Weekly Newsletter Sept 26, 2012

• How to Manage Your Clients Expectations
  In order to really help your clients and prospects, you must learn to level with them.
• How to Ask for a Referral
  Asking for a referral can be uncomfortable for many salespeople, but it doesn’t have to be.
• 2 Little Words to Close More Sales 
• Never Run Out of Leads
  You need more than one way to attract prospects.
• 4 Guidelines for Great Referrals
  Consider these strategies the next time you make a referral.
• Life Insurance, Living Benefits, and Long Term Care: Protection for All of Life’s Stages 
• Closing the Middle-Market Life Insurance Gap
  To take advantage of the huge sales opportunity represented by an underinsured middle market, producers need to break down a few common misperceptions.
• 6 steps to a retirement plan
  Your role as an advisor means finding out what is important to your clients and planning with that in mind.
• NYTimes on Executive Benefits
  A special retirement section in a recent New York Times features an article that explores various executive retirement plan options. ING U.S. Insurance’s Maggie Mitchell comments in the article on how we are seeing an uptick in interest in ways to generate “safer, tax-advantaged retirement income.”
• Life Insurance and Roth IRA Conversion in Broker World
  This article by Peter McCarthy with ING U.S. Insurance’s Advanced Sales team published in September’s Broker World magazine discusses why a Roth IRA can be an excellent asset to inherit and ways to use Roth IRAs as an effective wealth transfer tool. Peter explores how a life insurance policy can fund the conversion from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA after the account owner’s death.

• Aviva:
  • Electronic paramed process
• Genworth:
  • Disclosure Statement & Disclosure Statement Agent Certification for PA (updated)
• ING:
  • Policy fee increase – effective November 10^th
• Legal & General:
  • Compliance update
    Get the Request for Website Approval form and the Request for Advertising Approval form
  • Blood Consent forms (updated)
  • Facelift for AppAssist
  • Policyowner mailing with post level term premiums
    Hundreds of thousands of letters are being sent to in-force level term Banner and William Penn policyowners advising them of the premiums intended to be charged after the level premium period. Policies will be as “young” as 13 months and as “old” as in their final year of level premiums.
• United of Omaha:
  • Questions on Trial Apps/Quick Quotes Parameters?

• LIAM and Learn: Life Insurance A-Z
  LIAM is the time for drawing attention to the power of life insurance. Make sure you take advantage of new tools at your disposal. 
• Why Devote a Month to Life Insurance Awareness? 
• Use the LIFE toolkit for Life Insurance Awareness Month.

Take a look at how each TMA carrier is promoting LIAM.  You will find everything you need to get started – pre-approach letters, fact finders, brochures, presentations, videos and more.  Click here to view Facts from LIMRA. 

• 4 Common Life Insurance Misconceptions
  Consumers don’t purchase life insurance for several reasons, and many of them are false. This Life Insurance Awareness Month, help prospects and clients separate fact from fiction.
• American General:
  • Single premium payments of $250,000 or more no longer accepted for Survivor GUL
    Effective September 24th, all Secure Survivor GUL cases with single premium payments of $250,000 or more will no longer be accepted.  This revised standard includes single payments of any type on Secure Survivor GUL cases, including one-pay for the life of the policy, external or internal 1035 exchanges or dump-ins at any time during the first policy year.
  • Secure Lifetime GUL pricing change 
• American National:
  • Step by Step Guide for Buy-Sell Review 
  • Indexed Universal Life (brochure)
    See the IUL FAQ’s.
• Aviva:
  • Simplified Issue & Guarantee Issue underwriting requirements (revised)
  • Life Insurance as Supplemental Retirement Income 
  • Show parents a way to save for college with Indexed UL (sales concept)
  • Early Cash Value Rider now available in MO 
• ING:
  • Taxpayer Alert – Big Tax Changes are in the Wind!
    Keep up-to-date on year-end tax changes and related sales ideas.
  • How To Guide on completing IRS 4506T EZ Form 
  • UL-GDB NY – now available
• MetLife:
  • Show your clients the potential Living Benefits of Life Insurance 
• Minnesota Life:
  • Owner Identity Verification
    In May, Owner Identity Verification became required on ALL new issue products, including Term.  As a reminder, this means the Owner Identity Verification question is also required to be answered on the Representative’s Report, as well as the Owner Identity Verification Disclosure, which is included in the Instructions.
  • Life Line Newsletter (volume 9)
• North American:
  • Not all Indexed Universal Life (IUL) products are equal 
• Transamerica:
  • Living Benefits Plus Death Benefits in One Solution
    Clients have always looked at life insurance to protect their loved ones at their death. But rising health care costs and increasing rates of chronic, critical and terminal illness have created a need for protection during life, too, known as living benefits. The new Trendsetter LB term product offers clients both in one simple policy. Learn more about this powerful solution.
    – Trendsetter LB Product Guide
    – Trendsetter LB Quick Facts Producer Flyer
    – Trendsetter LB Underwriting Guide  
  • Foreign Nationals and Their Need for Life Insurance
    Foreign nationals are a growing demographic in the U.S., and many who regularly visit, do business or own property in this country are unaware of the potential tax exposure they face. Transamerica has expertise that can help you to address this opportunity by giving you a wide set of helpful tools and newly increased auto-issue limits on eligible countries.
    – View Auto-Issue Limits Flyer
    – View Strategy Summary 
  • Sales Opportunity: IUL Sales Continue to Grow
    IUL sales have gained significant momentum with 35% growth in the industry in 2011 (LIMRA). Are you leveraging this sales trend and increasing your revenue? Use our new IUL consumer flyer to show clients how Transamerica’s Freedom Global IULSM policy can give them flexibility to use the policy’s cash value to help supplement their retirement income.  View IUL Consumer Flyer 
  • New Business requirement code NEW
    There is a new pending New Business requirement code of “RCV.” The code description will read as “App Received Keyed.” This means that an application has been received and is currently in review by New Business and Underwriting team members. This code will help an agency case manager know at-a-glance that an application has been received. As soon as the policy is fully reviewed, the agency case manager will then receive an email showing the current requirements needed by both New Business and Underwriting. These outstanding requirements will also be added to Pending Policy Information.
• United of Omaha:
  • Fit Underwriting Credit Program Enhancements 

• Riding the FIA wave
• 3 Trends Reshaping Fixed Indexed Annuities
• Seniors talk about fixed annuities
  We spoke with a group of senior clients to find out if they have ever owned a fixed annuity – and if they haven’t, asked “Why not?”
• American General:
  • Index Crediting methodology changes for Index Annuity products
• Genworth:
  • Annuity new business & premium payment mail handling (important change)
  • Current annuity flyers
• ING:
  • Performance Trigger Strategy approved in CA, CT, DE, MS, NH & WY
    Includes 7-minute training video.
• United/Mutual of Omaha:
  • Fixed annuity rates – for October

• 12 Questions for 1 Successful LTCI Agent: Gene Cutler 
• Genworth:
  • WV joins Long Term Care Partnership Program 
  • Total Living Coverage (TLC) (updates)
• John Hancock:
  • Next round of 2010 in-force rate action notifications to take place in late October 
  • LIFE’s 2012 RealLIFE Stories features JH LTC policyholder 
• Transamerica:
  • Important changes to LTC products – effective October 2^nd 
  • A Growing Market: Answering the Need for Long Term Care
    Long term care is a hot topic and life insurance producers are reaping the benefits.  New premiums for Life/LTC combo products increased 56% in 2011(LIMRA)! Make sure that you understand how this solution works and how you can help clients find the right product for their needs, including 1035 options.
    – View the 1035 Exchange Sales Opportunity Flyer
    – View the TransACE LTC Rider Quick Facts Flyer
    – TransACE LTC Rider Resource Website  
• United/Mutual of Omaha:
  • New rider rates approved in RI – effective October 1^st
  • LTC training requirements for ND 

• Disability Insurance Observer: Characters
  Progressive has Flo. Aflac has the Duck. Disability insurers have…?  
• United/Mutual of Omaha:
  • DI Claims Process
    Understanding the DI claims process can help increase your referrals.

• American General: 2013 Passport to Paradise in Bermuda (November 15, 2011 – February 14, 2013)
  ALL Universal Life sales count DOUBLE toward conference qualification!
• American National: 
  • eApp iPad Contest (September 1 – December 31, 2012)
    Receive a Free iPad when you submit 6 paid life policies through iGO e-App.  
  • 2013 Marketing Conference (January 1 – December 31, 2012)
    The top 80 licensed representatives of American National who qualify in accordance with the official requirements are eligible for an invitation to attend the 2013 Marketing Conference in Palmilla, Los Cabos, Mexico May 19 – 23, 2013.