Life Insurance Selling September 01, 2008

Features

• Pay Me Now or Pay Me (More) Later: Common Mistakes in ILITs and How to Avoid Them

  By Kathleen W. Bilderback

  When used correctly, irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs) are amazing tools that can remove life insurance proceeds from a client's estate, protect the proceeds from beneficiaries' creditors, and govern the administration and

• How to Succeed in the Business Market - By Really Trying

  By Gordon Bess

  A multifaceted financial services firm, starting from scratch 33 years ago, has found a winning formula. They've taken a cue from other professions, like medicine, law, and accountancy, and carefully built their

• In the Retirement Plan Market, the Name of the Game is Client Retention

  By Spencer Williams

  How many times have you heard somebody say, "The easiest customer to get is the one you already have?" This adage has been around for a long time because it's absolutely true. It is easier and more

• Challenging Traditional Thinking: Why Continued Tax Defferal in IRAs During Retirement Can Often Be a Bad Idea

  By Michael D. Reese

  Do you know people like this: retired couple in their sixties, living comfortably on their pension and Social Security? They have money in qualified retirement plans, but do not need it for income right now, so they

• Are You Capitalizing on the Premium Finance Opportunity?

  By Dan De La Chapelle

  The estate planning landscape of premium-financed life insurance is both changing and expanding, creating new opportunities. To capitalize on them, insurance professionals must be able to identify potential candidates and then help them work through

• Estate Planning Amid Uncertainty

  By Steve Parrish

  A young attorney recently voiced a complaint to me: "I don't understand how people can expect me to come up with a plan when there is no plan." He was frustrated that we don't know where the federal estate tax is going to

• Business Boom: Are You Ready?

  By James R. Johnson

  Some things you read these days about annuities seem to tout new or improved benefits. With the numbing pace of change, and only so much time available for wholesaler group meetings, how can financial professionals

• From My Failures, I Learned to Succeed

  By Karlan Tucker

  When I began my insurance career, I packed my briefcase with everything my license would allow me to sell, including life insurance, annuities, long-term care insurance (LTCI), Medicare supplements, medical insurance,

• Managing Customer Relationships: The Interpersonal Opportunity

  By Robert Arzt

  Research unveils 15 Sales Success Factors that set ordinary insurance professionals apart from the exceptional. Mastering the behaviors, motives, attitudes, traits, and self concepts included in these factors enable

• September Is the Perfect Time For an Annual Review

  By Michael Poirot

  It's that time of year again. Summer vacations are over, everyone is settling back into daily routines, and children are returning to school. It's a perfect opportunity to segue into Life Insurance

• The Vast Difference Between Life Settlements and STOLI

  By Steve Shorrock

  As life settlements (or viatical settlements), have grown enormously in popularity and use over the past few years, regulation of this secondary market has become a headline issue for many states, garnering a great

• States Continue Rollout of Long-Term Care Partnership Training Requirements

  By Staff Writer

  A year ago, only a few states had issued long-term care partnership training requirements. What a difference a year makes! Two-thirds of the states now have LTC partnership training requirements. This includes the four states that have had

Blog

• Pension Max Revisited

  By Kenneth E. Lindbloom

  Perhaps a few of us remember some of the seminar ideas of 25 years ago. I do. Many ideas have come and gone. Some ideas were good, and some are still great. One idea from the dust bin is "Pension Max."

Columns

• Apply Now

  By Burt Meisel

  Sharon and I recently went to a number of electronics stores to find the right TV for our grandson, who has finished high school and is going to college. Unfortunately, it turned into a demonstration of how down in

• Hoe: The Bear

  By Richard Hoe

  Ah, the pain. It comes in waves. The human condition is to forget the last time, and focus on this time. And "this time" is a bear of a bear.Last month, I mentioned that I could hear the rumbling of a bull

• What's Going On: As the Tables Turn

  By Gordon Bess

  This month marks the fifth annual Life Insurance Awareness Month across the industry. Associations, carriers, distribution organizations, and the agency around the corner are rolling out the bandwagon for consumer

• Saltzman: HSAs: From Panacea to Broken China

  By David A. Saltzman

  One of the prominent families in the Greek pantheon was heavily into health care. At its head was Apollo, the god of healing. His son, Asclepius, was the god of medicine. Asclepius' son Podaleirus was a gifted

Departments

• Sales Sizzlers: Emotions Are the Key to Consistent Sales Success, Part 2

  By Larry Pinci

  In Part 1, we began discussing the three kinds of questions that help elicit a positive buying decision from prospects. Here are those three kinds:Rapport Questions At times, it is a good idea to ask rapport