A life insurance agent is mad at me. ): or is it :(? Mad enough to hire a lawyer because a blog post I wrote offering my opinion of his unsolicited email telling me how to rob from the poor (policemen, firemen and teachers) and give to the rich (himself and other agents) ranks higher on Google than almost everything about him. I’m thinking they are feeling defamed because my post ranked higher than his pictures. I admit it probably doesn’t feel good to have a post titled, “Some Insurance Agents Make Me Sick” right above those handsome pictures of the $5 million dollar man.

Actually that math seems a little fuzzy since in the email he sent me he claims to have sold 1800 policies with target premiums averaging over $20,000. My calculator keeps coming back to $36 million. Oh, did I mention that the guy whose feelings got hurt sells indexed universal life and his target market makes somewhere in the $60,000 to $100,000 range. So his techniques are built on the premise of getting someone to spend 1/3 to 1/5 of their annual income before taxes on an indexed life insurance car bomb. He does show one bit of restraint when it comes to your income though. He offers that if that runs you short of cash you might want to sack retirement accounts and funnel them into a product that so far promises to be a bigger bust than the Transamerica traditional universal life we talked about last week. This agent wanted other agents to know how to overcome client objections and how to mine more money  out of their middle class clients.

Now his attorney wants me to remove all mention of the $5 million dollar man from my blog, indeed from the internet. The whole internet. Even his picture and his advertisement. Wait, he wants me to remove advertising that came from his client from the internet. The email I got didn’t say it was a confidential email and forwarding to a lot more people than he could reach on his own, a favor if you ask me, was prohibited. I share my opinion publicly and own it and don’t even mind posting rebuttals as long as they address what I believe to be the facts in the blog. I have read and re read my blog post addressing the facts as the $5 million dollar man presented them. His attorney says I posted a “several years old advertisement” which I received from him that day. I really don’t have the patience to wait several years to voice my opinion. It is asserted that I selected the ad as “a personal target to further my own business interests and to damage Mr $5 Million’s reputation”. Nothing was done to further my own business interests. I’ve been on the rear end of indexed universal life for years because it is a bad, bad product that, in the best interests of the public should be slammed and challenged at every turn. I didn’t call him a bad father, man, or husband or even a bad American. I just take exception to his unbridled greed and arrogance as he tries to tell other agents how to get past objections that are legitimate and how to dig further into pockets than even the IRS does.

And in conclusion I was accused of “libeling his name and business methods and ethics”. The way I see it I am entitled to my opinion and the first amendment says I can voice it. If he hadn’t sent me the email I wouldn’t have known him or anything about those things. I didn’t alter his solicitation in any way and life insurance agents are free to decide whether they would believe him or me.

Bottom line. No where in the letter from his attorney does it say I misstated any facts. If you have any questions about IUL’s or the practice of throwing your whole budget at a product that appears to be too good to be true, because it is, call or email me directly. My name is Ed Hinerman. Let’s talk.