SELL MORE INDEX UNIVERSAL LIFE BY ASKING FOR LESS…
Presented by Brian Leising When presenting Index Universal Life (IUL), we usually position the product as an either/or decision. You either place your retirement dollars in an IUL or continue placing them in your 401(k). When it works, this all or nothing approach is great. What happens when this approach fails? Do you think some people are afraid to place all their eggs in one basket? Consider this: don’t ask for all their eggs, just a few. Here is the second way you can position IUL as a retirement plan supplement: Consider positioning IUL as a resource to tap during down markets. During retirement, people need a steady income whether the stock market is up or down. If a client withdraws money from a qualified plan invested in stocks when the market is down, they are selling at a loss. This has a detrimental effect on their total funds over time. What if they did not have to sell at a loss? What if they had an alternative fund to draw from in those down years? Here is an example: The years 1973 through 1993 included five years with stock market losses. Using this strategy, a client would only need their IUL to cover five years of loans or withdrawals, not all 20. Since clients pay taxes on withdrawals from qualified plans, not on life insurance loans, the net amount needed from loans is actually lower than their qualified plan withdrawals. You don’t need to ask for nearly as much money to fund five years of a reduced income need. It should be much easier to redirect a portion of a client’s retirement contributions than all their contributions. How can these two ideas presenting IUL as a retirement supplement lead to more IUL sales? 1) Prospective clients tend to be more receptive to redirecting or moving some of their money rather than all of it. This will help you close more sales. 2) Once they see the benefits of having an IUL, clients will ask to place even more money into the contract. They will even think it was their idea.SELL MORE INDEX UNIVERSAL LIFE BY ASKING FOR LESS…
Presented by Brian Leising When presenting Index Universal Life (IUL), we usually position the product as an either/or decision. You either place your retirement dollars in an IUL or continue placing them in your 401(k). When it works, this all or nothing approach is great. What happens when this approach fails? Do you think some people are afraid to place all their eggs in one basket? Consider this: don’t ask for all their eggs, just a few. Here are two ways you can position IUL as a retirement plan supplement. One way to position IUL as a retirement plan supplement requires knowledge of social security and tax planning. The IUL becomes one of three components in a comprehensive retirement plan. To make this work you need to understand two features of the social security program: 1) if a client receiving social security benefits also receives taxable income, their social security income may be taxable; 2) social security benefits increase if a person waits until age 70 to receive benefits. If your client has sufficient resources, they can maximize their social security income and minimize taxes simultaneously. Here are the steps to make this happen:- When the client retires, they should withdraw money from their qualified plan first. Reduce the fund as much as possible.
- At age 70 the client begins social security payments.
- If they still have money in their qualified plan after age 70, they will need to take required minimum distributions. For most people, RMD’s will be low enough to not affect the taxation of their social security benefits. Of course, social security and RMD’s together may not provide enough funds for your client’s living expenses.
- Now their IUL can help. The client can take tax-free loans from their policy with no effect on the taxation of their social security benefits. If their qualified retirement plan was liquidated, they would pay no Federal income taxes for the rest of their life.
Three ways for a Property and Casualty Agency to…
Presented by Brian Leising Are you concerned about losing clients to your competition? Looking for new ways to boost your retention rates and grow revenue? The average client retention rate is 10% higher when agencies cross-sell products. Many agencies fail to effectively cross-sell life insurance because they do just a few basic things the wrong way. You need a plan. Here is the third item that all successful agencies use to sell life insurance to their auto and homeowners clients: Use online applications. You probably use these for your other lines of business already. Nobody likes more paperwork. You can be physically in front of your client, or speak with them over the phone. Either way, the online process speeds up the underwriting system and eliminates paperwork errors. Not familiar with this process? Check out a how-to video and then listen to what a once-reluctant online app adopter has to say about the process.Three ways for a Property and Casualty Agency to…
Presented by Brian Leising Are you concerned about losing clients to your competition? Looking for new ways to boost your retention rates and grow revenue? The average client retention rate is 10% higher when agencies cross-sell products. Many agencies fail to effectively cross-sell life insurance because they do just a few basic things the wrong way. You need a plan. Here is the second of three items that all successful agencies use to sell life insurance to their auto and homeowners clients:- Understand life insurance must be sold pro-actively. Selling auto and homeowners insurance involves sales skills, but selling life insurance requires a different skill set, a different approach. People are not required to purchase life insurance. The lowest price is not going to make the sale. You have to make them realize they need the coverage. You cannot throw out numbers of different coverage amounts and expect them to pick one. You need a system in place to determine the amount and type of coverage needed for your client’s situation. It really doesn’t matter if you use a computer program or a quick analysis on a napkin, have a system to use and use it, every time. In the end, the computerized systems and the shorthand napkin systems arrive at nearly the same coverage amounts. People only buy life insurance for two reasons, they love someone or they owe someone. All systems take these reasons into account. We tend to look at them as debts to pay off (owe someone) and income to provide (love someone). Looking for a system to use?
- Financial Brokerage quoting engine needs analysis
- Calculate Your Needs from lifehappens.org
- My two-column shorthand system (article coming soon!)
- The four zeroes (0000) approach (article coming soon!)