Life Insurance

More Final Expense Commercials

Presented by Jim Linn Have you noticed more and more commercials about Final Expense insurance? In the last 2 months, I have seen more commercials about Final Expense insurance than the last 2-3 years combined. The reasoning is that currently 10,000 people are turning 65 each day and carriers are focusing on their life-changing event.  Financial Brokerage offers Final Expense products in addition to traditional plans. Final Expense products are underwritten on a simplified basis, which entails a pre-screen application to determine eligibility, RX check, MIB check, telephone interview (carrier specific), with no exam required. In most cases, policies are issued within 7-10 business days. However, no two Final Expense products are the same. It is specific to the underlying medical conditions of your client. Your client may not be eligible for one carrier or offered a modified plan, whereas, another carrier may offer your client a first day benefit with no waiting period. For example, a client with COPD would be ineligible or offered a modified product by some carriers, but one carrier will offer them a first day product. It is important to ask your clients their medical history, specifically when they were first diagnosed, are they taking medications currently or have they had a reoccurrence of any previous medical conditions.  Financial Brokerage does have a Final Expense quoting tool on our website for your use, but the tool specifically provides premium amounts, with limited underwriting. I would encourage you to contact your life marketer regarding your Final Expense clients so they can identify the best carrier and plan for your client to provide them the best possible product. Just because a specific carrier shows a premium does not mean they would be eligible. Save your client and yourself time by giving us a call at 800-397-9999.
Long Term Care and Disability Insurance

Why You Need to Sell DI Regardless of Your…

Presented by Tim Dreher Many agents and advisors that I talk to just like you are not what I would consider “generalists” but have specialized in one type of insurance product or service. Regardless of your focus, Income Replacement insurance is a product that you should also be talking to all of your clients about to help them protect their most valuable asset…their ability to earn an income. Some of you focus your practice on the sale of life insurance. One of the reasons that you sell life insurance is to provide dollars to replace an income in the event of a death. Your client’s chance of a disability are so much greater than a premature death. Disability Income insurance would also benefit your client by providing income replacement in the event of a disabling accident or illness. Consider combining a death benefit with a living benefit to provide complete and comprehensive coverage for your client. Statistically, you are 16 times more likely to lose a home to foreclosure due to a disability than to a death. If the focus of your insurance practice is on selling group benefits, then you probably already know the importance of protecting your client’s most valuable asset, their ability to earn a paycheck. But do you also realize that many times group long term disability plans, although a good start, might not provide, due to limited benefit amounts and benefit duration, adequate protection in replacing a large portion of your client’s income in the event of a disability? Additionally, group DI benefits are normally either paid by the employer or are paid by the employee on a pre-tax basis. In this case, any benefits paid out to an employee because of a disability would likely be taxable, thus reducing their benefits even more. Supplementing their group LTD with an individual policy is an excellent way to make sure that the client is adequately covered. For those of you that focus on retirement planning, a disability that causes a loss of income can have a devastating effect on your client’s ability to continue to fund their retirement accounts. There are several carriers in the DI marketplace that have income replacement plans that not only help take care of your client’s monthly living expenses, but will also continue to contribute to your client’s retirement account while disabled. That becomes a double win. Finally, many of you are investment advisors and money managers. For most of your clients, their most valuable asset is their ability to earn a living. As their advisor, it should be properly managed and protected just as you would any other asset. Many wealth management advisors charge a fee of roughly 2% of assets under management. Similarly, in most cases, a properly designed Income Replacement policy (DI) can also be as little as 2% of your client’s income. There are many reasons to talk about DI with your clients. It helps you to diversify your portfolio of products and it’s also a great door opener to many sought- after markets, such as high income individuals and business owners. It’s also a great way to ensure that, in the event of an accident or illness that prevents your client from working, they would still have the ability to continue to pay their bills, including the premiums on those other products and services they already have with you.
Life Insurance

New Benefits

Per Gary Peterson A new form of life insurance has hit the market.  Not only can the family benefit through a Death Benefit, but the insured can now receive benefits through Living Benefits, Income Riders and Return of Premium (ROP).  Several carriers offer one or all of these benefits for you to give your clients options and flexibility.  Give us a call at 800-397-9999 to discuss the many ways to assist you in your insurance business.
Life Insurance

The Eight Elements of Extended Care Riders – Element…

Presented by Brian Leising Finding the right formula for each client Not all extended care riders on life insurance policies are created equally. Do you know the differences? Different combinations will appeal to different clients more than others. Here are eight of the major distinguishing features among insurance companies offering extended care riders. All include some combination of the eight elements. This allows you to find the right formula for each client.
Premium Payments Benefit Qualification Benefit Amount
Pf Payment Frequency Pa Payment Amount
Lg Lapse Guarantee Tc Tax Code Pm Payment Method
Wp Waiver of Premium Ep Elimination Period If Inflation
Element 3 – Waiver of Premium Most insurance companies waive premiums while the insured is on claim and qualifying for benefits under an extended care rider. However, some still require premiums to be paid and others waive only the premium for the extended care rider, not the base life insurance policy. If the premium is not waived, a client could continue to pay premiums from the same resource they have always used or redirect part of their extended care benefit to pay the premium. This could pose a problem if the cost of care greatly exceeds their policy benefit and they have to use their own funds. Most clients will expect their premiums to be waived upon filing a claim. Look for Element 4 – Tax Code and Benefit Qualification in April
Long Term Care and Disability Insurance

“Thanks, but no thanks. I already have DI through…

Presented by Tim Dreher I’m sure that most of you who market Disability Income Protection have heard this before, perhaps even many times. Personally, I actually like it when I hear that response from potential clients. Either it tells me that they were savvy enough to recognize the need for Income Protection and did something about it, or it was provided to them by their employer as a “one size fits all” benefit that may not fit their individual needs. Either way, I have an opportunity to expand on the DI discussion. Let’s take a moment to look at some of the reasons that an employer provided plan may not be all it’s cracked up to be. With an employer sponsored plan you normally have to take whatever plan design and benefits the employer offers regardless of whether the employee is paying for a portion of or even the entire premium. In my experience, most of these plans can have very limited monthly benefit amounts, limited or no riders (such as residual or partial disability benefits) and limited benefit periods (generally 2-3 years in length), even though many disabilities can last longer than 5 years, and in some instances, even for a lifetime. Employers, unfortunately, have to choose plans that fit the masses. As an example, what might be a good fit for a dental hygienist is probably not the best plan for a dentist. Another point to consider is that those individuals that are in occupations that rely on commissions or bonuses for a large part of their income might also come up short as most employer provided plans use only the individual’s base salary when calculating any benefit payouts. This can leave those employees woefully underinsured. Portability is another reason that an employer sponsored plan might not be the best fit. An employer sponsored plan typically ends when the job ends, whereas an individual plan follows that employee to their next job or even to self-employment. The risk remains the same so why shouldn’t the insurance plan remain the same also? Finally, in my opinion, perhaps the biggest reason to consider an individual plan is how employer sponsored plans are taxed versus an individual plan. If an employer is providing the disability plan and paying the premiums then any benefits received from the plan would more than likely be taxable. This also holds true if the employee is paying the premiums out of their own pocket but on a pre-tax basis, then again any benefits received would likely be taxable. This could possibly mean a 20-40% reduction in any benefits received after the benefits are taxed. An employee thinking they are adequately insured could potentially find out the hard way (at the time of claim) that they are only getting a portion of what they thought they would receive. The bottom line is that most employer provided plans can, and do, provide some benefits, which is better than no benefits at all. However, an individual DI plan is very flexible and can be tailored to provide additional coverage and fill in those gaps that an employer’s plan might be missing.