Need way to track Whole Life Insurance Asset/Cash Value (vs just Premiums)

RonBask
RonBask Member
edited October 2023 in Investments

Life Insurance products like Term Life Policy and Cash Value Policy are Assets with expiry dates and values like $500k or $1Million even though the premium paid could be like $50/mo or $1000/mo etc. There should be a way to track the value of these as Assets, instead of categorizing these as Expenses, or instead of having to create Assets and Expenses separately. There should also be alerts if the expiry date is getting nearby, so user won't forget to extend these policies as needed. Thank you for considering this!

16
16 votes

Reviewed · Last Updated

Comments

  • NotACPA
    NotACPA SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    The problem with your request is that you don't currently own the face value of the insurance (the $1MM or the $500K) and to record those numbers as an asset in your Q record would grossly distort your net worth.

    Q user since February, 1990. DOS Version 4
    Now running Quicken Windows Subscription, Business & Personal
    Retired "Certified Information Systems Auditor" & Bank Audit VP

  • Ps56k2
    Ps56k2 SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2019
    yeah - I was also thinking of all the various aspects of a Life policy.... vs Quicken
    - Face value vs Cash value - vs Net Worth.... alive vs dead
    - monthly or yearly premium - just a normal Quicken Bill Reminder
    - expiration date.... decades into the future... 
    Pretty similar to thinking about a house vs mortage
    Guess it all depends on what you want Quicken to track -
    and what the numbers actually mean to you... 
    For me - I don't include any Life policy, or House in any of my Quicken accounts

    QWin - R54.16 - Win10

  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    The only place in Quicken for Windows where you can currently input a reminder about insurance policies' expiration date is the Alert Center (under the Tools Menu).
    Triggered Alerts show up as popup if marked Urgent or as entry in the Alerts view (which you can add to your Home page My Money view).
    Alternatively you can add a Scheduled Reminder into one of your Cash accounts and mark it to remind you 90 or 180 days before the due date.
  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Ideas are brought to the attention of the programmers for consideration.


    If you would like to see this enhancement made in a future version of Quicken please don't forget to vote on it. Locate the big blue box near the top of this webpage (or page 1 for long discussions) and click the "Up" triangle under the voting count.
    Wait a moment for the vote count to be registered and updated before you continue.
    The little triangle changes from grey to black when you have registered your vote.

    Every vote counts!


  • Kingfish58
    Kingfish58 Unconfirmed, Member
    I list the cash value of a whole life policy under assets. No other term life policies are listed. Premiums paid are tracked under expenses.

    I do not count any policy face values, but I would like a way to track these in Quicken.
  • todd vogt
    todd vogt Member ✭✭
    Is there a way to add a term life policy value simply for tracking purposes. I DO NOT want it to show up in the net worth calculation but I would like to have listed.
  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Since I'm not going to see a rusty penny of my Life Insurance contracts in my lifetime, I've added the policies to my Last Will and Testament and keep all this paperwork stored in a secure place. I recommend y'all do the same.
  • Rocket J Squirrel
    Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    todd vogt said:
    Is there a way to add a term life policy value simply for tracking purposes. I DO NOT want it to show up in the net worth calculation but I would like to have listed.
    If you really want to do this, create an Asset account and under Account Details > Display Options, check the box for "Keep this account separate." Then it will not show up in your net worth.

    Quicken user since version 2 for DOS, now using QWin Biz & Personal Subscription (US) on Win10 Pro.

  • Martimouse
    Martimouse Member
    Its not perfect...but this is what I have done....

    I have been using Quicken since 1995 and have struggled with the difficulty in tracking Whole Life Insurance policy - both the cash value and the death benefit. The only workaround I have come up with is to add an Asset Account for each policy and use the register to track the cash value. Premiums paid ARE an expense and are categorized as Insurance Premiums. My husband is significantly older than I am and has 3 policies and I have one whole life policy of my own. It is highly likely that, we *will* use our cash value for living expenses as an option for income to avoid the fluctuations in investment accounts and avoid the tax implications of withdrawals from qualified plans.

    When I get my annual premium bill it will list dividends paid, paid-up additions added as well as the current death benefit (if that particular policy has an increasing death benefit, depending on how it was set up). I "update the balance" via a split transaction to include the increase to cash value as dividends, or paid-up additions and categorizing both as a something I use specifically as "DO NOT INCLUDE", I also make note of the current death benefit in the memo section of the split transaction.
    I do not include (specifically EXclude them) any of the cash value/asset accounts in the life planner and have added the combined death benefit as "special income" in the Life Planer upon the death of the insured.

    If anyone else has come up with an alternate solution I'd be very interested in hearing it.
  • NotACPA
    NotACPA SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2020
    "difficulty in tracking Whole Life Insurance policy"
    A Whole Life policy DOES, typically, have a current value ... it's just not the "Payable upon death" amount, but something much lower.  This CAN, properly, be tracked in an Asset account.  This amount, which probably updates annually, can frequently be found in your policy documents.
    BUT, the original question was about a TERM policy ... which has no value other than the "Payable upon death" amount, and expires worthless if you don't die during the Term.

    Q user since February, 1990. DOS Version 4
    Now running Quicken Windows Subscription, Business & Personal
    Retired "Certified Information Systems Auditor" & Bank Audit VP

  • jnprop
    jnprop Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2020
    I too would like to see a place to track Whole Life Insurance cash values and then a place to record your Term Life policies.
  • Quicken Anja
    Quicken Anja Moderator mod
    Hello All,

    The Community Support team regularly reviews long-standing posts and Ideas for relevancy and current interest. This Idea seems to have stalled and we would like to gauge the current interest in this request. 

    If you would like to see this idea implemented, please add your vote and a comment explaining how this idea would be beneficial for you. More information, including steps to vote and how to submit your own Ideas for future product features/improvements, is also available here.

    Thank you,

    Quicken Community Support Team

    -Quicken Anja
    Make sure to sign up for the email digest to see a round up of your top posts.

  • Lilykn
    Lilykn Member ✭✭
    Yes I would find it useful for Whole Life Insurance
  • epski
    epski Member ✭✭
    > @"Quicken Anja" said:
    > Hello All,
    >
    > The Community Support team regularly reviews long-standing posts and Ideas for relevancy and current interest. This Idea seems to have stalled and we would like to gauge the current interest in this request. 
    >
    > If you would like to see this idea implemented, please add your vote and a comment explaining how this idea would be beneficial for you. More information, including steps to vote and how to submit your own Ideas for future product features/improvements, is also available here.
    >
    > Thank you,
    >
    > Quicken Community Support Team

    Very much would like to track the net cash value of my whole life insurance policy, as well as any loans against it.
  • veasterday
    veasterday Unconfirmed, Member

    Yes, please add a place to add life insurance. Would be most useful for family members to see.

  • Matt Tanous
    Matt Tanous Member

    I would find it very useful to be able to track the present Cash Value of my Ameritas life insurance policies. Right now I can see this in Mint (which is free), but not Quicken (which I pay for), which is frankly backwards.

  • Ps56k2
    Ps56k2 SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    And what exactly do you see in Mint - and where does this info come from …. manually entered or download ?
    - Term or Whole Life ?

    QWin - R54.16 - Win10

  • please make it happen to add whole life

  • Pambopammy
    Pambopammy Member

    yes, it would be very helpful if there was a way to account for whole life insurance cash value as well as paid up insurance.

  • R Hudd
    R Hudd Member

    Add a whole life insurance capability to track - it is a real investment account

  • NomadDave
    NomadDave Member ✭✭

    Agree, would be nice to easily track my whole life policies cash and loan values with a note to death benefit.

  • BLee
    BLee Member ✭✭

    I have upvoted this topic. Have four policies with cash value and death benefit that pay premiums annually. The cash value should be an asset, the dividend income, and the premium an expense. Death benefit is not relevant to me, just my heirs.

  • Yes, I use Quicken for Mac and I currently am listing my universal life cash values as "investments". I would like a true category for this.

  • JoelC
    JoelC Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 11

    A few points of clarification that may be helpful when thinking this through:

    Term Insurance (Other than T-100): Has zero cash value but has a death benefit / face value. This is only an asset should the life insured die within the term. These policies are classified as temporary policies whereas the two below are classified as permanent polciies.

    PAR / Whole Life Insurance: Has a cash and has a death benefit. The cash value is an asset and is owned by the policyholder (which can differ from the life insured). The dividends do matter depending on their type / use (i.e., they can be used to increase the cash value). The way these policies work is that the cash value converges to the death benefit over time.

    To me, the case value should be tracked as an asset because it is owned and can be treated / used as cash at any time.

    Universal Life (And T-100): These are the most complex of the 3 types as they can be structured very differently. They may / may not have a cash value. The cash value, if any, is an asset and is owned by the policyholder (which can differ from the life insured). The dividends do matter depending on their type / use (i.e., they an be used to increase the cash value).

    The point being, the need to track, what to track and how to track all depend on the type of policy, the policy owner (versus the life insured) and (something I did not get into) the purpose of the policy. For a simple example consider the following, if a policy has been purchased to cover taxes on death (which is common) and the current Quicken setup does not track the taxes owing on death then I would suggest that including a life insurance policy as an asset is wrong because you would be counting the asset and but not the off-setting liability.

    I hope this is helpful.

    PS. If anyone wants to dig into further I would be happy to assist.