Decision Tree Insurance
Decision Tree Insurance Wisdom Center

Insurance Books, Guides & Educational Resources

Learn first. Make the decision second.

Insurance and retirement decisions are easier when you understand the problem before someone asks you to buy a solution. This library brings together books and guides designed to help you understand your choices, ask better questions, and decide what deserves a place in your plan.

Some resources are free, including our 2026 long-term care planning guide with no email or signup required. Published books available through outside retailers are clearly identified.

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Resource Library

Choose the Decision You Want to Understand

You do not need to read everything. Start with the subject connected to the decision in front of you.

The Best Way to Buy Sell or Replace Your Life Insurance guide
Life Insurance Guide

The Best Way to Buy, Sell, or Replace Your Life Insurance

Buying life insurance is only part of the decision. Existing policies may have guarantees, cash value, tax consequences, conversion rights, replacement issues, or other features that deserve to be understood before you make a change.

This guide is a starting point for asking better questions before buying a policy, replacing one you already own, or deciding what to do with coverage you no longer want.

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How to Maximize Your Social Security Benefits guide
Social Security Guide

How to Maximize Your Social Security Benefits

Social Security is more than a monthly check. Claiming age, longevity, inflation adjustments, family benefits, and other circumstances can affect how a claiming decision fits into the rest of a retirement income plan.

Use this guide to understand the questions worth considering before making an election that can affect income for years.

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Overcome Social Security Confusion guide
Social Security Guide

Overcome Social Security Confusion

Headlines about Social Security's finances can make people feel pressure to claim benefits before they understand the consequences.

This guide is intended to help separate concerns about the Social Security system from the personal claiming decision in front of you, so fear does not become the strategy.

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Retire Smart A Simple Guide to Retirement
Retirement Guide

Retire Smart: A Simple Guide to Retirement

Retirement creates a different set of financial decisions than the accumulation years. The goal is no longer simply to save more. Income, protection, liquidity, and the consequences of bad timing begin to matter differently.

This short guide offers a starting point for thinking through retirement decisions before moving money or choosing a product.

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Annuity Owner Mistakes guide
Annuity Guide

Annuity Owner Mistakes

Annuities are insurance contracts, and changing or replacing one can involve more than comparing a credited rate or income figure.

This guide discusses issues worth examining before buying, surrendering, or replacing an annuity so you understand what you own, what you may be giving up, and what the proposed replacement actually changes.

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CD Shopper's Guide
Safe Money Guide

CD Shopper's Guide

A certificate of deposit can be simple, but the highest advertised rate is not the only consideration. Term length, access to the money, early-withdrawal penalties, reinvestment risk, and available alternatives can all matter.

Use this guide as a starting point before committing money to a CD solely because one rate looks attractive.

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Want to go deeper? Explore our life insurance, long-term care insurance, annuity, and Social Security educational centers.

Comfort Investing by Kevin Wenke and Paul Beavin
Published Book

Comfort Investing

Paid Book · Available on Amazon

An investment structure that gives safety and market exposure different jobs.

Comfort Investing explores an investment approach that separates safety from market risk. The book discusses how cash value life insurance can be used as the stable side of an investment method, while market contracts are used to pursue market returns with a defined amount of capital exposed to market loss.

Rather than asking the same dollars to provide both safety and growth, the structure gives different parts of the strategy different jobs. The life insurance component is not described as producing stock-market returns; the market contracts provide the market exposure.

By Kevin Wenke, CFP® and Paul Beavin.

View Comfort Investing on Amazon Is Cash Value Life Insurance Right for You?
Why We Publish These Resources

The Product Should Come After the Decision

Insurance is easier to evaluate when you understand the problem first.

That is why Decision Tree Insurance publishes guides, articles, and decision tools before asking you to speak with an agent. Use the information. Share it with your family. Take it to another professional. Compare what you learn here with other sources.

If you eventually decide you want help comparing insurance options, we can help. If you do not, the information still did its job.

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Prefer to Work Through the Decision?

Reading Explains the Idea. Decision Tools Help You Apply It.

A guide can explain how an insurance or retirement decision works. Sometimes the next question is more personal: What does this look like with my numbers?

Decision Tree Insurance's educational tools are designed to help you work through those questions before requesting a quote or talking with an agent.

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Use the books to understand.

Learn the terminology, trade-offs, risks, and questions that matter.

Use the tools to test.

Work through a decision using your own assumptions before deciding whether you need professional help.

About the Author & Publisher

Kevin Wenke, CFP®, CLU®

Kevin Wenke is the founder of Decision Tree Insurance LLC and has worked in the insurance and financial services industry since 2003. His educational work focuses on helping consumers understand the decision first — including situations where buying an insurance product may not be the right answer.

The books, guides, articles, and decision tools on this site are intended to give readers a stronger foundation for asking questions, comparing alternatives, and understanding what they are agreeing to before purchasing coverage.

Frequently Asked Questions

About Decision Tree Insurance Books & Guides

What to know before opening, downloading, or purchasing a resource.

Are the Decision Tree Insurance guides free?

Many of the educational guides are available free. Resources that require a purchase are clearly identified. For example, Comfort Investing is a published book sold through Amazon and is not presented as a free guide.

Do I have to provide my email address to read the long-term care guide?

No. The 2026 edition of Don't Make Your Kids Decide can be accessed without providing an email address, phone number, or other contact information.

Are these books and guides individualized financial or insurance advice?

No. The resources are provided for general educational and informational purposes. They do not account for every fact about your financial situation, health, taxes, insurance contracts, state law, or other circumstances. Individual decisions should be evaluated using current information and, when appropriate, qualified insurance, tax, legal, or financial professionals.

Who creates the Decision Tree Insurance educational resources?

The library includes educational material written or published by Kevin Wenke, CFP®, CLU®, founder of Decision Tree Insurance LLC. Some published works may have additional authors. For example, Comfort Investing was written by Kevin Wenke and Paul Beavin.

How often are the guides updated?

Update schedules vary by resource. A guide that displays a specific edition year should be treated as current to that edition. Laws, tax rules, government benefits, insurance products, costs, and other figures can change, so date-sensitive information should be verified before making a decision.

Can I share these resources with my family or another professional?

You may share links to the public resource pages with family members, attorneys, accountants, advisors, or anyone else who may find them useful. Copyright and redistribution terms for the publications themselves still apply.

Can Decision Tree Insurance help me after I read a guide?

Yes. If a guide raises questions about your own insurance situation, you can contact Decision Tree Insurance to discuss available coverage and compare options. Reading a guide does not obligate you to request a quote or purchase insurance.

What Comes Next Is Up to You

Read First. Ask Questions When You're Ready.

You do not need to speak with an insurance agent to use our educational resources.

If one of these guides helps you identify a question about your own situation, a licensed Decision Tree Insurance agent can help you examine available insurance options. If you would rather keep learning on your own, use the Decision Tools library and Wisdom Center as long as they are useful.

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Educational information only. Nothing on this page is individualized financial, investment, tax, legal, or insurance advice. Insurance products are subject to eligibility, underwriting, contract terms, carrier availability, and state availability.