I used to sell the Education and other life policies.

From a return perspective, the amounts are negligible and stocks or land offer a better return.

However you should view it as a pure savings plan with life cover as the main thing as opposed to viewing it as an investment. In fact as soon as an agent approaches me and mentions education cover and investment returns in the same sentence, that marks the end of our meaningful conversation. It means that they either don't know what they are selling or are trying to fool me into buying by offering false promises.

Maybe a quick comparison,

Depositing the cash in a bank: It won't give you a cover on your life, let alone a good return. It will however be accessible to you fairly quickly. There may be a great temptation to dip into the cookie jar before reaching your goal and this endangers

Land: Superior return in the long run but unless you take a loan (which will have a life cover and possibly a retrenchment cover to secure it) and then repay the loan using the monthly amounts of KES 20K, you won't be able to invest immediately in the land and so you'll miss out on return in the meantime and there won't be a cover on your life as you are saving up the amount to afford the land and transfer costs. Then of course you will need to ensure that you are dealing with clean land, otherwise your money could vanish in the blink of an eye.

Stocks: Good potential returns. You'll possibly need to learn to trade unless of course you give your funds over to a fund manager or buy into an equity fund. Again you'll not get a cover on your life in the event of untimely death.

Life Policy (Education/ Savings policy): Bad investment return sometimes even negative when adjusted for inflation. This is not necessarily a bad thing because the amount which would have been received in the form of returns is used to give you a life cover. Once the policy is running there is an immediate cover on your life in the event of untimely death.

I prefer to view them all as important as each has features that the other doesn't have. So it shouldn't be an 'either/or' situation.

You may want to consider puting together a portfolio with several of the options if not all. The option you decide to start with will depend on your aversion to risk.

Ultimately the best item to throw into your basket first will depend on a lot of other personal factors. Build a plan for the long term.

The list of options is in no way exhaustive. I would be happy for you to buy me a beer.

wachden@gmail.com

i have been in the insurance industry, education policies from different insurers vary quite wideliy, some offer a lot more protection/insurance than others similarly for returns. I very much doubt that they are worse than keeping the cash in a bank at 0%. they also offer tax relief and some guarantee a minimum return around 6-9% pa. I have done a quick search and the first website gives a quote with returns reasonable. as mentioned, the best advice is to balance your portfolio, an insurance policy is however an important yet often neglected part. here is the quote website https://www.pesabazaar.c...n-insurance-policy-quote

Don't fall for those education polices, they are just scams, the returns are minuscule I would rather invest the money myself, better still get units trusts you can get better value than the polices,actually never invest in an insurance company in Kenya

Got burnt with these nonsensical things! Never ever.
These education policies scams are a form of multilevel marketing. Here is a simple counter to all the lies they purport
1. If you die your childrens education will be covered. That's fine but if I die then they should ideally have access to all my resources that included the nest egg I am creating for my retirement. I wont need this nest egg since I'm dead anyway so wouldn't worry about my children's education.
2. It forces you to save.
Okay. There are many ways to save... park it at cytonn, mutual funds, t bills, etc. Those are all better saving methods that are hard for you to access the money.
3. You will be able to afford better schools saving through these schemes .... . The lies Jesus help these thieves!

Never ever falling for this trap. Having burnt a few hundred thousands on this things .... I cry!

Insurance policies can still be recommended to anyone who is struggling financially due to bad saving habits, believe it or not over 50% of us fall into that group. This one will help you have something for your kids which is better than nothing.

Now for the rest of us who can commit to a savings and investment plan, I agree with you guys that it won't make sense to choose to put your money in life/education insurance. Medical insurance is a must though, for everyone.

Kindly rephrase that, agents actually pretend that pure life / term covers do not exist.

Insurance is to cover for loss. Get a term life insurance and personal accident / health cover. Throw the rest of your cash into investments.