LIFE INSURANCE RESOURCE
Easy way to
leverage technology
Fifteen years ago, Life
Happens created Life
Insurance Awareness
Month (LIAM), which
has become the
largest industry event
each September for
national consumer
awareness.
Remember that line from Field of Dreams: If you build it, they will come? Well, it reminds me
of selling life insurance. No one really wants to come to you to buy it, even though you have
the solution they need! Nowadays, to sell life insurance, you must go to where your prospects
are spending their time. And increasingly that means the smartphone and social media.
How much time are people spending there? According to Digital Information World, the
average American spends almost two-and-half hours a day on social media. Granted, people
use social media for a wide range of purposes, but 2/3 of Americans search the web for finance-
related topics, according to the 2019 Insurance Barometer Study, by Life Happens and LIMRA.
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Perspectives
Q3 2019
First-hand experience —
Life insurance planning
“One of the
most important
components of
planning is the
flexibility to evolve
as life changes.”
3rd Party Source for consumers & advisors
Life Happens, is a resource with unbiased educational tools, helping consumers understand
what life insurance is and what it does for families and businesses. An online Life Insurance
Needs Calculator (www.lifehappens.org/howmuch) offers a way for consumers to “do their
own math,” for coverage. Agents like sending prospects to the tool because it’s an unbiased
way for people to get a sense of their life insurance needs and opens the door for a broader
discussion where the agent’s expertise can find other areas that need protection. Life Happens
Pro, allows agents to embed this same calculator onto their own websites, making the agent
site “sticky” for potential customers.
85 Million research on Social Media
The data from Life Happens’ Barometer Study also shows that of those Americans who
are actively looking for an agent or financial advisor, a third of them (which translates into
85 million Americans) are going to use social media to vet that potential agent or advisor. And
that rises to half for Millennials. Are you ready to be graded by your social-media presence?
Doing social media well in the industry doesn’t have to be hard or confusing. Where many
get tripped up is finding good content consistently. Life Happens’ social-media sites, including
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram (www.lifehappens.org/socialmedia) offer content
for sharing and retweeting.
Faisa Stafford is president of Life
Happens, having previously served
as COO and CFO. She began with the
nonprofit in 2003 and has focused
on increasing efficiencies and
implementing technology solutions
to better serve the industry and Life
Happens’ members.
LIFE SETTLEMENT
No better time than LIAM
Fifteen years ago, Life Happens created Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM),
which has become the largest industry event each September for national consumer
awareness. To support advisors, Life Happens is offering a four-week social-media challenge
with calendars of prewritten social-media posts, engaging graphics and links to great videos,
that can be personalized, or used as-is. To access the free calendar,
visit: https://info.lifehappenspro.org/4weekcalendar/.
To further awareness, Life Happens has partnered with Brooke Shields as the 2019 LIAM
spokesperson. She offers a strong message about the importance of protecting loved ones
with life insurance. This message is available to share now and all through the rest of the year.
Go to www.lifehappens.org/brooke and start sharing her message and don’t forget to use
#LIAM19 so that we can amplify our collective voices to reach even more consumers.
Incorporating technology into your business doesn’t have to be hard. There is only one trick
to success — start using it and your prospects will listen.
Life insurance awareness month is a time to reflect on the value(s) of life insurance. The first
and most obvious value is the death benefit that can remove financial stress so all parties can
focus on supporting one another. I had an up close and personal experience with the potential
power of life insurance when my brother Jason was diagnosed with Stage 4 tonsil cancer at
the age of 44. That was devastating news for his family with 3 school-aged children and the
terrifying ramifications of this discovery rumbled through our entire family. It reminded me of
my own vulnerability. I’m happy to report that five years later, Jason is cancer free and working
diligently to serve as a positive role model to other oral cancer patients, survivors and families
watching their loved one’s struggle through a battle with cancer.
I’ve been grateful for the work that planning professionals provide to clients by
designing responsible risk management strategies. If I’ve learned one thing, one of the
most important components of planning is the flexibility to evolve as life changes. The
life insurance death benefit can be a high impact outcome; however, life insurance also
has several other values that can make it one of the most valuable planning opportunities
available for financial security.
A few of the commonly used life
insurance options and exit strategies:
Cash Out
Loan
Donate to charity
Jon B. Mendelsohn
Co-founder and CEO, Ashar Group
Jon presents nationally on life
settlements, policy valuations, and
increased longevity. He collaborates
with members of the insurance and
financial services communities as an
advocate for secondary market best
practices and transparency.
For more information, please
email: [email protected].
1035 Exchange
Reduction of Face Amount
Life Settlement
Secondary market options
What happens if the policy owner no longer wants or needs their life insurance or simply
can’t afford to keep making premium payments?
In recent years, the secondary market for life insurance has matured to a point where clients
who would normally just surrender or lapse their unwanted life insurance now have an option
to liquidate their policy and receive a cash offer for its fair market value. This unexpected
benefit makes life insurance even more valuable than ever. It’s important to note that the
life settlement industry has buyer’s representatives and seller’s representatives. Make sure
to verify if the resource you choose has a fiduciary duty to protect the best interest of your
client and creates a competitive bidding auction between multiple buyers. By regulation, a life
settlement broker has a fiduciary duty to the policy owner/seller. An auction process produces,
on average, 8 times the cash surrender value to policy owners.
I’m in business with my brother, sister, and father; and we’ve always known the benefits that
life insurance can provide to protect our families and our business. Years ago, we purchased
life insurance policies for “what if situations.” As sad as it is to think about the loss of a family
member, at least Jason’s family, our business and staff would have been financially secure. Life
insurance can be a difficult conversation when speaking with clients. We believe that it’s noble
work that brings comfort when clients need it most.
www.nailba.org
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