"Barring liquidity concerns shouldn't one get the insurance earlier?"
The problem with most purchases of life insurance at an earlier age is that the policies aren't usually set up correctly with a life ins trust, etc., to perform adequate estate planning. 99 out of 100 purchases of (my statistic, not scientific) life policies at the early age are geared toward replacement of loss of breadwinner income, debt reduction, education funds, etc. and not truly intended for estate planning purposes.
The exception would be those young whippers who have already tapped into the family wealth, (multiple 7 figures worth) or the even more rare case of the Yahoo gazillionaires... but those are freakish occurances, and will never be properly or adequately discussed on a msg board thread; IMO.
Most true estate planning is taking place at age 55 and well beyond, and geared for the eventual death tax avoidance. Usually at that point of a wealthy persons life they have excess liquidity, and whether it sits in acct/fund A, B, C, et al is irrelevant in the overall, considering acct X being some form of c/v life insurance that will yield exceptional mileage toward pre-paying the consequences of the death/estate taxes with compressed dollars. This is a pretty easy decision when one understands the consequences of not acting upon estate planning advice.
The problem with most purchases of life insurance at an earlier age is that the policies aren't usually set up correctly with a life ins trust, etc., to perform adequate estate planning. 99 out of 100 purchases of (my statistic, not scientific) life policies at the early age are geared toward replacement of loss of breadwinner income, debt reduction, education funds, etc. and not truly intended for estate planning purposes.
The exception would be those young whippers who have already tapped into the family wealth, (multiple 7 figures worth) or the even more rare case of the Yahoo gazillionaires... but those are freakish occurances, and will never be properly or adequately discussed on a msg board thread; IMO.
Most true estate planning is taking place at age 55 and well beyond, and geared for the eventual death tax avoidance. Usually at that point of a wealthy persons life they have excess liquidity, and whether it sits in acct/fund A, B, C, et al is irrelevant in the overall, considering acct X being some form of c/v life insurance that will yield exceptional mileage toward pre-paying the consequences of the death/estate taxes with compressed dollars. This is a pretty easy decision when one understands the consequences of not acting upon estate planning advice.