Bill Boersma: On Life Insurance

In some cases, agents may be crossing the line.

The life insurance world is certainly a lot different today than it was decades ago. Rather than just whole life and term insurance, there’s a wide menu of products available. Some products are driven by interest rates, some by market returns and some by indexes. Some are guaranteed while other aren’t.

Distribution models vary widely. There are internet marketing models, traditional agencies and independents who work though brokerage general agencies (BGA) that represent multiple insurance carriers, among others. One can get life insurance from financial advisors, banks, those predominantly in the property and casualty and health insurance market, traditional agents, etc. It seems the most unique way to get insurance today is through a dedicated life insurance agent. Times change. For full post, click here…

Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Occasionally, I run into the business owner who questions the merit of funding a buy-sell agreement with life insurance. Some people are so anti-insurance they’ll say no regardless of what’s put in front of them.

I understand this sentiment. We’re sold on so many things so regularly that our automatic defense mechanism is often to say no. I’ve been there. However, there have been a number of times when I caught myself doing this and then challenged myself to listen, and every once in a while I came away with a different mindset. For example, this happened when I discovered that a commercial lawn service would treat my lawn several times a season for less than I was paying for the product to do it myself. For full post, click here…