Annuities

We are a better option for insurance and financial…

Presented by David Corwin As long as we remember that clients can now go online for insurance services, we will need to solidify long term relationships, get more qualified referrals, and keep our industry, that we all love, in good standing with the public at large. What do I mean by that? I have worked with literally hundreds, if not thousands of agents for over 18 years in the business, and there is always a constant; we all want to know for what the client is looking. I don’t mean that we should be experts in every facet of the insurance industry, since that’s a very tall task; however, insurance and financial professionals need to further their education so they are more knowledgeable when it comes to advanced cases. I know from personal experience that it takes a while to earn a CLU or ChFC, so in the meantime, you may want to learn a few key things to, dare I say, be dangerous. Let me give you a few items that could help: 50-80 year olds Due to the experiences they’ve had thus far, there is a good chance they have dealt with many challenges in their lives. Some keywords you want to use with this age group would be: probate, estate planning, taxes, lifetime income, wills, trusts, their children and grandchildren. 30-50 year olds With this age group you need to concentrate on these keywords: death, their children (especially guardianship options), tax-free income, estate planning, trusts, retirement planning and college funding. As I said, you don’t have to be an expert, but remember that more than likely, you may know way more (even with Google) than your client knows and they will be far better off than what they’d be on their own.
Life Insurance

The College Funding Option NOBODY is Talking About

Presented by Brian Leising If you work in the college planning market, you are well aware of strategies to move assets or overfund permanent life insurance policies for tax-free cash.  What’s better than rearranging existing dollars into better funding vehicles?  How about FREE MONEY!  One of our life insurance carriers actually offers college scholarships to children and grandchildren of policyholders.  Here is a link with more details on Foresters competitive scholarship program.  They specialize in low face amount non-med term and final expense whole life.  This would be a great addition to existing college planning and a great fit for families without the resources for larger college funding plans.
Annuities

Are Income Riders Always the Best Approach?

Presented by David Corwin In my opinion, Income Riders are not always the best approach.  I will agree that they do give the client some satisfaction in knowing how much their income would be.  However, the power in the knowing I don’t think mitigates the fees, coupled with the outrageously long surrender periods that are sold most of the time.  What happens in most cases is that the agent presents only one product and doesn’t look at the different options that would lessen the surrender period, thus giving the client more choices at some point and not locking them up for 16 years or longer. It’s an absolute certainty that if you show more than one option you will make more sales and the client will be more satisfied with their decision.  Now, I will admit that it might be a slower sales process, but shoving a product down their throat doesn’t do them any favors either. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.  I ran a top carrier product with the highest bonus and rollup rate on a 50 year old male with $100,000 and let it cook for 10 years before I started income and came up with $9,845.59 in annual income.  A green to red apple comparison with the same income rollup without a bonus would only reduce the income in 10 years to $8,950.54.  That’s less than $900 and the kicker would be that the surrender period is reduced by 6 years. It is also widely known that an indexed annuity without a bonus performance should, and in most cases, does outperform bonus indexed annuities.  With that in mind, the client will undoubtedly have more money in the long run anyway.  All I’m really talking about is choices.  Give your client choices and they will make the right one the majority of the time, and you will have a more satisfied client.