Tuesday, September 19, 2017

#LIAM17

As you know, September is Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM). A time when the life insurance industry comes together for an all-out push to inform consumers of the importance of life insurance, and if you're savvy enough, you are taking advantage of it with your own clients and prospects.

Did you know that 43% haven’t bought life insurance or more of it because they’re unsure of how much or what type to buy.*

You likely have clients that do not have enough protection, or may have no protection at all. Take advantage of these complimentary resources to help communicate to your clients why they should consider life insurance.


September is LIAM, but it's always a good time to talk to your clients about life insurance, and MVP can help. Give us a call or check out the resources available on our website.

*Life Happens and LIMRA, Insurance Barometer Study, 2017

Policies issued by American General Life Insurance Company (AGL).
Products may not be available in all states and product features may vary by state.

Monday, July 24, 2017

Social Media and the Underwriting Effect

We already know that many employers utilize social media when screening a potential candidate for employment. Since some of the information is public, it’s a great way to get a sense for who someone is and how they conduct themselves outside of the resume and interview. We also know of
instances where someone has lost their job because of a social media post.

Insurance carriers are now utilizing the same tactics when considering an applicant for life insurance… That’s right, and it’s becoming the norm.

MVP had a recent case where the carrier came back with a follow up question during the underwriting process: “Our research has found on social media, that this client has a picture posted on Facebook with a cigar in his mouth. The client answered No to any type of tobacco use. Please provide full details on his use of cigars. Does he smoke them or chew on them? How often? When was his last cigar? Full details please.”

In this new age of information, this is an excellent reminder that if you participate on social media, what you and your friends post could be public information and can be used against you any time you are being considered for something (think: potential client or business deal, insurance, job or bank loan applications etc.). 

You do have some control over what information is shared publicly by paying attention to your security settings and pondering whether your post is truly the message you want to convey about yourself before you post it. You may think that your social media presence hasn’t been a problem for you, but how do you really know for sure? 

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Uncertainty is Certain

Offer Clients Protection and Flexibility

If there’s one thing in life that’s certain, it’s uncertainty. Without warning, life may drastically change. What would happen to those who depend on your clients most if they die, get laid off, become disabled, or any number of things that would bring to an end the income they provide and their loved ones depend on? 


*Prudential policies contain exclusions, limitations, reductions in benefits, and terms for keeping them in force.

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Who would you rather be? (A Case Study)

Mary and Joyce are the same age, hold identical jobs and each earns $60,000 a year. Mary didn’t buy life insurance with living benefits. She keeps all of her $60,000 income. Joyce decided to spend about $1,200 per year on a $300,000 LifeScape® NonMed Term 350 Life Insurance policy with a $30,000 Critical Illness Rider and a $3,000 per month Disability Income Rider. Therefore, her take-home pay is reduced to about $58,800.
Policy Form No. I L0760, and Rider Form
Nos. R I0825-T and R I0762/R I0763.
Policies underwritten by Assurity
Life Insurance Company of Lincoln, Neb.

What happens when tragedy strikes?

  • An unexpected death: Income stops for Mary’s family. Joyce’s beneficiaries will receive a lump-sum death benefit equivalent to five years of replacement income.
  • A two-year disability: Mary cannot work and receives no wages. Because Joyce added the Disability Income Rider, she can count on $3,000 each month for 24 months of her recovery.
  • A heart attack, stroke or cancer: Not only is Mary away from work without pay, she also must deal with the stress of how she will pay her medical bills. Joyce can focus on getting better, knowing her CI Rider’s lump-sum benefit will help replace her salary for six months.

The results

Just $100 per month separates the take-home pay of Mary and Joyce, but the reliable protection package owned by Joyce provides herself and her family with peace of mind. Mary can only hope she will beat the odds and not become disabled, suffer a critical illness or prematurely die.

So, ask your clients, “Who would you rather be?”

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Promote Income Protection in May

If you have clients that work for a living, your most serious advice to them should be about protecting their paycheck.  95% of disabling accidents and illnesses are not work related, so Worker's Compensation doesn't cover them and only 1/3 of workers have access to a disability insurance plan at work. 

If you sell disability insurance, you must also practice what you preach, and buy a disability policy on yourself. When you purchase a disability insurance policy on yourself, you benefit in many ways:
  • You experience firsthand the application and underwriting process, giving you valuable insight
    into what your clients will experience
  • You address your own income protection needs
  • You earn first-year commissions and ongoing renewals that help offset a portion of your premium each year
According to Life Happens, approximately every 7 seconds, a working-age American suffers a disabling injury or illness that will last for at least one month. 50% of them wouldn't be able to meet their expenses after one month without a paycheck and some won't last even that long. 

Selling disability insurance is also a huge market opportunity because there aren't many agents selling it. 51% of consumers are concerned about supporting themselves if they were injured or became ill and couldn't work, but only 29% actually own disability insurance. 

The disability insurance sale is a more difficult one, but if you put forth the effort, it pays well and it might help you sleep better at night. We challenge you to find ways to make the need for disability insurance relate-able to your clients. There are many tools and calculators available to help you draw connections between the coverage and your clients’ everyday lives. 

*All references to statistics can be found at lifehappens.org.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Getting Retirement Ready with Life Insurance

by Mark Peterson
Senior Vice President, Independent Distribution, AIG Financial Distributors

Planning for retirement can be a struggle. When seeking a strategic approach, it may be helpful to think of each dollar that’s being put toward retirement as going through three phases: contribution, accumulation and distribution. To help achieve a financially solid base for retirement, the funds ideally would grow in each phase. That doesn’t always happen, but leveraging life insurance is one way to potentially counter obstacles on the road to retirement.

Bypassing Roadblocks
The difficulty with some traditional retirement vehicles, such as 401(k) accounts and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), is that if maximum marginal tax rates rise, as they have recently, these accounts may become less effective at preserving wealth. The benefits of making deductible contributions and enjoying tax-deferred growth may be outweighed by high marginal tax rates when the need to begin making taxable, mandatory withdrawals (required minimum distributions, or RMDs) kicks in, currently at age 70 ½. (Keep in mind that all tax statements in this blog post are based on current tax law and that a qualified tax expert should be consulted when considering one’s individual circumstances.)

In addition, when IRA or 401(k) plan assets pass through inheritance to the owner’s (non-spouse) beneficiaries, they do so as regular income and often are taxed at high rates, as beneficiaries often are in their peak earning years and are subject to correspondingly peak tax rates.

Watching for Potholes
Some retirement plans address these problems by allowing participants to accumulate and distribute assets without paying taxes, although with a significant drawback: the initial contributions are nondeductible. The Roth IRA is an example of this type of plan. In addition to providing a vehicle for tax-deferred growth and zero taxation on qualified distributions, the Roth IRA requires no mandatory withdrawals by the owner, and the money passes income-tax-free to the beneficiaries after the owner’s death. But again, initial contributions are nondeductible.

The Roth IRA also has other drawbacks which may be significant for some people, particularly high-income earners. Single taxpayers whose modified adjusted gross incomes exceed $132,000 (and married couples who file jointly, with adjusted gross incomes above $194,000) are ineligible to contribute to Roth IRAs.

Even for people with incomes below those thresholds, the Roth IRA, like its traditional IRA cousin, limits maximum annual contributions to $5,500 (or $6,500 for people ages 50 or beyond). Also, people who skip making contributions to a Roth IRA in one or more years are not allowed to “make up” the contributions later; those potential contributions and the benefits that may have accrued to them are lost.

Finding A Way Forward
Despite their drawbacks, a 401(k) account, an IRA or a Roth IRA may be useful in retirement planning. However, their utility may be greatly enhanced when other financial products are utilized to help offset some of the limitations and add diversification to a retirement plan.

Life insurance is a prominent example. The IRS does not impose limits on the amount of life insurance premiums a person can pay or the amount of money someone can earn while still being allowed to fund life insurance premiums. Additionally, with a properly structured life insurance solution, the policy holder has the option to miss a payment, or make only a partial payment, and then contribute the missed amount anytime.

Furthermore, life insurance death benefits generally pass income-tax-free to beneficiaries after the policy holder’s death. And unlike a 401(k), an IRA or a Roth IRA, life insurance is a “self-completing” asset. If the insurance policy terms have been met, beneficiaries may receive the full death benefit even if the policy holder died before the contract was fully funded.

Here’s the bottom line: leveraging multiple types of financial products in a long-term strategy may help achieve retirement readiness. With its tax-advantaged treatment, flexibility and other features, life insurance merits thoughtful consideration when planning for retirement and the leaving of a legacy.

For more information about the role of life insurance in retirement planning, please contact MVP Financial Services, Inc. 

This information is general in nature, may be subject to change, and does not constitute legal, tax or accounting advice from any company, its employees, financial professionals or other representatives. Applicable laws and regulations are complex and subject to change. Any tax statements in this material are not intended to suggest the avoidance of U.S. federal, state or local tax penalties. For advice concerning your individual circumstances, consult a professional attorney, tax advisor or accountant.

Policies issued by American General Life Insurance Company (AGL) except in New York, where issued by The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York (US Life). Issuing companies AGL and US Life are responsible for financial obligations of insurance products and are members of American International Group, Inc. (AIG). Products may not be available in all states and product features may vary by state. Guarantees are backed by the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.

AIG is the marketing name for the worldwide property-casualty, life and retirement, and general insurance operations of American International Group, Inc. For additional information, please visit our website at www.aig.com. All products and services are written or provided by subsidiaries or affiliates of American International Group, Inc. Products or services may not be available in all countries, and coverage is subject to actual policy language.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Leverage IUL Insurance for Retirement

by Mark Peterson
Senior Vice President, Independent Distribution, AIG Financial Distributors

Permanent life insurance, which offers not only a death benefit, but also the potential for cash value growth in the policy, can play a key role in retirement planning. Sales of index universal life (IUL) insurance, a type of permanent life insurance, have risen recently, perhaps because IUL offers so many attractive features. Potential growth in cash value is linked to market index performance, with guaranteed floors to protect against loss in down markets. 

Advantageous Attributes
IUL insurance is designed to facilitate not only tax-deferred growth, but also tax-free income (based on current tax law) when distributions are properly structured. It’s important to always consult a qualified tax expert when evaluating individual circumstances – and it’s crucial, as well, to know that just as people have multiple, evolving needs, multiple types of IUL insurance are available.

For example, one type of IUL insurance product is designed to offer growth and income potential. This type of robust solution may be most attractive to people ages 35-55 who are seeking accumulation as well as multiple options to optimize income distribution. Accessed cash value from an IUL insurance product can be used for any purpose, such as:
  •        supplementing retirement income,
  •        covering health care expenses,
  •        starting a business,
  •        paying for college or wedding expenses,
  •        funding a vacation, or
  •        creating emergency funds.
Another type of IUL insurance product, designed as an economical alternative to guaranteed universal life (GUL) insurance, focuses on guarantees while offering the potential for cash value growth and income. This type of solution may be most appropriate for people ages 40-70 who are seeking death benefit protection for income replacement, wealth transfer or estate planning.

Solutions with Utility
Some IUL policies also feature integrated or optional riders designed to further transform the products into “life insurance you don’t have to die to use.” Even affluent people may appreciate the potential to access living benefits, in the form of an accelerated portion of the policy’s death benefit, in the event of a chronic illness (permanent or not) or longevity (and given that the terms of the contract have been met).  

With its many opportunities for customization, IUL insurance sometimes has been described as having lots of “moving parts” – and although the product is indeed built for performance potential, understanding the distinctive choices and how they are designed to work doesn’t have to be complicated.

In fact, new online educational resources have been introduced to help explain the impacts that various situations and contingencies may have on retirement readiness, and how an IUL insurance policy, along with built-in or available riders for various needs, may serve as a solution.  

For more details about modern IUL insurance, please contact MVP Financial Services, Inc. 


Policies issued by American General Life Insurance Company (AGL) except in New York, where issued by The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York (US Life). Issuing companies AGL and US Life are responsible for financial obligations of insurance products and are members of American International Group, Inc. (AIG). Products may not be available in all states and product features may vary by state. Guarantees are backed by the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.

AIG is the marketing name for the worldwide property-casualty, life and retirement, and general insurance operations of American International Group, Inc. For additional information, please visit our website at www.aig.com. All products and services are written or provided by subsidiaries or affiliates of American International Group, Inc. Products or services may not be available in all countries, and coverage is subject to actual policy language.

Monday, February 27, 2017

What's YOUR Plan?

As an insurance professional you help your clients prepare for the what ifs and the inevitables in their lives. From estate and retirement planning to business succession planning you have all of the solutions for them. So, do you exercise your own advice?

Especially when it comes to succession planning, you owe it to your clients to make sure that they will be taken care of when you are no longer in the business. Whether you retire become ill/disabled or die, what is your business succession plan?

You may still be working hard to build your practice and succession planning for your business is probably not very high on your priority list. Planning today though to protect your assets with the proper products and your business with the proper people, not only ensures that your practice will survive the future without you -- it supports the future of our industry by training younger professionals to be proficient colleagues.




Thursday, January 19, 2017

Happy New Year!

The past year has seen numerous changes in our business. The continued low interest environment has forced some of our carriers to cease selling life and long term care insuranceThe differences and difficulties in our state and federal governments have created turmoil in watchdog groups such as the Department of Labor.

During our winter meetings, all MVP associates pledged to be proactive, timely and transparent in all aspects of our business. MVP will continue our commitment to help you be more efficient and profitable by keeping you informed and protected while working closely with you and your staff. 
This year and into the future MVP will make every effort to help you insure your customers for a lifetime. Term insurance may bring peace of mind initially, but less than 2% of term policies are ever in force at time of death. MVP believes that many of our society's current financial problems would be resolved with greater savings, more permanent life insurance, and use of living benefits riders.
Our national brokerage partner, AimcoR, has created documents and protection against the Department of Labor mandates for Fiduciaries that requires adoption this April. While there may be hope that the new President and Congress will repeal some of these mandates, you and MVP cannot hide from or ignore the possibility the mandates will remain in place. Call us and be protected.
In addition, MVP has invested in a fantastic software system to help us analyze company products on your behalf. LifeTrends provides MVP unique product analytics, positioning and benchmarking data that we believe will add credibility to you when discussing your recommendations with your customers and other advisors.
Finally, MVP continues to support your underwriting concerns as well as your marketing initiatives with our full time impaired risk specialist, Kristie Carlsen, our experienced case managers, and our Marketing Director, Sherri Hellenbrand.
We truly look forward to growing our relationship with you this coming year. Be sure to ask your MVP Team about the upcoming all-expense paid trip to Los Cabos, Mexico!