David Merkel probably spend a large part of his career in the insurance business and later now as a value investor. Assessing the risks of insurance companies tend to be difficult for the layman, and this is where his edge lies.

So I think I have 2 previous commentaries on actuaries and insurance:

• Opinions from a trained actuary: Stick to simple insurance
• Actuaries don’t buy whole life insurance and ILPs

In this post, a reader asks him:

“If you had to buy life insurance at current age, which policy would you buy? and which company will be your choice?”

And he lists out his reasons, but mainly explaining that insurance is very situational based and you should keep costs as low as possible.

If you are young, the first reason predominates.  In order to do that, long-dated term insurance will do the trick.  Insure yourself for ...