Category: Life Insurance - 1st Atlantic Brokerage

Do your North Carolina clients have enough Life Insurance?

7/31/2014

For most North Carolina residents the answer is an astounding "NO". How can we tell that? Here are the statistics:

PROTECTING NORTH CAROLINA'S FAMILIES

North Carolina residents have $894 billion in total life insurance coverage. That means an average of $149,000 per policyholder.
State residents own 6 million individual life insurance policies, with coverage averaging $89,000 per policyholder.
Group life insurance coverage amounts to $357 billion.

What does this tell us? Group Life Insurance coverage is not enough and that many fall short of coverage to protect their families. How long would it take for your client's family to go through $89,000 or even $149,000? However, you can give your clients the peace of mind using TERM Life Insurance to cover the risk. To get a quote for TERM Life or Guaranteed Universal Life click here

LTC Statistics: 50 Must know Statistics About Long-Term Care

7/31/2014

A review of the data--plus weighing the intangibles--can help your client(s) arrive at the right decision.

"Perhaps you've bitten the bullet and purchased long-term care insurance, or decided to pay out of pocket for long-term care. Or, if you're like many people, what to do about long-term care is just a nervous thought that flits through your head from time to time--triggered when you hear about a relative being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or a friend shouldering the care of an elderly parent.

There's no right answer for everyone. But as you determine your long-term care strategy, it's best to do so fully armed with the facts: the likelihood that you'll need long-term care and what it might cost, the costs and benefits of long-term care insurance, and exactly what the government covers for you (and, mostly, what it does not).

Armed with some data about long-term care costs and insurance, you can weigh these facts against the many intangibles related to long-term care: the burden that caregiving could place on your loved ones, the opportunity cost of paying for long-term care insurance that you might never need, and the peace of mind that can accompany having the insurance." read more and get the cold hard facts about why you need to be promoting Long-Term Care protection to your clients!

"Everybody needs 75K Campaign" starts now! Contact us today for more information!

Marketing 101: Are you looking to improve your Brand?

7/31/2014

Are you a Health Insurance Agent or an Employee Benefits Specialist? Are you an Investment Advisor or Retirement Specialist? All these descriptions sound good but have totally different meanings to the consumer. Sometimes Agents (Advisors) say they are one thing, but are their actions telling a different story? Then, they do something that makes me furious, they "lock down" their client (or groups) just because they don't have the time or want to take the time to learn how to be of better service to their clients!

Well, I ask "Are you there for the client during their working (accumulation) years or do want to keep them for life?" If you say "for life", then you may want to look at the message you are sending by the way you pursue the client and position yourself as an Advisor. When client's see you as a one-dimensional then you'll always have a tendency to be defending your business rather than being on the offensive bringing more ideas and products to fit your clients needs.

My point is that once you have the relationship for one product don't pigeon-hole yourself into a corner where you cannot do things other than sell them Investments, Heath Insurance or even Long-Term Care Insurance. You have to look for other ways to offer products that become "anchors" that build lasting relationships. If you cannot be everything to your clients, then you need to become the "go to" guy/gal that leads them to the right solutions!

You can change your branding or be branded for life. Check out this article about how to "package" solutions. Know your "target" market but at the same time don't limit yourself to what you think your "focus" should be or because you don't have the time to really uncover the needs. Times are changing and you must change too!

Life Insurance as a PART of LTC plan

7/22/2014

There's no more STAND-ALONE options for Long-Term Care protection. Life Insurance cannot be your client's only means of paying for long-term care expenses. Most of the middle-class will have to use a combination of BOTH traditional Long-Term Care Insurance and Life/Annuities with Long-Term Care access. The key is getting these pieces in place as soon as they can!

Article: Putting more life in long-term care
The response to long-term care (LTC) insurance policies has been consistently the same for the past 20 years. Although consumers continue to affirm the need for the coverage, the price tag on individual policies has been too high to win them over in any numbers, particularly as rates continued to go up, sometimes dramatically.

Price has not been the only deal breaker for most consumers. That came when they heard the answer to the question, “What happens to all my paid premiums if I never use it?” The “you lose it” answer ended the discussion, more often than not...read more

Wow!!! 10 Things Life Insurance Agents won't tell you

7/22/2014

There's one thing that I'm in total agreement with the author and that is "“When people face a highly complex decision, don’t have the information and cognitive skills needed to do the analysis, and nobody is providing them with education about it, then it may be that the path of least resistance is to do nothing.” This is an opportunity that most are missing and that's why we see articles like this one

Two things stuck out to me...

1) Too much Life Insurance? Low interest rates have made it necessary for people to get an additional 3 to 5 times their salary in Life Insurance protection. Do the math!

10) Long-Term Care coverage is not good for you (or us) - Yes, the Industry has struggled a little with premiums but lower interest rates have not helped. However, the author's solution of "For some older people, it may make more sense to plan to pay long-term care bills with a reverse mortgage, or with savings." is a joke in my opinion!

Children will hide the assets and take Mom or Dad straight to Medicaid to protect their inheritance. We cannot afford to keep doing this! If you owned a business (say an Nursing Home) and you would be reimbursed 70 cents on the dollar, how long could you stay in business? How long before you couldn't make repairs? Even, if 80% of your clientele stayed just one year.

Let us help you prove to your clients that we still have viable solutions. We can give those looking for cash "build-up" the plans that build cash and all the Term Life Insurance to cover the larger gaps when your clients have families to protect. Get a quote today!

Study finds Nursing Homes Out of Reach for Many 'Boomers'

7/14/2014

With higher rates of illness but fewer adult children to care for them, many of America's baby boom generation may find themselves unable to pay for the nursing home care they need, a new study warns.Already, a growing number of older Americans are developing chronic diseases but can't cover the costs of long-term care in a nursing facility, the U.S. National Institute on Aging-funded report says...read more

Contact us for ways to make more financial products long-term care "friendly". This is the ONLY way some of your clients will have the dignity in their last few remaining years.

Video: Worst Money Mistakes at Any Age - Wall Street Journal

7/14/2014

Most of you are the only Advisor some employees see on a regular basis. So, you need to make the most of it by taking the time to help educate these folks on the important financial decisions that they need to make at different ages.

For example: How much Life Insurance do they need while they have children at home? How smart is it to pay for child care pre-tax? Should they put aside for their children's education if they don't have money going into retirement savings? What about Long-Term Care after they retire?

The first step would be Life Insurance because its the foundation of a good sound Financial Plan that you can help them build! Get Easy Term Quotes here!

Webinar: AG's Asset Protector (Life Insurance You Don't have to Die to Use)

7/14/2014

If your clients are concerned about outliving their income, becoming chronically ill or dying unexpectedly, you don’t want to miss this short session. This exclusive webinar, presented by Levi Robinson of American General will show you how to turn your term sales into permanent UL sales, delivering unmatched value to clients and growing your annual revenue.

Click here for PDF with embedded links to attend the webinar and to add to your calendar!

Toll-Free: 888-535-6454
Meeting Access Code: 9136363#

Life Insurance: Is Group Life enough?

7/10/2014

In a recent conversation with an Account Manager at well-know website domain provider (that rhymes with YoCaddy), I learned how much employees are under-educated and more importantly under-insured when it comes to Life Insurance.

After fixing my problem, the guy on the other end of the phone asked what I did and he proceeded to tell me how much Life Insurance he had on himself. He told me, "I have 2 times my salary and $250,000 of Term, giving me $350,000 of coverage"

Problem: If he died tomorrow and his family needed to replace his income, they would be broke in 10 years! This does not count paying off the house, college education or weddings for his 2 little princesses.

Solution: He needs more Life Insurance! Now, he may be able to get 5 times his salary at work. But, $500,000 will still not be enough to cover income replacement or his other financial obligations. Due to the low interest rates, the rule of thumb will be 15 to 20 times salary and Term Life is an affordable way to fill the void.

You can get quotes for your clients by clicking here or use this worksheet to come up with the amount that fits their needs.