Okay, so he had nothing, and no dreams. I can’t even relate to that. In that case, insurance wasn’t “betting against himself” - but it certainly would be irrelevant.
Without getting into lots of details, my dad made (and lost) a lot of money over his lifetime. He had lots of dreams—most of which did not come true. The last 15 years of his life, he lived alone in a cheap apartment two blocks from the beach at San Clemente—so going down to the beach to check out the girls was his recreation. He had enough money to buy nice meals and decent liquor. Most of his money was cash squirreled away in secret hiding places. I think he was reasonably content. As he was dying from throat cancer he said “I’ve had 80 good years, I can’t complain about the last two.”
I agree with you that many who sell insurance are woefully ignorant about basic finance. They are really just salesmen looking for their commission.