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January 29, 2014

 
 
SALES ARTICLES
 
UPCOMING WEBINARS
 
  • Genworth:
  • Minnesota Life:
    • Weekly 15-minute sales strategy calls – every Wednesday at 10:00 AM CST
      Hosted by expert life insurance case designers, you’ll learn actionable sales ideas in a short, easily digestible format. Each week, the sales idea call will create a valuable opportunity to add a new sales tool to your practice.
      Teleconference Number: 1.800.910.2399 Participant Pass Code: 224032
      • TODAY, January 29th – Marketing Term Life Insurance
 
CARRIER & INDUSTRY NEWS
 
  • 2014 Insure Your Love resources
    People buy life insurance because they love someone and want to protect them financially. Life insurance is love insurance, which makes February–the month of love–the perfect time to reach out to clients and prospects about their life insurance needs. The Insure Your Love campaign, coordinated by LIFE, is now in its sixth year. It allows you to bring emotion or humor into a conversation that is usually serious or dry. Download the list of resources now. Download the Social-Media Content Guide. For ideas from other agents about how to leverage the Insure Your Love Campaign and the resources, check out lifeideas.org.
  • LOMA’s Fellow Life Management Institute (FLMI) – Spring 2014 Enrollment
    The Life Office Management Association (LOMA) offers an insurance education program that can provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to succeed in the life insurance industry. Through LOMA, insurance professionals can earn several designations, including the Fellow Life Management Institute (FLMI) professional designation. To earn the FLMI, you need to complete 10 courses and exams. Even if you are not interested in the designation, you can still take courses that interest you. Transamerica offers field offices a discount on paper exams and is now accepting applications for Spring enrollment. To register for a LOMA exam, please call Irene Easley in Advanced Marketing at (213) 742-3348. The registration deadline is February 14, 2014.
  • Life insurers face financial, regulatory and reporting changes
    Most insurers expect to make at least moderate changes to their governance, process and controls in response.
  • 43% of advisors older than 55
  • Genworth introduces second index universal life product
    The product offers an optional rider for long term care services coverage.
  • Genworth reaches Death Master File agreement
LIFE INSURANCE NEWS
 
  • American General:
    • Elimination of Itemized Deductions – How to Help
      The phase out of itemized deductions for high income earners increases taxes on highly appreciated assets. Click on this consumer approved sales concept to address the issue.
    • Play clock is winding down
      AG Select-a-Term offers great term rates and so much more. So, celebrate the football season with AG Select-a-Term and win BIG prizes. Enter the sales contest before time runs out. Contest ends on February 2nd. View qualification rules.
    • Waiver of Monthly Deduction with Chronic Illness Rider Eligibility
      The Accelerated Access Solution (AAS) is available on Secure Lifetime GUL II. Policy payments stop (including base policy + riders) while the insured is eligible for benefits.
  • Minnesota Life:
    • Business Owner Life-stage Design (BOLD)
      This marketing system focuses on five strategies that provide life insurance solutions for supplemental retirement income, estate planning, business succession, executive compensation and key person coverage. Your agents can help their clients’ take the BOLD steps to advance their business by starting client conversations with this BOLD consumer brochure.
    • Earn an extra $700 by jumpstarting your 2014 life insurance sales – incentive reminder
      Your fixed life business between January 1st and March 31st gives you the opportunity to receive up to $700 in Visa gift cards.
  • Mutual/United of Omaha:
    • GUL, Term Conversions & enhanced underwriting criteria
      Ask any athlete – the competitor with the best fundamentals wins more often than not. When it comes to winning insurance sales, one of the most important fundamentals is having quality, affordable products in your playbook.
    • Advanced Markets
      • Consider Using the 1040 Form as a Sales Toolvideo
        It’s the time of year when your clients are starting to file their income tax returns. IRS Form 1040 contains a number of valuable pieces of information that can help you start a conversation with your clients about their need for life insurance.
    • Recent enhancements on Term Life Answers and Guaranteed Universal Life
  • North American:
    • Share sales concepts via e-mail
      Are your agents looking for a way to start the conversation with their warm leads? North American has made it easy. They can share videos through social media and their existing e-mail distribution system. The North American sales concept video series can teach clients how life insurance can not only provide death benefit protection, but also address estate planning, pension maximization and business needs like key person insurance.
ANNUITY NEWS
 
  • Mark your annuity calendar
    Want to know how to stay on top of annuities this year? Check out this month-by-month overview of 2014 for the annuities industry.
  • A primer on secondary market annuities
    Secondary market annuities are a little-known corner of the financial landscape. However, advisors need to understand them before their clients do.
  • American National:
    • Value Lock 10 Indexed Annuity – No Cap + Premium Enhancement
      An indexed annuity with NO CAP on the amount of interest that can be credited to the contract.
  • ING:
    • RenewalFLEX – available on Secure Index 5 & 7 – NEW FEATURE
      ING announces the addition of a bailout-type feature – RenewalFLEX! The rates are still being finalized and will be released soon. State approvals will be communicated accordingly. ING is excited to be adding this feature to new contracts written in the states that have approved the feature so far (view state approvals) with the official launch date of January 21st (view transition rules). The feature will enhance the already competitive ING Secure Series contracts by protecting clients from potential interest rate risk for when renewal rates are significantly less than previous contract years, giving them the option to liquidate those specific funds potentially affected by the reduced renewal rate without incurring a surrender charge or contract penalty. A few bullet points:
      • The feature will be added at NO COST and WILL NOT affect new money pricing.
      • The feature does include a specific rate per product and PER STRATEGY, which in turn would potentially liquidate funds ON A PER STRATEGY BASIS. Liquidation from one strategy may not mean that a client can take ALL their funds, especially if they are broken up into several index buckets/fixed account.
      • Any active advisor who has completed all the PST training will receive an email from ING, and once they OPEN that email they will get credit for training on this new feature. Any advisor not active or not updated on the PST training will need to go through training as usual, and the RenewalFLEX is being included in the full version.
LONG TERM CARE
 
  • Early-bird discount & registration for free virtual access to 2014 LTC Sales Summitnow available
    The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) LTC Sales Summit brings together the nation’s top LTC sales pros and leading industry experts. Some 40 sessions focus on marketing and selling traditional LTC insurance as well as hybrid / linked long-term care solutions. There are two ways you can be part of the 2014 National Long-Term Care Solutions Sales SUMMIT taking place in Kansas City, MO this May.
  • LTCi Premiums Rise For Single Women, Drop For Men
  • Consumer Reports reprint articlenow available
    Consumer Reports recently published an article written by Orly Avitzur, M.D. about the need for long-term care insurance.
  • John Hancock:
    • 2010 in-force rate action notifications for late February
      In late February, John Hancock will begin policyholder notifications on the next round of policies impacted by the 2010 in-force rate action; which will have an effective date beginning with anniversaries on or after May 1, 2014. John Hancock LTCI individual policies in previously announced states are impacted: policies originally issued in Maryland that have received an initial “capped” increase, and additional policies originally issued in Alabama, Alaska, California, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah. Fortis LTCI individual policies originally issued in Virginia are impacted as well. Please note: Also in late February, John Hancock will begin including a 2013 rate action disclosure in certain 2010 rate action notifications.
DISABILITY
 
  • Mutual/United of Omaha:
    • Two new discounts approved in CO, MN, NV & WV
      Help BUILD your DI business with tools that work – two new discount programs!
 
AGENT CONTESTS
 
  • American General:
    • It’s Game Day (10/1/2013 – 2/2/2014)
      Submit Select-a-Term paid applications to win BIG prizes. Agents can win gift cards PLUS drawings for Sony 55-inch flat screen TVs. BGA’s win a staff recognition event.
  • American National:
    • Cash is King 2014 (1/1/2014 – 4/30/2014)
      Earn a CASH BONUS for annuity sales! Total of all fixed/ indexed annuities paid. Minimum of 3 applications.
      • $500,001 – $750,000 = $750 cash bonus
      • $750,001 – $1,000,000 = $1000 cash bonus
      • $1,000,000+ = $1500 cash bonus
  • Minnesota Life:
    • Earn an extra $700 (1/1/2014 – 3/31/2014)
      Beginning January 1, 2014, through March 31, 2014, you have the opportunity to receive up to $700 in Visa gift cards for the business you place with Minnesota Life.