Get-out-of-debt guru Dave Ramsey recently released on YouTube an excerpt
of his show where he called IBC a “scam.” Specifically, someone called in
to tell Dave that his financial advisor had touted the benefits of a Whole Life
policy with a mutual company, including the dividends. Ramsey was aghast,
and explained that since the owners of a mutual company are the customers,
any “dividend” they send to you is necessarily coming out of your own pocket.
In fact, Dave explained, the IRS itself acknowledges this, by calling such a dividend a “return of a deliberate overcharge of premium”; this is why the IRS doesn’t tax it as income. Dave ended the call by telling his listener that he needed to get a real financial advisor, not someone trying to sell overpriced Whole Life insurance.