Life Insurance

College Funding with Life Insurance – Part One

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.
Life Insurance

QUICK TWO-COLUMN LIFE INSURANCE NEEDS ANALYSIS SYSTEM – Part…

Presented by Brian Leising This is the short-form life insurance needs analysis system I use with life insurance prospects and clients.  The ten minute conversation achieves the same answers as an inch-thick comprehensive analysis, without the fancy full-color report.  Here’s how it works: In part one, you were instructed to ask your client to take a piece of paper and draw a vertical line down the middle.  The heading on the left should be FIXED EXPENSES (reviewed in the first article).  The heading on the right should be ONGOING INCOME NEEDS.  Ask your client if their fixed expenses were paid off, would they be able to maintain their standard of living on the remaining spouse’s income?  If they hesitate or are unsure, suggest that when one spouse passes away, the remaining spouse and children will need roughly 70% of the former combined income to maintain their standard of living.  Usually they will need some additional income. Let’s use that 70% number for the right column.  Add the incomes of the couple and take that number times 70%.  That’s the income they still need if one passes away.  For example, if you had a couple with one spouse making $60,000 and the other making $40,000, one remaining spouse would still need $70,000 total.  That translates to an additional income need of $10,000 if the $40,000 spouse dies, or $30,000 if the $60,000 spouse dies. How can we use life insurance to provide that income stream?  I like to use easy math.  Let’s say we need to generate $30,000 per year.  A lump sum of $300,000 earning 10% interest would generate $30,000/year without reducing the principal ($30,000 times 10).  A lump sum of $600,000 earning just 5% interest would do the same (half the interest rate, double the lump sum).  You could split the difference if the client expects a rate of return in between, $450,000 at 7.5% interest.  Use your judgment and ask your client what return they would reasonably expect to earn based on their past investing experience. Once you have the numbers from both columns, add them together to arrive at the amount of coverage your client just told you they need.
Life Insurance

QUICK TWO-COLUMN LIFE INSURANCE NEEDS ANALYSIS SYSTEM – Part…

Presented by Brian Leising This is the short-form life insurance needs analysis system I use with life insurance prospects and clients.  The ten minute conversation achieves the same answers as an inch-thick comprehensive analysis, without the fancy full-color report.  Here’s how it works: Ask your client to take a piece of paper and draw a vertical line down the middle.  The heading on the left should be FIXED EXPENSES.  The heading on the right should be ONGOING INCOME NEEDS.  Start on the left.  Everybody needs funds to cover their final expenses (casket, burial, cremation).  Ask you client if they have any idea what that costs.  Maybe they had a loved one pass away recently and know current expenses in your area.  If not, I suggest $10,000-$20,000.  Next, ask them to list all debts they would like to pay off upon death. The largest will be their mortgage if they own their home.  Automobiles and credit cards should make up the remainder of the debts.  If the client has children, ask how they plan to fund college tuition.  If that is in their plans now, you can include an amount to cover that need in this column.  You could use other resources (outside the scope of this article) to determine what future tuition may cost.  You may want to revisit that portion at another time if time is a concern. Add up the numbers on the left column.  Ask your client if all those things were paid off, would they be able to maintain their standard of living on the remaining spouse’s income?  If they hesitate or are unsure, suggest that when one spouse passes away, the remaining spouse and children will need roughly 70% of the former combined income to maintain their standard of living.  Usually they will need some additional income. We will take a look at those ongoing income needs in the right column next week.
Life Insurance

More Coverage without More Underwriting – A Three Part…

Presented by Brian Leising Part 3 Conversions (renounce your old life) Looking for ways to help your clients obtain more life insurance coverage without the hassle of additional underwriting?  Converting a term policy to a permanent plan avoids underwriting and typically pays you a new commission on the permanent plan.  Look through your client files for clients with older term life policies.  If they have no permanent coverage, discuss their conversion options.  For a traditional conversion, a client may convert all or part of their term plan to any permanent plan offered by the company at the time of conversion.  If they have a return of premium term policy, they may be able to obtain a reduced paid-up plan in lieu of receiving their premiums back.  If you don’t like the options the carrier presents, MetLife offers a cross-company conversion plan.  You can convert another carrier’s term to one of their permanent plans.  Also, don’t forget about child riders.  Companies usually allow children covered by riders to convert the rider to a permanent plan, all without additional underwriting.
Life Insurance

More Coverage without More Underwriting – A Three Part…

Presented by Brian Leising Part 2 No Exams (Wish school was like that?) Looking for ways to help your clients obtain more life insurance coverage without the hassle of additional underwriting? Why not consider non-med or simplified issue policies? While the pricing is comparable to a fully underwritten standard or slightly table-rated policy, the underwriting turnaround is much faster, usually within one week. Clients are also limited to lower face amounts with a cap of $250,000 commonly. This is a great fit for those clients who need some coverage but are unwilling or unable to complete a full paramedical exam and labs. Many of our carriers even offer this simplified underwriting process on their otherwise fully underwritten products. This is usually limited to lower face amounts, but one company offers no-exam underwriting for up to one million dollars of death benefit! Don’t overlook this opportunity in the right situations.