I went skiing in Utah with a group of guys last year and ended up on a very long lift ride with someone I didn’t know particularly well. We were talking about work and he asked me what I did. His reaction is seared into my memory – “Oh really? I don’t believe in permanent insurance.” He chose his words carefully. He liked term insurance but permanent insurance didn’t sit well with him because it’s complex. To him (and probably many others), complexity is a Trojan horse packed with ways for the carrier to take advantage of the policy. If he can get simple term insurance that covers him just as well as permanent insurance, then why bother?