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“Can we still use the same exam?”

We often hear this question in underwriting.  Perhaps a client recently placed coverage and is considering applying for more.  Or maybe they did not receive the rate class they applied for and wish to apply to a different carrier.

Whatever the scenario, it’s always good to hear that it’s not too late to use the same exam!

For several carriers:

Ages 0-70:  Paramed, blood and urine specimens and EKGs are often good for up to 12 months
Ages 71 and over:  Paramed and blood and urine specimens are good for up to 6 months.  In some cases, EKGs are good for up to 12 months

*Current medical declarations or good health statement must be within 90 days of policy issue.

Call the Underwriting Team today to find out more!

Everyone knows how hard insurance professionals work to prospect, set appointments, complete the fact-finding process, run quotes, close the deal, fill out and send in forms all just to submit a single Disability Case.

The last thing you want is for an application to be held up in underwriting because information may be incomplete or worse yet, declined because of medical issues.

It’s important to remember that the information required by underwriters helps the insurance company manage risk, which in turn helps to keep prices and products competitive across the market.

Here are 7 ways you can help your cases move through underwriting faster and more efficiently:

Before moving forward with an application, know your client.  Take the time to ask about their medical history, health concerns, and current medications.  If there are red flags, allow our Underwriting Department go to go to work for you.  We can pre-screen the client and direct you to a carrier that might be lenient with that particular medical concern.
Answer all questions on the application and provide full details such as occupation and job duties as well as physician name, address and phone number.  Make sure all required fields are completed.  Incomplete apps may delay your case.
Send a copy of the most recent illustration reflecting the correct occupation class, benefits, discounts and premiums.
Attach all necessary financial documentation.
When possible, submit the case for simplified underwriting with no blood, urine, EKGs, or APS required.  Typically, if the client is between the ages of 18-50 and looking for a monthly benefit amount up to $10,000 this is the way to go.  This program averages a 48-hour turnaround time once the application and TeleApp interviews are competed and received.
While not required, it’s always helpful to attach a cover letter that discusses the details of the particular case.  This helps to give the Underwriting Department a clear picture of the case, particularly if there are any unusual medical concerns or job occupation descriptions.
You can complete the telephone health interview at any time.  The application does not have to be in-house for the phone interview to be conducted and typically takes less than 20 minutes.

The tips on this list will save you valuable time and help you grow your business.

Contact your dedicated Disability Specialist today to learn more about how you can streamline the underwriting process!

The yields in today’s marketplace on traditional short-term and long-term savings instruments are at an all time low.

Individuals are looking for efficient strategies to grow their money that they have worked hard to accumulate, but fear high risk in the markets.

There is a way to accomplish long-term growth and minimize the exposure to the increased volatility of the markets – Indexed Universal Life Insurance products.

How does this work with a real prospect in mind?

Indexed Universal Life has downside protection against poor market performance.

For example, if the S&P goes down 20% the policy will protect against loses with a 0.00% floor.  The value in the policy will not be reduced by the loss in the index.  If the market goes up 20% then the client will realize a gain up to the interest rate cap inside the policy, which can be as high as 13 %.

The Indexed Universal Life products also allow the individual to participate in an index of their choice within the carriers offering, which is usually the S&P 500.  The client may also have options to participate in the Hang Seng and the EURO STOXX 50.

If you have prospects that are creating a college savings account, retaining a key employee or trying to compensate high level executives, Indexed Universal Life is a way to help them secure and plan for their futures.

For more information on Indexed Universal Life products please contact your Life Sales Marketing Manager today!

Not only are women living longer than ever, they’re also the target market that will drive your LTCi sales further.

Women typically have spent some time during their life taking care of another person – a daughter, sister, wife, mother or friend.  As they look to their futures, they must consider how they are going to take care of themselves.

With 70% of people over the age of 65 requiring assistance due to physical or cognitive impairments, and women’s life expectancy being 83.1 years, they have a higher chance of needing long-term care.

Why Long-Term Care Insurance?

Planning ahead can help protect your clients’ assets and allow them to get care covered in a variety of settings, including within the comfort of their own home.

LTCi is especially important for women who may be single, divorced, or widowed as they do not have a built-in spousal caregiver as some of your other clients may.

Talk to your female clients about taking the important step to consider how the need for long-term care could impact their future.

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.

Alarmingly, nearly 70% of business owners are not covered under the same Workers’ Comp policy they use for their employees.  If they were seriously injured on the job, what would they lean on?  Medical Insurance doesn’t cover lost income, and pulling revenue out of the corporation is dicey.

An affordable income protection policy to help your business owner clients protect their income from injury and illness – both on and off the job – is available.

Business Overhead Expense Insurance will reimburse the business owner for all fixed expenses – keeping the doors open while they recover.

Every business owner who carries Workers’ Comp Insurance is an opportunity – ask if they have a plan in place for themselves.  Already covered?  Compare the cost.  And remind them that even a striving company may not survive long without a chief executive overseeing operations.

Business owners aren’t alone – Federal Employees, Independent Contractors, Private Home Domestic Workers, Farm Owners/ Laborers, Maritime Workers, and Railroad Employees are just some of the other occupations also at risk.

Contact your Disability Income Specialist for a case design custom to each of your client’s needs.

With several of our core carriers offering their own flavor of Indexed UL today, positioning your clients in the best possible light for retirement income can be a confusing and lengthy process.

It’s a full time job knowing all the moving parts for each Indexed UL product.

Understanding how the products work and how to sell them most effectively can be a confusing and lengthy process.  We have spent many hours working with clients to help them better understand the product’s crediting and accumulation strategies.

However, the second part of educating a client regarding Indexed UL is, understanding the moving parts during the distribution from an IUL policy.

What is the best way to distribute the funds from the policy?

Most Indexed UL policies allow for either fixed or variable loans.  The fixed loans have a stated interest rate locked in from the policy issue date on the outstanding loan amount so there is no question about the cost of the loan.

After a number of years, (typically 15) the IUL product will often provide for a “Wash Loan” or “Zero Cost Loan” where the amount being charged on the loan is the same as the interest being credited to the cash value.

The more commonly illustrated policy loan distribution is the “Indexed Loan” or “Preferred Loan”

Using a positive arbitrage (the illustrated interest crediting rate for cash value is higher than the interest rate being charged on outstanding policy loans) allows an illustration to reflect a gain on the outstanding loan rather than a charge.  Because this can make an illustration more attractive due to the higher cash value accumulations during the distribution phase, it is what many producers prefer to show to their clients.

It is imperative that producers understand how these loans features work and communicate to their clients that they also have the potential for a negative arbitrage which can create considerable interest due on outstanding policy loans.

Depending on the client’s risk tolerance and whether they plan on paying outstanding policy loan interest as it accrues or not, either policy loan option can be appropriate.

Be careful – if you do not have a full understanding of how the clients approach their policy loans and simply elect the variable loans due for the potential of a positive arbitrage, you may be putting the client in a difficult position later if the loan interest charged exceeds the interest crediting rate for cash value and the amount available for distribution decreases well below your clients anticipated income amount.

Producers selling IUL products and highlighting the ability to generate an income stream from the policy should have a thorough understanding of the loan provisions and be able to help their clients to better understand which feature is most appropriate.

Take the time to refer to the product guide you are illustrating to see what the variable loan interest rates are tied to.  What are the Cap rates for Variable loans?  What is the Fixed Loan rate and is it Participating?  This can be valuable information to share with your client when illustrating Indexed UL products with Distributions.

For more information, contact your Insurance Marketing Manager today.

This A+ carrier’s underwriting guideline provides one more option for your client with a less than favorable family history.

When it comes to underwriting, this carrier takes an aggressive approach and looks closely at controlled impairments.

Let’s take a look at this Underwriting Case Study:

55-year-old male
Non-tobacco user
Applying for $5,000,000 of UL coverage
Receives annual checkups from his Primary Care Physician
Favorable build, blood pressure readings and lab work including lipids
Current medications include Lipitor and Lisinopril
Recent, imaged study recorded as normal in medical records
Father died at age 58 of coronary artery disease

Their offer:  Preferred!

In this case study of family history with heart disease, this carrier can apply a credit for individuals that have one single family member that died prior to age 60 due to heart disease.  With good risk factors and favorable cardiac work up (stress test, EBCT), a family history of death prior to age 60 from heart disease can qualify for a potential Preferred!

Contact our Life Underwriting Department to learn more about how we can help you make that next sale!

If a severe disability struck, the kind where it’s impossible to perform life’s most basic activities without assistance, would your clients have enough income to get by?

Traditional income protection would provide approximately 60% of your client’s pre-disability earnings. However, your client’s expenses are likely to dramatically increase should a catastrophic disability occur.

By adding the Catastrophic Disability Benefit (CDB) rider to their individual Disability Income (DI) Insurance policy, clients could receive up to 100% of their pre-disability income to help cover expenses in those types of situations.

The rider offers a minimum monthly benefit of $500, up to a maximum benefit of $8,000 (depending on the client’s income).  AND it is in addition to the base monthly benefit.

Together, the rider and base policy benefit replace a higher percentage of a client’s income to help them account for the extra expenses that often accompany a catastrophic event.

What’s Covered?

CDB benefits could be paid if your client is ADL disabled, cognitively impaired or presumptively disabled.

Contact your DI Sales Rep to learn more about income protection, and the advantages of the Catastrophic Disability Benefit rider.

Devotees of the popular PBS series Downton Abbey felt the pangs of separation anxiety as they approached the final episode.  This generation’s version of Upstairs, Downstairs has done much in the process of its narrative to enlighten viewers with an inside look at the workings of a great English manor home and the hierarchy among the 40-50 servants required to keep the show on the road.

Quickly evident is the fact that if all goes as it should in the house it’s because the butler did it.

He was the highest ranking among the help.  From his command center located in his pantry and “. . . in his gentleman’s black suit he radiated calm and confidence upwards and absolute authority downwards.”

Most were unmarried so they could devote full and full-time attention to the management of all the people and the maintenance of all the property that lay within.  So serious were some regarding the security of their employer’s valuables that they slept in beds that blocked the doorway to the locked cabinet holding the family silver, glass and plate.  So complete and comprehensive was the coordination of affairs by a competent butler that the master concerned himself with little except where to find and sit at the table come dinnertime.

In 1890 the average annual salary for a butler, in addition to room, board, clothing and gratuities he often received from vendors grateful for the household’s business, was around $8000 in today’s dollars.

The butler has a couple things in common with the contemporary homemaker/stay-at-home parent

The importance of both is usually unrecognized and neither is paid very much.  Consequently there is a viable market among those who make a full-time profession of creating and maintaining an environment in which to raise children.

Because ‘homemaker’ is not a paid position little thought is given to replacement value and the cost of “hiring out” all the responsibilities should a “non-working” spouse pass away.

It’s usually an easy sale because economical term insurance provides the needed protection with guaranteed premiums until the children reach maturity.

Determining an amount is a two-step process

The bread-winner in the home should have adequate coverage (see the easy and reasonable criteria used by carriers in the short article here).  Then let us find the best carrier who will allow an equal amount on the homemaker.

Carrier choice can also save bumps in the road if the facts in the case are outside the norm

Example:  In a recent case the bad daughter dropped off the grid leaving her two children with her retired Mom who took responsibility for her grandchildren.  The household was supported by the working good daughter, who was single and adequately insured.  Rather than allow insurance on Mom equal to the good daughter’s coverage the carrier proposed only a multiple of Mom’s Social Security income.

Their offer was for less than $50,000, proving again that there is more to a term sale than a spreadsheet!

Suggesting to a household that it members should consider coverage on its domestic key person addresses a vital need and can also be a springboard to many other sales and marketing opportunities.

Contact me for assistance and suggestions at 706-354-0401 or tom@cpsadvancedmarkets.com.

Placing the right policy, for the optimal amount, with the correct details, can be more challenging than it seems.

Learning the common pitfalls and how to avoid them will not only help your clients get the coverage they need, but will also help you become a better producer.

10 of the most common mistakes are:

Naming your client’s estate as the beneficiary.
Failing to name at least two “backup” beneficiaries.
Failing to check up on your client’s policies at least every three years.
Matching the problem with the wrong solution or type of life insurance.
Your client’s amount of personal coverage is inadequate for their family’s financial security goals.
The policy is payable outright to your client’s minor children or grandchildren.
All the insurance on your client’s life is owned by that same client.
You haven’t checked to see if your client’s business or professional practice can provide insurance on a more efficient basis.
Forgetting that term insurance (including group term coverage) runs out and/or becomes prohibitively expensive to carry.
Purchasing life insurance as though it were a commodity.

Read the full article here to learn not only why these pitfalls present a problem for you and your clients, but also the solution to avoiding them in the future.

Your Life Sales Representative is the ultimate resource to placing the proper policies quickly and with ease.  Contact us today.