Trading the USP for the WYSA

Trading the USP for the WYSA

As we do here at the insurance pro blog from time-to-time, I'm taking a slight diversion from all things related to life insurance and personal finance to talk about something else that I think needs to be discussed.

If that doesn't interest you…I understand.

Not to worry, we're not abandoning the core of what this site is all about but today's post is gonna be more of a rant if you wanna know the truth.

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to see a post from a friend on Facebook that caught my eye.  And it wasn't a picture of a basket full of kittens either…what a concept?

No, it was referencing a new book that was just put out on the Kindle platform–The #1 Way to Increase Your Close Rate: Define What You Stand Against (The 7 Steps to a Successful Business in a Changing Market)

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032 A Bit More Communesque?

A Bit More Communesque

(Complete Show Notes Below)

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In the 32nd episode of the Financial Procast:

Stockton, California Shifts the Paradigm for Muni Bond Safety

You may have heard that Stockton, California has filed for bankruptcy protection in the last couple of weeks. What you probably haven't heard much about is the battle that's taking place in regard to the bondholders and the plan that the city has presented to come out of bankruptcy.

At issue is the fact that Stockton has $500 million in outstanding debt and is continuing to pay some $30 million to CALPERs (California Public Employess Retirement System) on an annual basis.  The bondholders are arguing that all bonholders should be made whole ahead of any payments to CALPERs and city officials argue that the pension obligation is not a debt as such.  Either way, it's shaping up to be an interesting debate and one that we should all monitor closely.

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The Family Limited Partnership

The Family Limited Partnership

Today I thought we'd discuss a rather mundane topic, the Family Limited Partnership but one that carries great significance nonetheless.  I'm like everyone else I suppose in that I tend to lean away from some of the more heady topics that dig really deep into the nitty gritty of insurance/financial planning topics.  Why? Well mainly because I've been talking about them ad nauseam for the past 13 years and I  have the attention span of three year old who's been loading up on red kool-aid and cadbury cream eggs (i.e. the easter candy hangover).

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031 Caught Doing Good

Caught Doing Good

(Complete Show Notes Below)

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In the 31st episode of the Financial Procast:

Home Equity Loans are Making a Comeback

Minute 2:26

According to recent piece over at MarketWatch it seems some old behavior has come back again. Yep, that's right…people are once again borrowing against the equity in their homes to buy stocks, investment real estate and wait for it…art.

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Whole Life Insurance Company Investment Yield Comparison

Whole Life Insurance DividendsWhen it comes to evaluating whole life insurance dividends and whole life insurance yields it’s important to keep an eye on the investment results of a company’s general account. The general account is the collection of assets the company holds under management to support most of its fixed insurance products.

Since investment return is one of the three main components of whole life insurance (or any permanent life insurance) design, ignoring a company’s investment performance would be a critical error.

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Your Hometown Agent: Does Proximity Matter?

Does Proximity Matter

As most of the regular visitors know,  the Salus Agency is our primary business and we've done quite well assisting people all over the United States as they navigate their life insurance purchases and any number of personal financial issues.  We've used the internet to reach people in a way not possible a few decades ago.  We started doing this for two reasons:

  1. There's a great big world out there and as companies grow, so do their geographic foot prints (usually)
  2. Brandon lives in Vermont the second least populous state in the Union and I live in Georgia making it all but impossible for us to work primarily with “local” clients as a team.  We made a strategic decision to work together as our strengths complement each other and our values align quite naturally.

Things have been working out quite well for us, but every once in a while I run into push back–typically from insurance companies–about the whole not sitting down face-to-face thing.  This got us thinking about how important face time (and I mean face time like I can smell your breath, not like the option on the iPhone that I–and no one else–ever uses).  This however spurred another thought exercise while discussing business with another agent about my days as a career agent (the career shops i.e. Northwestern Mutual, Guardian, MassMutual live by the importance of local agencies–of course).

So…how important is sitting down within arm's length of your agent?

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030 Do You Sell Insurance or Encyclopedias?

Do You Sell Insurance or Encyclopedias

(Complete Show Notes Below)

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In the 30th episode of the Financial Procast:

Prudential Says Bankers Should Be Jealous

In a stunning statement to a group of bankers in Boston, Mark Grier, vice chairman at Prudential said, “We're getting more than 2 percentage points of fees from the assets that are part of our annuity business.  In your business, you probably would dance in the street over 40 or 50 or 60 basis points”

Take that you suckers!  Here you bankers have been sluggin' it out for table scraps and we've been raking in the money over here at Prudential.

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The Cash Value Life Insurance Question-Reddit Style

The Cash Value Life Insurance Question-Reddit Style

I know this probably seems like a topic I discuss repeatedly, however, we still receive emails almost daily from people who are being shown cash value life insurance policy illustrations (both whole life and indexed universal life insurance) that grossly misrepresent the most efficient use of cash value life insurance as an asset class. The …

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