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If statistics alone sold Long-Term Care Insurance policies, industry sales would be growing exponentially year after year.  However, clients take in more than just the numbers – their decision-making process doesn’t rely solely on statistics.

In order to ignite desire in a client, an advisor must be able to humanize “the need” through personal stories, experiences, and emotions.

In other words, something the buyers can connect with while coming to a decision.

Although, statistics do help serve as a reminder of why you need to protect your clients – knowing the numbers provides facts to support your stories and spark your clients’ interests in purchasing protection.

A client’s statistical probability of needing assistance:

Learn to create a desire within your clients to purchase LTCi – contact your LTCi Sales Rep for assistance.

The M.U.G. plan is a new innovative Disability Insurance sales concept that helps provide your clients with funds in the event they become disabled.

This simple approach will help open doors to new opportunities and possibly allow you to up-sell to clients who need more coverage.

The M.U.G. plan is designed to cover:

Mortgages
Utilities
Groceries

This policy is designed to be more affordable than a comprehensive coverage policy and still provide income to help pay for a clients mortgage, utilities and groceries if they are unable to work due to a disability.

The M.U.G. plan helps eliminate client confusion regarding how much insurance coverage is actually needed.  Simply ask your client how much do you spend each month on your mortgage, utilities and groceries?

To learn more about the M.U.G. plan and how to approach your clients about Disability Income Insurance contact your Disability Income Insurance Specialist today.

Download the customizable marketing flyer for the M.U.G. plan HERE

Return the completed flyer to your Marketing Representative for a meaningful recommendation of protection for your clients.

Okay, let’s start with a few premises and see where it leads:  Love is blind/ Marriage is an institution/ Love and marriage go together/ Therefore, marriage is an institution for the blind.

I don’t know if Aristotle would approve of the structure of that syllogism, but it does illustrate that when you put two things together you can sometimes get surprising results, for better or for worse.

Take, for example, the three most common non-qualified benefit scenarios that usually involve life insurance:  deferred compensation, split dollar, and executive bonus.

For simplicity and ease, an employer will usually choose an executive bonus arrangement, i.e. the executive buys insurance, the employer pays for it and reports the amount each year as taxable compensation.

The problem is, the employer often wants recovery of all or part of the plan cost if the executive cuts and runs early.

It takes a little more work and costs a little bit more, but this can be accomplished by putting two things together, for the better in this case.  Try treating a split dollar plan like an executive bonus arrangement that turns over control of money paid to the executive only according to the terms of an agreed upon “vesting-like” schedule.

Here’s how it works:

Employer-paid premiums in the executive-owned policy are treated as loans.  Each year the executive must recognize as income only deemed interest on the loan, usually to the tune of the AFR rates.  This is an additional tax cost incurred by the executive.  But current rates are so low the amount is usually not significant.  Besides, if the employer chooses, the extra tax cost can be “zero-ed out” with a bonus.  The employer’s rights to recover company cash from the policy if the executive goes are secured by a collateral assignment.

As time goes on, and according to the terms of the agreement, the loan is forgiven in increments.  The amount of each reduction in the loan is reported as income to the exec and deductible to the employer – the same as an executive bonus plan.

As the loan drops, so does the amount of imputed interest recognized by the executive.  Once the loan is reduced to zero the collateral assignment is released and we are back to a plain old vanilla executive bonus arrangement.

Sound logical?  How about this:  Some philosophers have three vowels in their name/ Socrates has three vowels in his name/ Therefore, Socrates is some philosopher.  If you don’t really care then try this: All human beings are different/ All apathetic people are indifferent/ Therefore, no apathetic person is a human being.

Call with your next executive benefit case and we’ll show your client how they can assure recovery of funds if the participant leaves, without a whole lotta fuss.

Do you have a client who would like to purchase a Disability Income policy but face the difficulty of qualifying due to the nature of their profession?  Perhaps their reported income is low and the amount of benefit available is insufficient.

A DI alternative through a Linked Benefit Life Insurance policy

Today, many carriers are offering linked benefit products which allow your clients to access a percentage of their policy’s death benefit in order to cover their Long-Term Care (LTC) expenses.

Typically, in order to qualify for this acceleration of benefit, the client will need to have lost the ability to perform two of the six Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s) which include eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring and maintaining continence.  Odds are that if you could satisfy the parameters to go on disability claim then you could also satisfy these parameters to exercise your LTC benefit.

The benefit is not based on earnings and there is no income verification needed

This product qualifies your client only on their health, not on their occupation.  As a result, you can offer a linked benefit plan to any of your clients who could qualify for a typical Life Insurance policy.  There are numerous products that offer this LTC rider.

Whether your client is interested in a guaranteed death benefit, building cash value or a combination of both, there is a product available that can provide a monthly benefit in the event that your client is unable to perform two ADL’s and cannot earn their income.

Call your dedicated Life Marketing Specialist if you have a client to consider or if you would like to learn more about how linked benefit life products work.

Did you know?

About 1 in 8 women in the US will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime
As of January 2018, there are more than 3.1 million breast cancer survivors in the US
A woman’s risk of breast cancer nearly doubles if she has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer

Getting life insurance for clients with a history of breast cancer can be challenging, but thanks to one of our A+ carriers, more of your clients with a history of breast cancer could be eligible for favorable rates.

Take a look at these case studies:

Case Study #1

60 year old female who was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 58
Low grade cancer with a positive estrogen receptor (ER)
Tumor size of 1.1 mm with no lymph node involvement (stage T1aN0)

This could qualify for Non-Smoker plus with no postponement.

Case Study #2

47 year old female diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40
Treatment ended at age 42
Tumor size is 1.5 cm with one positive lymph node (stage T1N1)

This could qualify for Table B with Temporary Flat Extra of $10 per thousand for 6 years; or possibly reduced to only 1 year on the Flat Extra timeframe if the one positive lymph node was no greater than microscopic disease (<2mm).

Contact our Underwriting Team to find the best possible offers on your impaired risk cases.

You may have some retirement-age clients who did not purchase Long-Term Care Insurance in the past due to high premiums.

By crafting your sales approach, you can reach out to these prospects about affordable long term care insurance and designing a plan within their budget.

Here’s how you can get the LTCi conversation started with the retirement-age market:

Help them understand that having some level of protection in place versus ignoring the possibility of needing care altogether enables them to hedge against the risk of requiring long term care.
Discuss their concerns about protecting their retirement assets, how they want to spend their retirement with family, and their fears about burdening loved ones with their care needs.
Explain that an LTC Insurance policy can now be as affordable as they need it to be – flexibility in plan design and product features enables coverage to work for most budgets.

We’re here to help you design a plan that is both affordable and the best solution for your clients’ needs – contact your LTCI Sales Rep for guidance.

The loss of a key person employee could be incredibly detrimental to the future success of a company.  While a majority of businesses offer Key Person Life Insurance should their superstar employee prematurely pass, what would they do if their key employee suffers an Injury or sickness that keeps them out of work for a lengthy period of time?

Consider Key Person Disability Insurance:

Employees are 8 times more likely to suffer a disabling sickness or injury before they retire, than they are to pass away.

Key Person Coverage provides the crucial benefits and cash flow a company needs to move forward, while maintaining profitability if a key person were to incur an injury or illness.

How It Pays:

After 90 days, benefits for Key Person Insurance will typically pay 150% of the employee’s salary over 12 months – providing enough time to recruit, hire, and train a replacement without losing any profits.  In some cases, benefits in excess of 150%, unrelated to income, may be obtained.

Companies are able to use these benefits to hire a temporary employee if the prognosis is short-term – or to defray the costs related to finding a replacement if the disability is permanent.

A lump sum benefit could provide a capital infusion to a firm with a single cash payment.  This approach is typically used when a firm has significant cash flow, or savings for a temporary disability.  However, a long period of disability may cause a major financial pinch, creating the need for a lump sum benefit.

With an elimination periods of twelve months, benefit amounts may be up to three times the annual income of the key person.  Larger benefits are also available, subject to financial justification.

Additional information can be provided to demonstrate the value and likely loss a firm will suffer in a key person’s absence.  Contact your DI Sales Rep to discuss a case.

In the past the word culture referred to a society’s accumulated knowledge and its time-tested and proven body of values and principles which each generation must pass on to the next if the ongoing continuity and success of the community was to be assured.  But much like paper currency, words lose their value over time.

Terms today like youth culture, bantered about endlessly, reflect a contemporary understanding of culture as nothing more than an inventory of current tastes, preferences and distractions, usually defined and pursued by those who aren’t paying the bills.

And if you think that values and principles are hard to pass down, try getting a death benefit to the next generation, especially if the next generation are still minors.

The Beneficiary Designation

The biggest opportunity for disaster on an insurance application comes when the advisor must complete the beneficiary designation.  The most important aspect of the transaction is assuring that the death benefit will go where it is intended, and the space provided to that end is totally inadequate for the purpose.  The “little beneficiary box” serves both to intimidate clients into thinking their directions must be short and sweet and to encourage lazy advisors not to take the time to put full and complete instructions on a separate sheet of paper – especially when children are involved.

There should never be a contingency that will result in an under-aged beneficiary.  Minors (the age of majority differs from state to state) are legally incompetent to accept death proceeds.  Guardians to handle their affairs must be appointed in legal proceedings that are time-consuming and expensive.

The best solution is to name as beneficiary a trust that will hold and use the funds for the minor children until the trustee is instructed to distribute them by the terms of the document.  The difficulty is convincing an insured to get a trust written even when the size of the death benefit makes a compelling argument for the trouble and expense.

The good news is that there is an uncomplicated solution.

All states have a Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) on the books.  The law enables you to title property (or craft a beneficiary designation) in the name of a custodian for the benefit of a minor child.

The comparative disadvantages versus a trust are 1) the custodian must carry out duties to the child as spelled out in the law, which may not be exactly or as flexible as what the insured would prefer, and 2) distribution of the funds must occur at an age given in the law (21 in most states) which may be younger than the insured would like.

Not perfect, but as my Mother used to say, “A speckled axe is better than none.”  Call it a poor-person’s trust created for you by the state.

But the UTMA designations can be tricky.  State may differ in what they require (the word “uniform” notwithstanding) and carriers may differ in what wording they prefer.  A full and separate designation must be spelled out for each minor child and successor custodians should be named – and, yes, it will require a separate sheet of paper.  But CPS will help you draft the designation.  Then you can devote your time to seeing that the client passes on his or her culture to the minor children involved.

Call for help on any ownership or beneficiary designation, but especially one creating a custodianship under your state Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.  Try me at 706-354-0401 or tom@cpsadvancedmarkets.com.

Losing a loved one can be devastating to a family, both emotionally and financially.  While it is almost impossible to prepare for the emotional challenge of death, it is much easier to prepare for the financial challenge when adequate life insurance coverage is in place.

More than half of Americans believed that they would feel the financial impact from the loss of the primary wage earner within six months.

This doesn’t just speak to households where there is no existing life insurance coverage in place.

Consider This:

Over one quarter of consumers who already own life insurance feel that they do not have an adequate amount of coverage.

As life insurance agents, staying in regular contact with existing clients helps to ensure that the amount of coverage in place is commensurate with changes in their lifestyles.

Many life events such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, changes in employment or the purchase of property will trigger a change in the insured’s need for life insurance coverage.  When your clients are going through these experiences, their life insurance coverage is often not at the front of their mind.

We have tools available for your immediate use to simplify the regular review of your clients’ existing coverage, including customized kits for both you and your clients!

Call your Life Sales Rep today to learn more about the resources available.

Traditional Long-Term Care Insurance placement rates have suffered due to carriers offering more stringent underwriting guidelines – declines on one spouse or the other and policies issued at rate classes greater than applied for have caused a spike in policies not taken or accepted by one or both of the insureds.  The consequence of this is lost profitability to the producer and general agent.

We spend untold hours running quotes on prospects without the faintest idea if they will qualify for coverage due to health reasons; additional time and resources processing the cases; and countless hours talking to underwriters on the phone trying to get them to change their minds in a no-wiggle room environment.  Ultimately, the producer aggravates potential new customers or alienates existing clients.

The reality is that producers and general agents don’t make the rules

When companies across a market segment harden underwriting we have two choices; find another product to sell or adapt tactics.  In light of the fact that many of us are committed to long-term care planning, how can we continue to help consumers in this difficult environment?

There’s a simple answer; get better at field underwriting the clients’ health profiles before beginning the quoting process.  This not so revolutionary concept is easily accomplished by any producer or advisor.

A brief review of one or two insurance company underwriting guides will provide the basic questions one needs to ask prospects and clients.

We also have a one page health questionnaire that can be used to guide producers through the primary issues that impact Long-Term Care Insurance underwriting decisions.

The four primary items one must know are:

Height and weight
Tobacco use
Recent major health issues or surgeries that may be pending
Current prescription medications being taken (Very important as it is indicative of what may be ailing someone)

With this basic information we can zero-in on insurability and/or rate class

We can also recommend the insurance company that is most likely to look favorably on the prospect’s health issues.  The producer appears professional because they’ve done some meaningful research for the client, and the chances of an unexpected underwriting decision are mitigated.

Doesn’t it make sense to ‘put the horse in front of the cart’ by getting basic vital health information from the prospect before a proposal is presented?  Who wants unpleasant surprises after the fact?  The process goes much smoother, everyone’s valuable time is not wasted and selling long-term care insurance becomes a profitable endeavor.

Contact your LTCI Sales Rep for assistance.