<prompt> Human: Husband I make a combined 150k and have good 401k employer plans. We are both contributing 5 to our 401ks as that is the company match. At the beginning of this year, we purchased variable universal life insurance from AXA from the advice of a friend who was selling the plan. We have one child so we want more life insurance than the simple 1x yearly salary. This was the best option we were told, so we are now putting 10 of our take home income into this plan to cover the insurance premiums and to invest for retirement. I just looked at a statement and the fees are outrageous. Did we mess up? Should we have continued to just put 15 into our 401k and purchase life insurance separate? And if so, what do we do at this point to remedy? If we walk away, do we lose everything we put in this year? The account says net cash surrender value 0, but the policies account values are close to 4000. Edit: We emailed our adviser and this is part of his response:In the first 15 years the CVLI lags behind, but after that point, it does take off and do much better than the term and Roth option. At age 65 you are looking at 500,000 in your CVLI tax free and about 325,000 in your Roth if you did a Roth. Can anyone provide questions I should ask? Does this make sense?  <response>: Ouch! Yes you messed up.These life insurance products that are weird hybrids of savings life insurance are almost always a terrible idea.If you want more life insurance, its generally a good idea to get a decreasing term policy that roughly matches the outstanding mortgage on your house. In other words, the policy pays you a lot now, but not so much 20 years from now after youve whittled down your mortgage.These types of policies are generally very affordable and NOWHERE NEAR 10 of your take home pay.You messed up, and your friend sold you something you didnt need. I would cut your losses and look into a decreasing term life insurance policy if you want additional life insurance. 