Ok, finally!  As I stated in the Introduction, The Visible Policy is a large site.  Some of you may have jumped here directly, though, and are curious as to "the bottom line".  Those who have read or skimmed through the site will not be surprised by the following conclusions concerning my policy.

• I like it.
  Is it the best participating whole life policy available?  I don't know.  To date it has been more than meeting my expectations, and my model shows that this should continue far into the future.
  
  
• New York Life (NYLIC) is meeting it contractual commitments.
  In truth, one of the most curious things discovered is that they intentionally do much more than the policy states.  They do not even draw attention to it in the annual policy summaries.  Extra funds are added, and without a close comparison of two consecutive summaries there is no way to know they did so.
  
  I refer to linear increase in value (LIV), which is cash value NYLIC adds to my policy each year.  LIV is not dividends, nor is it Guaranteed Cash Value.  The only mention of this money is an obscure reference to interest in my policy's OPP (Option to Purchase Paid-Up Additions (PUA)) Rider.  There is no mention that PUA purchased by dividends also earns LIV.  Over time, LIV became a significant portion of the policy's cash value.
  
  
• Overfunding the policy greatly increases its value.
  By overfunding, I mean periodic, regular purchases of OPP.  I have not overfunded it a lot; my extra payments have been about 1/3 higher than the required annual premium.  Yet this increases the maturation value (at age 100) by almost threefold, with only a 50% total increase in out-of-pocket payments ($33,000 vs $21,000).  Review this chart to see what I mean.
  
  
• "Rich, after all this, you don't have anything negative to report?"
  There are a couple of things I would prefer to be different, yes.
  
  • The dividend crediting rate dropped in the sixth and seventh policy years.  (It stabilized in the eighth.)  There was never a guarantee that the rate would remain the same as illustrated.  Rates do drift over time, and I hope in the long term performance exceeds the illustration.  (Yes, I am an incurable optimist!)
    
    
  • Even though my health would have allowed it, I did not qualify for the "preferred non-smoker" premium rates.  My classification is that of a normal non-smoker.  If it had been a $250,000 policy, then I could have gotten the lower rate.  Two or three years after I got my policy, NYLIC changed this rule on its new series of policies.  Someone buying a policy today would not need at least a $250k Death Benefit to qualify.
  
  My agent informed me before buying the policy that dividend rates could drift over time, and that there would be a better pricing tier if I purchased a $250,000 policy.  Thus I agreed to these things before signing the contract.
  
  
• Am I getting screwed?
  Not that it's any of your business, but no.

As I began this site, I was quite ignorant about life insurance.  I have learned a lot since then.  It may even be accurate to refer to myself as an "expert" concerning participating whole life insurance policies from mutual life insurance companies or societies.  (Hey, if you author a serious 25+ page site on Russian ballet in the 18th century, I guarantee you will become an expert on that!)  I do not know much about related issues such as sales or estate planning, but I do know how the policies work.

If I knew in May 1996 what I know now, are there things I would have done differently?  Yes, but let me state up front that, all-in-all, things seem to have worked out quite well as is.

1. Research more.
   (No, I don't mean author a life insurance site before buying the policy. ;)  In my case I had a reason to need life insurance, and I phoned a New York Life agent listed in the phone book.  He came over, discussed various NYL policies, and left me a number of brochures.  I ended up choosing whole life because it was the only permanent policy type offered by NYLIC itself.  The other policy types were from a wholly-owned subsidiary called the New York Life Insurance and Annuity Company (NYLIAC).  For reasons that are difficult to explain, I wanted a policy from the "real" company.  Thus I phoned my agent and told him that I would purchase a $100,000 whole life policy.
   
   I should have also:
   • Fully understood the differences between Participating Whole Life, Universal Life, and Variable Universal Life insurance.
   • Spoken with other agents of other companies.  I did no price nor benefit comparisons.
   • Spoken with independent expert about the options being considered.

   Basically, I lucked out.  It suited my temperament and desires to acquire a policy with strong guarantees and conservatively invested policy reserves.  This is what I got, even though I did not know it at the time.
   
   

2. Spoken with my agent more.
   I have a good agent.  (Actually there are two, a father and his daughter.)  After the first policy year, I have not communicated very much with him, although he periodically gives me a call to touch bases.  Thus I have not taken full advantage of his knowledge and experience, and for which the commission on my policy is paying.
   
   (Once I started this site, I gained half an excuse.  One of my goals for The Visible Policy is to document it independently.  Just regurgitating what someone else had been taught did not seem as interesting or useful as analyzing the policy with my background and experience in engineering.)
   
   
3. Overfund more.
   This is not a choice for everyone.  Even if the option is economically feasible, many are perfectly satisfied with funding a policy with minimal out-of-pocket dollars.  But I could have afforded to put more into the policy from the very first year, and I would have desired the significant gain to both death benefit and cash value.
   
   
4. Write less.
   You are not the only one who thinks this site is a bit, well, extravagant.  I sincerely hope that you did find some of the information to be interesting and useful.  Find being the operative word — I know I am a wordy son-of-a-gun, and for this I apologize.
   
   If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments (positive or negative), I would be very interested.  You can click Rich to e-mail me.