New Year! Same Old Story Getting Worse!
How many blog posts and articles have I written about the catastrophic meltdown of traditional universal life insurance policies? I have sought industry assistance in nailing down approximately what percentage of the total number of UL’s are in danger of imploding. I was dumbfounded, sort of! None of the companies I spoke with said they ...read more
Is Your Life Insurance Agent Honest?
I received an email today from a person that says he was deceived by his life insurance agent about the length of the guarantee on a UL. I have no way to authenticate the email since my reply came back undeliverable and there was no phone number given. So, while the facts may be in ...read more
The Sub Prime Mortgage Life Insurance Equivelant!
When all of the sub prime mortgages started going south life as we knew it changed, big time. The American dream became the good old days in just a matter of months. I wonder if someone had shouted loud enough or provided disclaimers scary enough before the loans if we could have averted at least ...read more
Tread Carefully When Looking At Term Insurance Length!
I have always been an advocate of buying a term length, or multiple term policies that reflect your actual life insurance needs with different term lengths. Due to some recent changes in conversion options I am considering an amendment to my recommendation. It all started last in the summer of 2009 with West Coast Life ...read more
OK AIG, Did You Or Didn’t You Tell Us?
I recently wrote about kind of running across a new (this year) change in American General Life’s term conversion rules that really stinks for anyone who has had their term policy for more than 5 years. It particularly struck a raw nerve because I was trying to help a client convert a portion of his ...read more
West Coast Life. Then and Now!!
April 14, 2010 was the day that West Coast Life and Protective Life terminated my contract with them. According to Gary Carroll in their compliance department I was terminated “for cause based on your failure to follow company advertising guidelines by posting agent only material on your consumer website and misrepresentation of the company”. Greg ...read more
A Case For Guarantees And A Real Budget!
I had this comment on a post the other day from Richard. “Just got off the phone with Lincoln and AM Family Insurance. No conversions on universal life policies. Ours are 15-19 years old, while there is no termination fees, if we cashed, they advise we to treat policies as term policies and make no ...read more
How Important Are Guarantees?
I know. I know. The boy that cried wolf, right? “Make sure the insurance you have has a guaranteed rate for as long as you’re going to need it”……”Don’t buy any insurance that doesn’t have a guaranteed level premium”!!! I’ve honked this horn for so long and so obnoxiously I’m surprised that I haven’t been ...read more
The Final Expense Feeding Frenzy!
When I go through my daily Google Alerts to keep current with life insurance related matters, one of the topics I follow is “Final Expense Life Insurance”. More than any other topic I follow this is absolutely riddled with a combination of bad advice and invitations to sell final expense life insurance. This is where ...read more
What Happens When The Balloon Pops?
I feel a little like the boy that cried wolf and pretty soon no one is listening, but if you have a universal life, variable universal life, indexed universal life or whole life policy, the wolf is real and if you ignore it long enough it’s going to mess up your financial future and very ...read more
