Thought for the day:

The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.                                                              Casey Stengel

If you will read no further:

The salesman assumes the LTCi policy will be used and the client assumes it won’t.  If an advisor insists on putting a linked-benefit product in the portfolio, they can both be right.

Gene Pastula, CFP

Thought for the week:

I had a situation come up this week that made me feel really bad; so I want to get it off my chest.  An advisor called me to see if there was anything we could do to get some LTCi coverage for a 73-year-old client who was recently diagnosed with the early stages of Parkinson’s.  As he discussed the case, I seemed to recall this client from a couple of years ago.  We had sent him proposals for LTCi insurance and for MoneyGuard.  When we followed up to see how the presentation went, he told us that she didn’t think she would need it, and that was that.  When I asked how she could possibly turn down his recommendation to move cash from a CD to this, he told me that he never recommended insurance, just presented options.  Then he left it to the client to choose.

I remember thinking, “When was the last time his doctor gave him a choice of prescriptions; or asked whether or not he would even like to take any at all?”  I also wonder how many clients of other advisors will be spending down their estates paying for care who could have had an asset in their portfolio that instantly leveraged itself 3 or 4 times; if only their advisor had strongly encouraged them to move the money while they were still healthy enough to qualify.

Do your clients a favor.  Take 15 minutes a week and think about the folks who could move $50k to $100K into MoneyGuard or a similar product.  If you would like a position paper to send to the client that will quickly explain the idea so they will want to pursue it, send me an email at genep@westlandinc.com and I will provide.  Then send the client specifics to us for a proposal.  Be sure to discuss it with us first if you have never presented this successfully.  There should be no doubt in your mind of its value before recommending it to your client.  We can even help you with the presentations until you feel comfortable that you can do it all yourself.

It’s always very sad when a client’s spouse or family announces to you that they are arranging for your client to receive care.  But it’s much more comforting to everyone to know that your plan will now add another couple hundred thousand dollars to the portfolio to help pay the bill.

An important read:

Wall Street Journal article recommends that advisors use annuities (SPIAs) instead of bonds when producing income for their retired clients.  Read it here.  See?  It’s not just me telling you this.