Regular reviews of inforce life insurance policies are essential and can uncover important planning opportunities. While conducting a policy review, advisors may uncover an older policy that has a significant policy loan. If not addressed, these policies can become a tax time bomb. When it comes to policy loans there are 4 available options to weigh, all of which have their own set of benefits and considerations.
Like other financial assets, life insurance policies require ongoing management. A policy check-in helps ensure life insurance policies continue to address a client’s changing needs and that the policies are performing as expected. A policy review also serves as a touch-point in an advisor’s relationship with clients. Here are 10 reasons why a policy review is essential to the client-advisor relationship.
Did you know:
- Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, accounting for close to over 800,000 deaths per year. It is also the leading cause of death globally, accounting for more than 17 million deaths per year in 2013.
- Heart disease is not exclusively a man’s problem: Heart disease is the number 1 killer of women as well.
- About 92 million American adults are living with some form of cardiovascular disease or the after-effects of a stroke.
Bob Finnegan, Sr. Vice President, Advanced Planning Attorney with Highland Capital Brokerage spoke to an audience of high end financial advisors at the Elite Financial Advisor Conference on January 11 hosted by Janney Montgomery Scott. Bob addressed how current planning tools that were not adversely affected by the new 2017 tax act are ideally flexible and particularly suited to help clients hedge against all the threats to wealth, not just taxes—regardless of what happens in Washington.
Despite reports that average life expectancy has declined, many people still plan to keep working past traditional retirement age, whether for financial reasons or because they’d be bored otherwise. This may not be a surprise, but financial advisors need to remember to check in on seniors to make sure they are insured and that they have the right amount of coverage.
Women have made great strides in the workforce and many have amassed impressive personal wealth over the years. It also demonstrates an opportunity for financial professionals to increase their client base by appealing to women.
Breast cancer is one of the two most common cancers diagnosed in women (the other being skin cancer) and most life insurance brokers have encountered a client with this cancer or most certainly will. Thankfully, with the expanded awareness throughout our population, early detection of the cancer has increased treatment in early stages which has improved the odds of survival. Additionally, advances in treatment protocol have slowed the death rates.
