Life Insurance

High Deductible Survival Plan – Part Three

Presented by Brian Leising In parts one and two, I explained how a basic term life policy with a critical illness provision could help your clients pay their health insurance deductibles in the event of a major illness. In this part, I will introduce methods and tools you can use to market this new term life policy to your existing clients. Since we’re talking about your existing health insurance clients, you already know who your target audience will be and have their contact information. Why not stay in touch with your clients the old fashioned way, through the mail? Better yet, start using an e-mail campaign system. The graphic design team at Financial Brokerage has developed a piece you can use with your clients to drive interest in this concept. We can work with you to have this same piece emailed to your clients on a regular basis. If you are not taking advantage of social media to stay in touch with clients and find new ones, now is a great time to start. Posting helpful advice on your business Facebook page, Linked-in and Twitter accounts costs you absolutely nothing. If you are not familiar with these free online platforms, our Guide to using Social Media can help you get started. All of these resources are available for agents contracted through Financial Brokerage. We can also provide access to the insurance carriers that currently offer critical illness benefits in your state. There is no reason to make your clients wait until they are dead to benefit from their term life insurance policy.
Life Insurance

High Deductible Survival Plan – Part Two

Presented by Brian Leising In part one, I discussed the needs many people have for both money to pay high health insurance deductibles and life insurance coverage. What if a life insurance policy could provide a traditional death benefit and a living benefit that clients could use to cover their deductible? Such policies do exist. In fact, one major insurance company lists cancer, heart attack, stroke, major organ transplant, end stage renal failure, ALS, blindness, paralysis and loss of two or more limbs as qualifying conditions to accelerate part of the death benefit. How much money could they get from their life insurance policy if one of these things happened? Here is an example from that same insurance company estimating how much money a 40 year old male with a $500,000 death benefit might receive: Age at Claim                                 SEVERITY Minor             Moderate             Severe 50                           $93,273         $184,293            $315,259 60                           $72,065         $187,309            $349,915 70                           $1,000           $63,466              $298,004 The carrier will categorize the client’s condition at the time of claim as minor, moderate or severe based on how that condition affects their life expectancy. The more severe the condition, the more money they receive. Any funds paid to the client while living reduce the death benefit dollar for dollar. Your clients no longer have to wait until they die to benefit from their term life insurance policy. How much does something like this cost? Here’s an example: For a non-smoking, preferred plus male, age 40 seeking $500,000 on a 30 year term life, the lowest price is $54.50/month. Another company with a one-time living benefit option costs only 36 cents more. A third company offers a traditional term plan that comes within a couple of dollars, with their living benefit product running only slightly more at $66/month. If your client can afford the $54 product, do you think they could afford just $12 more? In part three, I will explain methods and tools you can use to market this new term life policy to your existing clients.
Life Insurance

High Deductible Survival Plan – Part One

Presented by Brian Leising Do you have clients with high deductible health insurance policies? Do you know people that need term life insurance? What do these questions even have in common? Follow along and I will explain. With the recent changes in the health insurance market, more people than ever now have high deductible plans. Some never enjoyed coverage previously and some chose these plans due to price. What if something happened to them, a heart attack or cancer diagnosis for example, would they have the funds to pay for their high deductible all at once? Where will they get the money? A recent study showed half of the people in our country have no life insurance at all, and half of the other half don’t have enough. You know people that need term life insurance, three of every four people you meet according to the statistics. We know many people need a source of funds to pay their health insurance deductibles, and they likely have a need for life insurance. What if their life insurance policy could do more than just one thing? What if their policy could provide a death benefit and a living benefit they could use to cover their deductible? In part two, I will explain how this works and how affordable these new policies really are.
Disability

Are you living with half a health plan?

Presented by Donna Ries Medical plans cover the costs of doctors and hospitals, but are your clients prepared to cover the financial costs when an unexpected, devastating event occurs and they are unable to work? Without an income, who will pay for the basic necessities such as mortgage payments, utilities, gas, groceries and other necessities? According to a 2005 Harvard study, over half of all personal bankruptcies and mortgage foreclosures are a consequence of a disability. Disabilities may occur for an extended period of time. Per the Council for Disability Awareness, long term disabilities last 31.2 months, on average, so the long term financial consequences can be overwhelming. Most clients live paycheck to paycheck. There is little or no money left for unexpected emergencies such as an injury or illness – the primary causes of a disability. What to do? Help your clients plan ahead with a Financial Security Plan and be ready for the unexpected sickness or injury that may occur tomorrow.
Annuities

Have you arrived?

Presented by David Corwin In my position with working with many agents it dawns on me that many if not all insurance professionals want to arrive. Arrive defined is “to reach a place at the end of a journey or a stage in a journey.” I define it as complacency or becoming comfortable. Too comfortable is the zone that you need to stay clear of in my opinion. Here are some indicators to tell you where you are. • Do you have a business plan? Crafting a meaningful business plan takes a lot of thought and time. Set out a strategy for your business and in particular, your marketing strategy. Set targets and objectives, including sales and financial goals so that you can monitor business performance. • Are you actively looking for new prospects (referrals and warm market) or just replacing the business you wrote in the past? It really should be a 60/40 split. Sixty percent of your marketing efforts should be spent on referrals and warm marketing. Forty percent should be reviewing clients that you’ve written before, both fostering the relationship built, as well as looking for new business. • Are you running enough appointments throughout every week to get the result you want? Yes, I know – the old numbers game. It only makes sense that if you have enough lines in the water the more fish you will catch. The more successful agents run between 10-15 appointments per week. If you’re running less than that…run more. It’s as simple as that. • On your appointments do you implement a fact finder to obtain material facts that allow for cross-selling opportunities? If you don’t, well then, you’re probably an order taker, and if you don’t have what they want you’ll go back to your office without the business. Last I checked, an insurance license allows you to sell Life, Annuities, Health, Long Term Care and Disability insurance. If you don’t use a fact finder then you just have an insurance license. • Are you furthering your education through industry leading programs like CLU, ChFC or CFP? Furthering your education allows you to become better informed to assist with the variety of unique problems that your clients may have with respect to their estate planning, wealth transfer, income replacement and risk management needs. It’s been reported that holders of these designations increase their sales by up to 51%. This isn’t meant to pass judgment of any sorts, but to help you realize that you never want to arrive. If you do that means that you’ll never challenge yourself to learn new things and that’s when true growth will happen.