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The landscape of the Life Insurance Industry is changing more rapidly than ever, leaving many producers to play perpetual catch-up when it comes to the latest products and guidelines.

Many are quick to dismiss newer products such as Hybrid Term-UL or Equity Indexed Universal Life citing that they are too complex and have too many moving parts, or that they won’t stand the test of time.

When gauging the relevance of a new product or new enhancement, one can look at whether or not some of the largest, oldest insurance carriers are making these new products available in their product portfolio.

Equity Indexed UL Products

These products have a multitude of uses and ways to benefit the client and sales of IUL are growing considerably each year.  According to LIMRA, sales of Index UL Insurance have grown 192% over the years, which represents an average of 38% growth each year.

These IUL sales will be used to provide supplemental retirement income, help pay for a loved one’s secondary education expenses, provide affordable death benefit protection with cash value accumulation potential or even act as a 401K alternative with no downside market risk.

If you have not sold Indexed UL or have not taken the time to learn how these products work, you should contact us to familiarize yourself with the various carrier product offerings.

We have contracts with several A-Rated Carriers who have an IUL product (some with Guaranteed DB and others without) for sale.

It’s clear that producers and clients alike are warming up to the IUL product and sales continue to trend upward.  As a producer it is important for you to be knowledgeable of any products available and be able to make recommendations as to when these products are suitable.

We can help you better understand IUL, its uses and it’s best selling points.  The next time you have a client who is looking for something more than Term or basic GUL, you may want to consider an IUL product alternative.

Call us today for product information or case design for any of your clients.

In the most important episode of his life Paul Revere did not fire a shot.  But his willingness to spread the alarm averted what could have been an early military disaster for the revolutionists of Massachusetts Bay.

Planners, too, in addition to fulfillment of their usual responsibilities must fill the role of an alarmist if they are to keep their clientele financially whole.

The sad truth is that if your clients do not take the time to plan correctly the government is poised to do it for them poorly when the need arises.

State laws allows for a citizens to assure that their affairs are handled according to their wishes, but they must takes steps to document their intentions properly.

Proper documentation can be achieved through the execution of these three basic planning documents:

•  A durable Power of Attorney that permits an appointed agent (attorney-in-fact) to conduct financial transactions for your client under the terms expressed.
• A Health Care Directive (a/k/a – healthcare proxy, living will, durable power of attorney for health care) that appoints an agent to make health care decisions if the client becomes unable to do so.
• A Last Will & Testament that, upon death, allows the client to a) decide who will receive the assets owned by the client, b) appoint who will manage those assets, c) state preferences for the guardian of the client’s minor children, and d) appoint trustees of trusts created by the Will.

If these are not in place a client must understand that there is legislation in every state that will make these decisions for them.

Broaden the influence you have with and the comprehensiveness of the service you provide to your clients by asking them if they have taken the time have drafted at least the three fundamental planning documents listed above.

Click here for a sample prospecting letter that mentions this need in addition to your core services.

We do not practice law or offer legal advice (nor do you), but will look at a client’s planning documents to direct them better when they have them reviewed by legal counsel.  Give us a call.

Today’s clients understand the need for life insurance as a tool to use to protect their families, but they are concerned about taking on premium payments that will reduce their ability to save for retirement.

They also realize that Social Security, pension plans and other assets might not be enough to maintain the standard of living they are accustom to throughout retirement.

Clients and prospects need your assistance with finding solutions that will address all of their needs.

One strategy that can be used to help them meet both death benefit protection and retirement goals, is to use a combination of plans that consist of term and cash value life insurance.

Term life insurance plays an important role in the plan

Term life insurance reduces the costs associated with the total amount of life insurance necessary.

Cash value life insurance, when properly structured, also provides death benefit protection for the life of the insured, and has the potential to provide tax advantaged supplemental retirement income.

Clients want to protect their families and plan for retirement – they need your help.  By combining low cost term with cash accumulation life insurance, clients are protected against the losses associated with an early death, and provided with supplemental income during retirement.

To discuss the benefits of combining term and cash value life insurance further, contact your Life Sales Rep.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s an athlete, an entertainer or someone just famous for being famous; if you want to raise a brand’s profile quickly, hiring a celebrity is a proven way to do so.  However, fame can sometimes turn into notoriety.

The media always seeks to uncover celebrity details, and what is exposed is not always flattering.

Death, Disability, & Disgrace coverage provides support for brands that use celebrities or spokespeople to endorse and publicize their products or services.

If in the unfortunate event the insured causes the Brand/Company into being viewed negatively by the public, or the insured becomes disabled or pass away during the policy period, the policy provides up to an agreed sum, enabling the brand managers to recover costs and expenses of the insured campaign.

Consider this:

Take the case of a young performer, who just signed a tour contract and a promotion contract for a well-known beverage company. Both the promoter and the beverage company purchased a Death, Disability, & Disgrace policy to protect their investments and company images.

Halfway through the tour, the young performer had a nervous breakdown and committed numerous acts that were viewed negatively by the community. The tour had to be cancelled and the drink company’s advertising had to be pulled.

With the Death, Disability, & Disgrace policies, the promoter was able to recoup the cost of the cancelled shows and the drink company was able to recover costs and expenses of the insured campaign.

Brand Protection Insurance is ideal for Sponsorships, Spokespersons, Celebrity Endorsements and Personal Appearances.

Please contact your Income Protection Specialist today for more details today.

While educational seminars or direct mail campaigns are good lead generation tools, these campaigns can be costly and usually take time to yield considerable results.

So how can you build momentum and grow your Long-Term Care Insurance business without breaking the bank?

Follow these 3 simple steps:

• Identify price-sensitive consumers in your client/prospect database who are currently on the fence.  While these leads may have grown cold, the introduction of an affordable price point could warm ‘em right up.
• Schedule a brief meeting with each of the prospects you’ve spoken with in the past, to discuss the type of plan that would meet their needs and budget concerns.
• Use tailored needs-based marketing and support.  You stand a better chance of shortening your sales cycle and generating new business.

Make certain your clients have the right LTC plan in place to meet their needs.

Contact your LTCI Sales Rep for more information.

Policy review can be a great tool to get your foot in the door with a new or existing client.

You will often find that the current policy is grossly underperforming due to the decrease in interest rates and that the policy is in danger of lapsing without increased premium payments.

Upon review, if your client is having trouble keeping up with increased premium payments because of underperformance or keeping up with existing premiums because of fixed income limitations, talk to them about our variety of Term/UL Hybrid products.

Before the cash values are exhausted to help pay premiums for an already unaffordable policy, show your clients how to utilize a 1035 exchange into one of these Term/UL hybrid products to lower current premiums or purchase a paid up policy.

How does it work?

With carriers beginning to introduce Term/UL Hybrid products, it can give your client an option to have a policy that combines flexible premium structure of a UL with the affordability of Term Insurance.

Most of these products accept a variety of different premium payment patterns including a single payment from a 1035 exchange unlike a traditional Term plan.  They are purchased in guarantee periods of 10, 15, 20, 30 years but include a secondary guarantee that will run to age 121.  This secondary guarantee can be accessed by paying an increased premium if the client wishes to extend their coverage without undergoing medical or financial underwriting.

As more of our major carriers begin to replace their traditional Term products with these Term/UL hybrids, it opens the opportunity for significant 1035 exchanges to be made from an underperforming policy into these products in order to purchase a paid up plan or ascertain a greater death benefit.

If you have a client in mind that would benefit from one these hybrid products please or contact your Life Sales Desk to learn more!

Way back in time I had the good fortune to work in a firm whose in-house CPA happened to be the author of the joke column for a well-known accountant publication.

He well understood the contradiction between the nature of his editorial role and the droll reputation his profession has concerning things related to any form of humor.  Thinking about it always caused him to laugh.

He would add, “An accountant is an actuary with a personality.  I was going to become an attorney, but felt it would be worse to be thought a shyster!”  I think he used both of those lines in his column.

If the professional stereotype has some substance you don’t have to look far into the Internal Revenue Code to understand the cause, at least among tax accountants.

There is nothing funny about it, and you do have to look far and wide to find tax jokes, because there just aren’t any.  Such a morose work environment understandably takes a widespread toll on even the most affable of professions.

The only joke, perhaps, is the one played on taxpayers when the government set filing day as April 15.

Note that it is about as far as they could get from Election Day without being too obvious.  So by the time you vote in November the sting of taxation is far from your mind as you pull the lever for the folks who will use the next year’s April showers to rain on your parade.

The Opportunity

Right now the last thing most clients want to re-address is the return they just did address to the IRS.  But herein lies the planning and sales opportunities.

Left to themselves clients will wait until after next New Year’s to call and ask what you can do to reduce their income tax for this year.  Short of a couple of possible qualified money deductions, maybe, there’s not much to offer.

Now is the time to act and several of our core carriers have materials that make the process more focused and beneficial – with illustrations and commentary concerning how to walk through a client’s tax return pointing out opportunities and making suggestions for planning advantages.

The material might also be put to good use with CPAs, encouraging them to review the returns of clients they might send to you for planning help.

Besides, they are in such a good mood this time of year they may even respond to a couple of your jokes about insurance advisors.

With the economy the way it is, most would agree that saving for retirement in these trying economic times can be challenging to say the least.

According to a CNBC study, 36% of American’s making over $100,000 a year, said they aren’t contributing a dime to retirement savings such as a 401k or IRA account.

Now imagine trying to save for retirement if you are too sick or hurt to go to work and earn an income.  It quickly becomes next to impossible.

We have a carrier that offers a solution to help protect your client’s ultimate retirement goal – called DI Retirement Security.

DI Retirement Security allows your client to continue saving for retirement even if a disabling event should unexpectedly arise, by making a retirement contribution of up to 15% of their income or a maximum of $4,125 every month for the length of any long-term or total disability event.

Here are some sales approach tips:

• Sell Individual DI Insurance and DI Retirement Security together
• Approach clients who are at their maximum issue limits for Individual DI
• Approach clients who are contributing the maximum to their 401(k)
• Talk with business owners about providing DI Retirement Security as an employee benefit for executives and key employees

To find out more about how you can couple Individual DI Insurance with DI Retirement Security to help your client reach their ultimate goal of retirement, please contact your dedicated DI Associate today.

It may surprise you to know that cholesterol itself isn’t bad.  Cholesterol is one of the many substances created and used by our bodies to keep us healthy.  Some of the cholesterol we need is produced naturally while some of it comes from what we eat.

There are two types of cholesterol: HDL, the “good” cholesterol, and LDL, the “bad” cholesterol.  A healthy level of HDL helps protect against heart disease and stroke.

The total cholesterol-to-HDL ratio (chol/HDL ratio) is also an indicator in determining an individual’s risk of developing heart disease.  This ratio is obtained by dividing the total cholesterol value by the value of the HDL cholesterol. Healthy, higher levels of HDL – the “good” cholesterol – helps to drive down the ratio.  This is a good thing! Low ratios indicate a lower risk and, thus, are more desirable.

One of our A+ carriers no longer looks at total cholesterol in assessing risk but reviews only the cholesterol/HDL ratio instead.

Now clients with high total cholesterol but lower, favorable ratios can still qualify for best rates.

Consider these examples:

• Male client, age 45, NS
• Seeking $2 mil of Term, Cholesterol on exam was 298 with a Chol/HDL ratio of 5.0
• Does not take any medication

Underwriting outcome: PREFERRED BEST!

• Female client, age 60, NS
• Seeking $1 mil of UL,  Cholesterol on exam was 275 with a Chol/HDL ratio of 6.0
• Takes a prescribed cholesterol medication

Underwriting outcome:  PREFERRED!

• Male client, age 52, NS
• Seeking $500k of Term,  Cholesterol on exam was 260 with a Chol/HDL ratio of 7.0
• Takes a prescribed cholesterol medication

Underwriting outcome:  NON SMOKER PLUS!

*Total cholesterol cannot exceed 300

We also have other top rated carriers who use only cholesterol/HDL ratios in their underwriting criteria.

Contact our Underwriting Team today for more information and let us help you boost your sales this quarter!

Any fan of the novelist Tom Clancy is probably familiar with these words uttered by the wife of his chief protagonist, Jack Ryan.  Ryan is constantly needling Dr. Caroline “Cathy” Ryan about her compulsive habit of making notes about everything as a method for reminder and also a simple record of events.

She defends the practice as the best way to keep track of everyone’s commitments and intentions, especially given their hectic lifestyle – in that book he happens to be Vice President and she a busy physician, both with young children in tow.

Creative marketers and seminar sales-folk have built and sold entire programs of self-discipline and personal organization around the concept.

But the government of the state in which you live is far ahead of both.

Regarding your client’s planning intentions and goals; all 50 states have legislation in effect that effectively says, “If they aren’t written down, then they didn’t happen!”

Who Needs Estate Planning?

The fact is that everyone needs estate planning, not just the wealthy.  Everyone has concerns about what will happen to themselves, their survivors and their belongings in the event of any number of life-changing events.

Critical to the assurance that all will go as desired in each circumstance is the execution of at least three written planning documents.  If they don’t exist then the State will do your clients’ planning for them.

Contact us to discusses these documents in further detail so you can better encourage every client to take necessary steps for their completion in conjunction with their advisors.