Jan 13, 2021
Financial advisors spend a great deal of time studying market trends and learning about the best ways to manage money for their clients: understanding stock market history, teaching the magic of compounding, and explain the present value of money, among many others. I applaud them for their diligence in helping people save money for retirement and making sound, long-term plans. But when I speak to financial advisors and ask them to identify the biggest financial mistake a senior can make, almost...
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Jan 12, 2021
Insurance agents and financial advisors fill many roles for their clients. Of course, they offer financial advice, but they also are asked about accounting and tax questions. Sometimes they also act as business coaches and even amateur psychologists. As we enter the new year, the economic situation for many will get tougher, and clients will have many questions for their advisors. It will be particularly challenging for folks on fixed incomes and small business owners. Things will probably get w...
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Nov 06, 2020
More than 25 years ago when we first started working in what would become known as the life insurance settlement industry, it was a brave new world. Most insurance agents didn't understand how the industry worked or how secondary market pricing was determined. Many agents and advisors didn't know if life settlements were legal while big insurance companies tried to regulate us out of business.
Well, it was and still is legal, but times have changed, particularly as it relates to how long it ta...
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Oct 20, 2020
COVID-19 turned all of our lives upside down and caused varying levels of mental, emotional, and economic strain. Months after the initial lockdowns, people and businesses are still feeling the effects – and it's having an impact on life insurance.
Options if your client can’t afford premiums
First, let's talk about what to tell clients who can't afford to pay their premiums. As the pandemic wears on, times are getting tough and many individuals are facing fina...
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Sep 17, 2020
Understanding how long a client may live is a key factor in financial planning, and this should influence how much and what type of life insurance is recommended by agents. Most individuals may think about their longevity when they first purchase insurance, and then they forget about this aspect of their plan and leave their life insurance on autopilot. They see monthly payments being debited from their account, knowing that they are protecting their loved ones, family members or other beneficia...
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Aug 29, 2020
5 Top Reasons for Life Policy Appraisals that Take Advantage of Inappropriate Coverage.
For insurance agents who haven’t yet counseled their clients about life insurance policy appraisals, here are the five top reasons to recommend an appraisal today.
If a client is planning to let a policy lapse. If a client is considering letting a policy lapse, it turns into a huge lose-lose scenario for the agent. First, the agent will stop earning residual income on the policy, and s...
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Jul 20, 2020
When we first started working with the life insurance industry, it was utterly dominated by paper. Getting any information from an insurance company took seemingly forever, often requiring multiple conversations and repeated attempts to get information. The same was true when securing medical records and trying to get applications completed. Some months it seemed like our FedEx and postage bills were higher than our rent.
Thankfully, technology has changed a lot of the issues which slowed down ...
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Jul 17, 2020
We all know that residuals are the lifeblood of the life insurance industry. Agents work incredibly hard to sign-on clients, knowing that if they play their cards right and build a nice book of business over time, residuals will help them grow their wealth.
However, when times are tough, like now, clients are looking at their bills and wondering if they should continue to pay their life insurance premiums. Maybe they have lost income, or their spouse or a family member has had a setback. Everyo...
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Jul 02, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has sent shockwaves through economic markets across the globe. Many retirement accounts have taken significant hits, and it remains unclear what the impact might be on other key assets like real estate holdings. Even the employment prospects have changed for some seniors and others who thought they were in stable industries. Quite frankly many individuals who thought they might be retiring soon have to perform a complete re-evaluation of their retirement plans.
In order...
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May 07, 2020
Even in times of financial stability, aging clients with maturing term policies have a huge decision to make. Do I convert my term policy to a permanent policy at staggering premium rates? What happens in times like these? How much more difficult is this decision after businesses have been closed for nearly two months? How much more difficult is this decision when investment portfolios have taken 10%, 20% or 30% hits?
What if there were an alternative solution? What if that alternative solution...
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May 07, 2020
While average financial advisors have all but given up on succeeding in 2020, astute advisors like you know that the sky is the limit when it comes to gathering Assets Under Management (AUM) during the remainder of the year.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted America’s financial markets as it has upset many of America’s businesses, it has also provided us with tremendous opportunity. Ironically, John F. Kennedy once said “When written in Chinese, the word &lsq...
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Apr 24, 2020
LIMRA, the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association conducted a survey of American and Canadian life insurers to assess the effect of the global pandemic on business practices. In all, 47 U.S. carriers were surveyed to see if any changes were being made as a result of state and federal social distancing guidelines and 12 Canadian carriers were surveyed to see if parliamentary and provincial guidelines necessitated any changes.
The survey found that there were no significant changes in ...
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Apr 24, 2020
U.S. life insurers are deciding not to gamble on older Americans during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis by temporarily suspending applications from certain age groups or imposing tougher requirements. Insuring older Americans can be a big risk for U.S. life insurers under the best of circumstances, but it brings in hefty premiums. But the risk involved with insuring older Americans during a world pandemic is expected to bring changes to the industry. The biggest shift may occur first on the mo...
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Apr 12, 2020
One of the most widely anticipated provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act is the one-time stimulus checks promised to Americans in the coming weeks. But many isolated seniors have been left understandably confused and nervous about whether and how they will receive money, or their retirements will be affected. Financial advisors have never been more important to their clients than they are right now. With America caught in the throes of a worldwide pandemic,...
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Apr 12, 2020
Since 1989 we’ve completed thousands of policy appraisals and provided policyholders with access to hundreds of millions of dollars in cash. We’ve also paid out the most aggressive referrals fees in the business to life insurance agents and financial advisors.
Every member of our management team has in excess of 30 years of experience in policy appraisals. We have routinely provided expert witness testimony in both state and federal courts for decades. We are called to testify as ex...
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