whether they'd be better off just investing the premiums. This piece works through the classic invest-versus-insure question for estate planning. Allan starts with the why rather than the product, because the answer depends entirely on whether there's a genuine need to leave money behind. He weighs the tax-free nature of an insurance payout against the slow tax drag on a non-registered portfolio, the protection insurance offers if markets are down when it's needed, and the simple fact that a couple who plan to spend most of what they have may not need coverage at all. He also flags a real caution: an advisor who sells the policy isn't a neutral judge of whether you should own it. Most useful for families sorting out legacy goals.