I try to help you a bit...
- pure term life, guaranteed protection over 30 years, after that not guaranteed to renew if not mistaken.. but slightly expensive than ilp over long term, reason, you paid commissions to agent every years.. insurance company treat you as temporary customer..

- ilp, cheaper for long term, you paid agent few years good commissions, after that no more, insurance company would even give you some bonus after certain years in form of coverage or additional subscribe units on fund.. you can extend over 30 years as long as you got fund value inside, or depleted the fund value within 20 years, nothing is guaranteed despite what agent told you, you are investor, you should know..

- also the premium paid for ilp actually getting more expensive each year, not fixed, but the amount you paid for investment is fixed as long as got enough fund value to paid premium...
Suggest ask agent here send you a draft ilp for you to study.. free of charge..

I am not an agent, just trying to help you, in short, I would recommend ilp for a 30 years policy, but decision should up to your cousin, not you or me.

Ah.. thanks for the corrections, can't remember the jargon precisely.

For commissions, I think term life could get for full 30 years with significant reduced rate after first year, while ilp only last for several years, every thing is listed on policy statement.

Anyway, if it was explaining once in awhile, it was fun to refresh my mind, taking it as career would be a bit boring for me.. thanks for the praising and invitation

Term life - slightly higher insurance cost price in long term due to commissions and company policy for temporary customer, may have trouble on renewal if required.
Ilp - terrible sales charge, bad fund performance, not guaranteed to maintain premium paid.

Nothing is perfect, insurance company, agent, fund manager will always earn some money from you. You may ask your cousin opt for both (each at 250k life for e.g.), pick either one, or don't buy insurance / wait for new product.

Cheap insurance without forcing to take investment with high SC (diy invest should be under 2% SC), or can pick third party fund/etf, and no need go through agent (no commission paid at all), afaik doesn't exist yet, maybe in the future, or you can try to start it (just jk).

The reason I suggest ilp is for flexibility to adjust the coverage by attach or remove riders (not sure is this the correct term). And what I suggest may not be important feature to your cousin. What you said is completely makes sense, but nothing we can do, rather than pick term life (with some disadvantages I listed) or don't buy.

This post has been edited by vanitas: Jan 11 2019, 11:27 AM

ilp annual premium much higher > true if you are young / just bought, not confirm when you are getting old, depends on how ilp fund performs and compare with which traditional products. Also afaik, ilp can adjust the riders / coverage which affect the premium paid when needed, traditional cannot. This flexibility is important point imo, as one may need different coverage at different point of life.

Sales charge and annual management fee > usual UT also got, you may argue insurance one got higher sales charge, which is true. So you are right, actually we paid more for seems better coverage. Annual management fee is comparable to UT in the market, so it shouldn't be a disadvantage, but should be known to the customer.

I am not an agent, altough I personally prefers ilp, but I am not against traditional, just to complete your argument.