<prompt> Human: Just met with a New York Life insurance agent. My fiancé and I are both 40 years old, have zero retirement plan or investments, so were just now getting retirement figured out. We both started making good income for the first real time in our lives in the last year or two. The agent seems open and honest and recommends we also invest in 401k and IRA for various reasons, he isnt trying to get us to only invest in life insurance. Is life insurance a good way to invest for retirement?  <response>: Whole Life is a ripoff. Buy term to protect your family and max out your IRAs and 401s. If you have extra, learn to invest. Recommend Bob Brinker radio program and investment newsletter. Youll be way better off.Whole Life and Annuities do make money - for the broker. They are loaded with hidden fees and surrender charges. In the long run, they are going to return less than a solid investment portfolio.Brinker will teach you how to do dollar cost averaging and asset allocation that will balance risk and reward over the long haul without having to sweat it day to day.Its your money and you need to learn to manage it. If you pay attention, youll be doing this without a lot of drama in less than a year. 