Is a whole-life insurance policy a better way to escape the estate tax than making gifts every year to your descendants?

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Her husband had taken out a whole-of-life policy in 1984 and she took out another one in 1990.

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The build-up in value of a whole life policy is not subject to current taxation.

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The trade-off was that, unlike old-fashioned whole life, the effective premiums for the universal policy death benefit rise as the policyholder ages.

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