Thought for the day:

People are prepared to buy more insurance than most advisors are prepared to sell them.                                                                                                              Chuck Chillingworth

If you will read no farther:

We understand that you may not be very interested in insurance. When you take responsibility for providing financial advice to clients, you must include a discussion of long-term care. You must also recommend a strategy for the client that will appeal, and can be implemented. Linked-benefit life is often that strategy, and there is no better firm to provide you with the assistance you need than Westland Financial (800) 238-8144.

Thought for the week:

Last month, long-term care insurance providers began changing their pricing to reflect the greater usage of benefits by women.  As a result, female rates for this insurance average about 40% more than in the past.  We have been telling you for several months this would happen.  I hope you were able to get those clients, who were in the process of considering it, to apply in March (which was our biggest month in years…go figure, everyone likes to do it at the last minute.)

But the real story is how that is going to change how you advise your clients.  The LTCi rates for healthy females are now the same as (or even more than)  asset-based life products that provide similar benefits.

For example: a healthy 60 yr. old female purchasing $6,000/mo. benefits for 4 years will pay $3575 per year with Genworth.  She can purchase a John Hancock Life insurance policy that will pay the same $6,000/mo. long-term care benefit for $3,601 if she is rated standard or $3,181 if she is preferred. And unlike the conventional policy, she faces little (if any) chance of a rate increase.  The best part of all is if she never needs the benefit, her heirs will receive $150,000 tax free.

The prices for LTCi are finally residing where they should be; and linked-benefit plans are there as well.  And lo-and-behold they are now close enough that females (at least) do not have to choose based on price.  And everyone can find a plan that makes sense in their circumstances.  And you will not have to explain to the family some day why you thought it was OK that they risk spending down all of the estate’s assets for a caregiver.

An interesting story:

Recently I spoke with an advisor who had acquired a substantial new client from another advisor who had been his “wealth manager” for many years; but who never spoke to him about what role insurance could play in his portfolio.  They were introduced when the client sought advice about long-term care.

The CLU/CFP discussed conventional and linked-benefit LTCi plans and wrote one on the client and his wife. Then they discussed what the client was doing about his investments and our advisor explained how his new client could grow a modest portion of their portfolio into a handsome legacy for the kids and grandkids….all guaranteed and tax free…using a Survivor Life insurance policy. Seems the client had an old life insurance policy that his “wealth manager” never even bothered to look at. But our guy did; and they incorporated it into a big Survivor life policy on the couple. So far, he has made over $36k with his insurance ideas and is in the process of taking over the assets in the portfolio.

According to the client, “it’s not difficult to find someone who will invest my money for a fee; but very few will give me ideas that guarantee results.”