, and you experience a health issue that makes you uninsurable after your current term policy ends. Then sure, I could see a permanent policy with the high premium and the resulting cash value and death benefit being a worthwhile "investment" over the long-term.

But if you are treating it like an investment, and you have to pay a high premium for 14 years before it even becomes a non-negative return, and then only after 30 years or so is the dividend larger than the annual premium, that seems like a terrible investment when you could have taken the same amount, thrown it into an index fund, and in all probability, your end balance after 35 years would be 4-5x as much over the same period of time.

Not a good financial decision for 98% of people, IMHO. Many regrets.