Archive for September, 2009
I am currently working with a client who, when we got his labs back, was staring at an A1c of 10.9 and a microalbumin of 6.0. This, by the way is an instant decline since he was obviously has undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.
So what exactly does an A1c mean? Just how out of whack does your glucose need to be to equate to a 10.9?
Turns out that his average glucose, and this is including those readings that are good and low, is about 300. That isn’t good any way you look at it and obviously his kidneys are working overtime with his microalbumin at over twice normal.
When we started working on this case he and I both thought the only issue we were dealing with was his weight. He is obese and as I’ve written on frequently in the past, this is another example of just how obesity impacts other health issues.
Bottom line. Until he sees a doctor and gets the diabetes under good control we won’t be able to help him. Once controlled we should be able to get back on track.
Oh, by the way, great news. A type 1 diabetic that I had written about a month or so ago was approved today a rates that were better than we had quoted. Chalk one up for a great underwriter.
September 14th, 2009
If only we knew! If only we knew when our health was going to change from good to bad we could buy life insurance at the optimal time. If only we knew when we were going to die we could pay out as little as possible on life insurance with the maximum return to our family.
If only we would quit focusing on us and put all of the focus on those who depend on us, we could quit trying to beat the odds and just do some prudent planning. We know that for almost all of us there are the same three primary reasons for carrying life insurance, children, replacement of income during working years and mortgages. We know that most of those things occur and then resolve themselves (go away) between our mid 20′s and mid 60′s.
One thing to keep in mind when considering those needs is that a significant percentage of us don’t make it from our mid 20′s to our mid 60′s due to premature death. 1 in 6 men and 1 in 9 women make it to the age where responsibilities start, but don’t make it to their 65th birthday.
The mortality experience here in the US is higher than most people would guess until you start thinking about all of the friends and family members who have died too young.
So prudence would say that carrying adequate life insurance as soon as you have responsibilities and planning on carrying it until those responsibilities resolve themselves is the right thing to do. I’ve talked to plenty of widows who wished their husband’s had been more proactive and wished they had pushed a little harder to get them to do what should have been done.
Bottom line. I think keeping in focus that life insurance is all about those we are responsible to and understanding that our premature death will cause hardship should logically lead us to do the right thing.
September 11th, 2009
I called a client of mine the other day because not too long after I had done an annual review of his term life insurance coverage I received a notice that he had applied with another company and was considering replacing the policy he had through me.
Now I really don’t like losing clients and frankly don’t lose many just because our office gives service after the sale that is second to no one else in the business. Having said that, if a person can get a better deal through someone else, I certainly wouldn’t have any hard feelings about that. Life insurance is about the client and their family, not me.
But darn it all, I really take exception to agents that don’t know what the heck they’re doing. This client of mine had a heart attack 4 years ago followed by a 2 vessel angioplasty. A follow up stress test showed substantial damage and a left ventricular ejection fraction of 48%. He had just been declined by US Financial, a company known for approving heart cases when no one else would. I shopped it and was able to get him a table 5 approval from Empire General which he put in force. That was 3 years ago.
I have asked him every year whether he has had any new cardiac evaluation that might lead to a shot at better rates. He hasn’t had any additional cardiac workups.
So, along comes an agent that does not have a clue. He quotes his new perspective client, my table 5 client, preferred best rates with Genworth. This guy can’t get preferred best rates with Genworth because he’s taking high blood pressure medicine. Never mind he had a damaging heart attack 4 years ago.
I talked with my client about the obvious, the fact that he wasn’t going to get the rates quoted by the other agent. He said that the other agent didn’t promise he would get those rates, that the underwriter would make the final decision. He said he told the other agent his full medical history and the fact that he felt like he was doing better and was certainly hoping he could get those rates.
So what’s to be gained by my client or the agent? Having talked to the underwriters I trust on cardiac issues, in the absence of a new stress test showing significantly improved heart function (remember this guy hasn’t had any new cardiac testing), he’s going to be declined. If he had completed a new cardiac workup showing great improvement, because of the early onset multiple vessel CAD with a heart attack, the best he could get with Genworth would be a table 4 to 6, which being 4 years older than his last approval would be losing ground, not gaining.
Bottom line. There is a fine line between bait and switch and just plain old ignorant. I don’t know this agent so I really don’t know which side of that line he falls on, but either is wrong to impose on a client.
September 10th, 2009
I just came across a Huffington Post article written by someone running for office who just discovered that life settlements didn’t go away in the 1980′s.
She was mortified to learn that their city retirement investment pool included what she called “death bonds”. She would probably be even more mortified to know that life settlements or viaticals or whatever name you want to use, “death bonds”, are far more pervasive than she apparently thinks. She apparently thinks that life settlements are only done with those that are terminally ill.
The truth is that the terminally ill are more likely to hang on to their policies. The larger market is those people who want to make money from a place where no money should be made. They want to monetize and sell stock in their own lives. The larger market is made up of greedy people served by greedier agents trying to bend all of the good things about life insurance to meet their own agenda.
But the politician almost makes a good point when she ponders “This asks the question: will corporate America use political influence to delay the development and spread of new treatments that might save lives, but cut profits?”
I’ll go one quicker and more morbid than that? Do you suppose there are large corporations that own these policies who would go so far as to pay unemployed folks $500 or $1000 to whack some of these million dollar checks waiting to be cashed? Cash flows quicker and you don’t have to wait on politics!
It’s like the whole world woke up this week and decided there’s a beast on the horizon and we should all look out for it. What they seem to have missed is that the beast has been here for a long time, it is huge and may already be too big to slay. Reuters and the New York Times both had articles expressing concern over the life settlement market and how these sick investments are being bundled into funds. What the hell has our country come to?
Bottom line. The fact that these products are being bundled into funds speaks to the size of the sick practice. The fact that anyone is actually recommending funds that include this type of shady practice is just so 2009 American. What we’ll do if we think there is a buck to be made would make all of our grandparents roll over in their graves.
September 9th, 2009
I can rant and rave all day long about the perverse way AARP treats its’ members with their insurance programs, and I do, but that’s just my professional opinion.
I recently received a personal opinion from a person whose mother is an owner of one of the AARP/New York Life insurance policies. In his words, “I recently found out that my mother has been paying monthly for an life insurance policy through AARP. My sister and I will each received $5,000 at her death. She has already paid them nearly $14,000 for this $10,000 policy. If she lives another 10 years, they will have received double that. She could have been putting that money in just a pathetic savings account and had a better return. AARP is ripping off their members and should be ashamed.”
I think one step further than being ashamed. Personally I think they should be required to discontinue sales of these horrendous products and refund all the money paid in for those who still have these policies in force. I’ve said it before. If this wasn’t AARP and was just some group out there preying on the elderly in our society with these awful products, they would be out of business and likely in jail.
Bottom line. If you have parents that have purchased AARP insurance of any type, get a professional second opinion. AARP has managed to weasel their way into a position of trust that they don’t deserve and they are ripping off anyone they can.
September 9th, 2009
I wrote a post on September 2 concerning a client who had a bad experience in attempting to get life insurance through Selectquote. He emailed to provide more details and one of those details was a misunderstanding of mine that I want to correct.
I had indicated that there were several interactions where Selectquote was less than straightforward and in the list I said “2. Ordering an exam before he had a commitment from the client to move ahead”. The client clarified that while he had been misled about the price, he had indicated that he would proceed with an exam based on the quotes he had received.
So, forgive me Selectquote. While it doesn’t clean the slate with this client, I was wrong about that one point and I apologize. I do strive to be fair and accurate and I missed it this time on that one point.
All of the other points were affirmed by the client’s email as being accurate, including the Selectquote agent’s comment in his email of September 1 to the client that, “Prudential gave you a Preferred rate but Banner and Genworth will not. JLT”. The same agent inferred that it was unethical to run a third application for this client, “Ethically I cannot submit yet a third application on your behalf and promise you better pricing. Based on the underwriting thus far (cholesterol medication and the use of Paxil) through the first two applications and my experience with Genworth that carrier will not deliver a Preferred rate.”
Since when is attempting to get a client a lower rate unethical? That is exactly why independent agents represent multiple companies. There is no reason a client of mine should ever have to pay the second best rate.
Bottom line. I’ll keep you posted on the client’s progress with Genworth which, frankly, should be a shoe in preferred approval. At that time he has offered to share a little about his experience in his own words (that way I don’t mess them up).
September 8th, 2009
Dogs get fleas awareness month! Everything is getting more expensive awareness month! I was reading a Reuter’s article on LIAM, Life insurance awareness month yesterday and I really thought it would kind of leave the average reader saying, “So what?”
I’m not saying that people shouldn’t have an interest in and awareness of what life insurance can do and the real impact it can have on their family, I’m just thinking that people could really care less about a month devoted to the awareness. So, rather than go on for a month and offer a free camera for the winner of a photo contest I thought I would just take a few minutes in my years long effort to educate whoever will listen about life insurance to share my thoughts about why life insurance is important.
Having heard just about every lame excuse for not buying life insurance or not buying adequate life insurance, let me share why I have bought it and bought enough of it. First, let me dispel with any thought that I get a break on the price of insurance because I’m an agent. I wish!!
I don’t carry life insurance because I think my wife couldn’t hack it without me. Who knows? She might do better. But Pam and I have dreams, places to go and things to do, a grandchild to spoil. If I’m not here I want her to know that my dream is that with or without me she will have the opportunity to do it all. No dream of ours should be left undone.
I don’t carry life insurance because we don’t have an adequate portfolio of investments. I carry it because I want her to have choices about those investments. Given options she might choose to leave everything to our granddaughter or to our church. She might want to set up a scholarship fund for our local Christian school. If that portfolio is all she has she might not have those choices. Her only option might be to conserve it and use it to live on.
I don’t carry life insurance because I feel like I have to, but rather because I want her to have everything I could have possibly given her if I had lived. I want her to be better off than I found her. I want her to know that the rest of her life mattered to me even though I couldn’t be there.
Bottom line. I know there are business purposes for life insurance and I help people all the time with analyzing their life insurance needs, but at least with personal life insurance it really all comes down to how much you care about the person or people you love.
September 3rd, 2009
2/3 of 2009 have slipped by and there is just no denying anymore that the industry trend for external guarantee life insurance policies such as term insurance and universal life with a no lapse guarantee has changed.
Term insurance has been going down in price and extending to longer term guarantees for the past 15 years and no lapse UL’s have been getting more and more competitive for the past 6 to 7 years. In the grand scheme of things that has changed. Most strong term insurance companies have raised their rates. Some have discontinued some of their longer terms and no lapse UL’s. Things, while not drastically changed, have been shaken up.
So, is anyone bucking the trend? We recently saw rate decreases on shorter (10 and 15 year) term policies with Midland National and North American. This seems to follow the logic of reasoning behind this new trend, that greater reserves are being required on longer guarantees. The money has to come from somewhere so the rates go up. Shorter terms haven’t seen the same kind of impact and obviously there are companies out there that see an opportunity and are going after it.
Genworth Life and Annuity and United of Omaha have held the line on their externally guaranteed no lapse universal life policy. No price increase on their product and none has been hinted at. So does that mean that we may seen the downward trend in pricing resume in the near future?
In the world according to Ed I would say no, overall prices have hit bottom and you will no longer seen the all out wars of the past 5-10 years where companies are scrambling and fighting to be the lowest cost term insurance on the market, if only for that day. We may see some decreases here and there, but kind of like what I mentioned above. Since the first of the year I’ve mentioned 15-20 company price increases and the decrease on the short terms above is the first decrease I’ve seen.
Bottom line. Term insurance and no lapse guarantee UL’s, non cash value policies, will continue to be the best thing you can have in or add to your portfolio. While we may have seen the end of an era, staying in touch with a good independent agent will ensure that you get first shot at those policies that buck the new trend.
September 2nd, 2009
I wrote a post back in early August about a man who had contacted me after a rather dubious interaction with Selectquote while trying to buy life insurance.
After shopping his case for him and determining that several companies were willing to set aside his treatment with Paxil for anxiety as not rateable I figured that I had won his business. The problem was that he was a busy guy and Selectquote won’t allow their labwork to be shared, so in order to help the guy out he would have had to do a new exam.
So, in spite of the fact that the agent at Selectquote had been less than honest with him by 1. Telling him he could get preferred plus from Banner while being treated for anxiety, 2. Ordering an exam before he had a commitment from the client to move ahead (manipulation), 3. Once the exam was done telling him then that Banner wouldn’t come through with the rate quoted due to the anxiety treatment and then 4. Telling him that no other company would do any better than Banner……..even after all that, he gave Selectquote the information I had gathered for him on what companies would do better and allowed them to pursue an application with Prudential.
He called today. The agent with Selectquote called the other day and told him he was approved and that they were sending the new policy out. He just received the policy and it was not at the rate that Selectquote had quoted him due to his cholesterol being high. Sending out a policy approved at a rate other than quoted without discussing it with a client is just wrong. When he called to ask about the higher rate, again he was told that he couldn’t do any better by switching to another company, that due to his cholesterol the Prudential approval was as good as it was going to get.
If my count is right, because that was a lie and the agent at Selectquote knows that, this agent has lied to this guy 4 times and by setting up an exam without discussing it, manipulated him once.
The man has finally decided to tell them to shove it and as he said, “go with someone who has been straight with me all along”. I appreciate the opportunity.
Bottom line. Selectquote wants your business, but the truth is I really don’t see where they are truly invested in earning it. From their first bait and switch, to their last lie about Prudential being the best rate the man can get they’ve done everything they can do to just slam the lid shut on the deal and move on. If they aren’t into this to do best by the client, it’s all about slamming deals and banking profit and that stinks.
September 1st, 2009
Next Posts
