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After a client’s life insurance is reviewed, a financial needs analysis is conducted and it’s determined additional (or a first life insurance policy) is needed, the navigation of the underwriting process begins with taking the application. In the life insurance brokerage business, it’s important for an advisor to align with a team who will advocate on behalf of the case, helping to negotiate offers and underwriting challenges. Having that brokerage back office, sales consultant and case manager all fighting for the case to obtain the best coverage available in the life industry is paramount. The greatest objection we hear about why an advisor doesn’t discuss life insurance with their clients is: ” life insurance is too complicated to get issued and it takes too long” .
Here are a few tips to become a better field underwriter when a new application is written before submitted to the carrier:
· Provide a cover letter- the more detail the better. This may seem obvious, but many advisors don’t include this crucial piece of the underwriting puzzle and expect a life underwriter to judge the case solely by what is filled out on the application.
· Don’t hide medical or financial details, the more an underwriter knows, the more seamless and easy the case will be.
· Talk about the client’s lifestyle- i.e. do they participate in active exercise regularly? This carries weight with underwriters and gives them a picture of the proposed insured that the application does not.
· Set proper client expectations- for example, medical records aren’t received overnight and sent back to the underwriter for review after being requested. Often advisors don’t manage their clients conservatively with the time frames for a final offer. It’s best to also communicate with the client during the process as requirements are received and being reviewed. The brokerage General Agency delivers those updates to the advisor and the advisor should communicate those to the client. Again, obvious as it seems, under promise and over deliver.
· Remember: until the client participates in the medical exam, medical records are received and reviewed, the exact premium can’t be a 100% certainty. Advisors seem to stumble on this and want a definite premium prior to underwriting. Clients understand the logic of the process, so manage their expectations as such with a range of premiums initially based on the information that is known when the sale is made.
Is your brokerage back office providing you with this guidance?
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Og Mandino said, “Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity.”
Looking for Retirement Planning Workbook for yourself and for use with clients? We all know we are living longer and retirement takes important planning before, during and after working years. Allow us to provide to you a guide you can download here:
https://www.luminpdf.com/viewer/2rxLanPRGMAYDoCBZ/share?sk=fb7bdf3a-ed98-4cb0-8bab-5d6aacc9818c
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How can Fixed Indexed Annuities help clients retire on schedule?
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Fixed annuities, with their guaranteed interest rates and guaranteed return of principal (less any withdrawals of interest or principal) can help preserve client’s assets, potentially softening the impact of a choppy stock market on their accounts.
- A conservative approach….. provides the client with safety of principal, tax- advantages, liquidity, and legacy planning.
The Next Big Thing in Annuities: If you’re not talking with your clients about QLACs, expect that your competition is. Learn how big this opportunity really is!
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It is imperative to explore all financial options for the clients- why let a client lapse or surrender a policy when determining there is an alternative. Life Settlements- Life Insurance , like every other asset, has a Market Value. Before your client considers letting a policy go, call us to discuss the specifics. And interestingly, all policy types are considered now for Life Settlements- even convertible term insurance. The reality is: you will set yourself apart from other advisors and agents by educating clients on Life Settlements and the options for the unwanted/unneeded life insurance. Clients remember you told them about an idea that others did not- and isn’t that what we want as agents and financial advisors? To be distinguished as unique, with different and compelling ideas for clients provides them with more than the average agent.
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Are you aware within Fixed Indexed Annuities and Indexed Life Insurance there are 100% participation in the various indices up to the caps? Are you aware there are uncapped (yes uncapped) index strategies allowing the client the full index performance less a spread? Why is any of this important? Because clients have told this industry after 2008 that they no longer can endure the wild rides with their money. They have firmly said they are aware they need some exposure to the non-guaranteed markets, but they now also know they must be more diligent with safety, as their individual lives are uncertain and when retirement happens often is not by choice but more by circumstance.
See the attached White Paper by Allianz Life Insurance Company “Reclaiming the Future”
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