I always read tha WLI is a terrible investment, maybe it is for most people, but I'm wondering if it really is for those with high income and a decent amount of money invested already.
Assume you make enough money to max out your 401k, HSA, and already have large amounts in stocks, real estate, and other alternative asset classes like crypto or gold. EDIT: you are not comfortable adding more to stocks or RE as they represent a vast majority of the portfolio already.
With an IRR of 3.5% over 30 years that you can access through tax-free loans (loan interest is covered by cash value interests), wouldn't WLI yield decent returns for retirement? Consider that at a tax rate of 40%, a taxable brokerage account would need 5.8% in IRR for the same after-tax money. EDIT: HYSA's yield about 3.5% pre-tax.
EDIT: please don't simply reply "yes" or "no" without justification, this thread is not meant to be a vote
FINAL EDIT & CONCLUSION:
From y'all's comments, my take-away is that a WLI is complex and requires to sustain a high income/savings over 10+ years to start to see the advantages. As far as I'm concerned I would consider it as an emergency fund with bonds-like return-risk profile. In my situation it beats HYSA especially due to its tax-deferred advantage and ability to take loans against the cash value. It also gives optionality for estate planning. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who doesn't have a solid, sustainable cash flow already (for instance already maxing out all tax-advantaged accounts). Thanks all !