Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Whenever I ask advisors what they need to become more successful, one answer always shows up on their list: I want more leads! I’ve never met a salesperson who didn’t claim to close “at least 90 percent” of leads. How salespeople determine a “lead” may frustrate their managers. And how they calculate their percentage might make a mathematician (like me) laugh. All kidding aside, it really doesn’t matter whether advisors sell 20 percent, 50 percent or 90 percent of their leads. Sales go up when activity increases. Activity has been the mantra for decades. Whether you learned to “smile and dial” or “dial for dollars,” you were taught to get on the phone, set appointments and “get out there!” But although activity is valuable, increasing efficient activity should be your goal. Figuring out what activity is efficient is important. But for now, let’s focus on how to increase activity immediately. You’re Sitting On A Pile Of Gold The answer to where your next 20 sales will come from is easy: from your existing clients. You only have to ask them the right questions and they will tell you what to do next. At a recent sales training I taught to...

Air travel used to have a certain degree of romance, but now it has all the romance of bus travel. We all know prices have been steadily rising for most everyday goods and services we purchase, but air travel is a major exception. Competition has forced prices down to absurd levels. But air travel often means long lines, cramped seating and fees for everything from checking luggage to getting a better seat. Passengers are unhappy. How could it possibly get any worse? Easy. You could work on the plane. What Does A Flight Attendant Do? From some passengers’ point of view, the role of a flight attendant is similar to that of a kindergarten teacher. They make sure passengers are in their seats and buckled up before the plane leaves the gate. “No, you can’t change seats.” “Get your feet off the seat.” “Stop kicking the seat in front of you.” Other passengers see flight attendants as flying waiters and waitresses. They take drink orders and sell you food that airlines once served passengers for free. “What would you like to drink?” “Do you want milk in your coffee?” From the airline’s point of view, flight attendants are safety officers....

If your office seems a bit stuffy and sterile, there’s an easy way to give life to your surroundings while giving your indoor health a boost. Add some plants to your décor. These potted powerhouses do more than look pretty. They can improve the air quality inside your office and provide other benefits as well. I know what you’re thinking right now: Oh great, something else I have to take care of. But there are many types of houseplants that will thrive in your office without requiring much fuss. What Good Are They? One of the reasons plants and people make good indoor companions is that their respiratory systems work in opposite ways. People inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. This may be a simplified way of explaining the photosynthesis that we all studied in high school biology, but you get the idea. As plants take in carbon dioxide from the air, they also take in many of the toxic substances floating around our indoor airborne environment and help clear the air in the process. When we say plants clear the air of toxins, we’re talking about some serious poisons — ammonia,...

Consumers seek financial advice at different stages in their lives, from when they purchase their first home to when they start a family. Advisors should encourage goal-based financial planning at all stages to successfully prepare clients not only for retirement but other goals along the way.Often clients tend to shift their focus to retirement saving only when they start to age. But the reality is that the sooner clients start saving toward retirement, the easier it will be for them to reach their goals. Financial Plans Versus Investment Plans Early in my career, I found my clients and prospects didn’t understand the difference between investment planning and goal-based financial planning. “Investment plan” and “financial plan” are often used interchangeably, but there’s a big difference between the two. An investment plan is just that, a plan to save toward one specific goal, such as retirement. Clients stick to the plan based on risk tolerance, diversification and asset allocation to maximize returns. A goal-based financial plan is a more holistic view that involves an assessment of every aspect of the client’s financial life versus investment plans that view each goal in isolation. Client understanding of this distinction is key, especially in today’s...

Workers say stress over their personal finances hampers their productivity on the job. Employers say they are challenged with attracting and retaining workers. Both groups are looking to a trend in voluntary benefits as a way to help them overcome the challenges they face as the world of work continues to evolve. MetLife’s 17th annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study showed a greater interest in workplace benefits that go beyond the traditional medical, dental and vision insurance. These newer benefits are described as “emerging benefits.” They include everything from help with paying student debt to subsidies for egg freezing or gender reassignment support to financial counseling. Fifty-eight percent of workers said having nontraditional benefits would reduce their stress. “It used to be that employers told their workers, ‘Here are my benefits; here’s what I pay for, here’s what you pay for,’” Todd Katz, MetLife executive vice president-group benefits, told InsuranceNewsNet. “But now, employees are saying, ‘We’re all different.’ You have multiple generations in the workforce, and even within generations there are different views of what’s important. “So employers have said, ‘I get that. The best way for me to deal with that is to give my employees choice.” Choice, Katz...

Much is written about the need to accumulate money for retirement, but accumulation is only part of the retirement equation. Clients also must think about how to protect their income in retirement while considering the financial risks they face as they get older. Securing a reliable source of protected lifetime income is one way to help manage retirement risks and help clients alleviate a core retirement concern — outliving their savings. In a recent AIG survey, we found that 59 percent of Americans say they fear running out of money more than death — a startling fact that underscores the importance of protected lifetime income.  To start the income planning discussion, ask your client three basic questions: How much have you accumulated for retirement? How much income will you need in retirement? What are your expected sources of protected lifetime income? The answer to the first two questions will vary widely, but the answer to the third will likely be some combination of Social Security, pensions and lifetime income products such as annuities. If your client doesn’t have enough protected lifetime income to cover their essential or discretionary expenses in retirement, they could be facing an income gap and may...

There are four financial disciplines that are critical to getting ahead financially. They are: Protect. Save. Manage debt. Invest. And the order in which these disciplines are developed is critical. Protection should always come first. Without protection, clients risk leaving family, business associates, dependents and creditors in a difficult spot. Protection is even more important than saving because, for a small sum, life insurance will provide several times more protection than what clients can save in a short period of time. Saving should be the second financial discipline that people develop. The biggest catch to saving is that you need to actually save the money. Many people invest money and think that they’re saving. Investing is not saving! To count as savings, the money needs to be in a safe place that does not expose it to market risk, or any other risk of loss. Managing debt naturally follows saving and should done before investing. There are many people who will get a much higher return by managing the debt they have before they invest. Think credit card debt, student loans or almost any other consumer debt. Managing debt doesn’t necessarily mean pay off all debt. Some debt can be...

Conrad is a Montana town of 2,500 in an area known as the “Golden Triangle” for its vast fields of wheat. Sixty miles from the Canadian border, Conrad is where the Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains. It’s a place where everyone stops what they’re doing at harvest time to do whatever it takes to bring in the grain crops that fuel the local economy. “We have one stop light, no McDonald’s and one elevator in the entire town,” Vanessa Bucklin said. In an era where small towns such as Conrad are seeing their young people strike out for big cities and never return, Bucklin did things differently. She spent her teen years dreaming of leaving Conrad for Las Vegas. But after she moved, she realized she missed Conrad and she focused on getting the kind of business experience that would help her return there and be successful. Bucklin, 41, founded Pondera County Insurance in 2013, and qualified for Million Dollar Round Table membership her first year in business.She is the descendant of homesteaders, with her family the fifth generation to live on the farm that grows wheat, barley and hay. She is also the second generation of her family...

They seemed invulnerable in their prime. Stan Lee, a movie-star-handsome creator of superheroes who seemed to just keep living and living. And Burt Reynolds, an actual movie star who lived like he could laugh off anything, maybe even death. They turned into pioneers in a sense, venturing into the realm of the ultra-elderly, living far later than they might have even imagined. Lee died last year at age 95 of complications of pneumonia, the end of a career that spanned the history and transformation of comic books. Reynolds had a fatal heart attack at 82 — not ultra-elderly by today’s standards, but outliving expectations set by the high life he led. The elderly were once rare. In 1910, less than 5 percent of the population was over 65, according to the U.S. Census. By 2010, more than 12 percent were over 65 — and that was before baby boomers started crossing the golden line in 2011. Boomers then expanded that age group to about 15 percent of the population in 2015. By 2035, America will be home to more people over 65 than under 18, according to the Census Bureau. One in 10 elderly Americans are victims of abuse, according...

Life insurance agents talk about death as part of their business. But the business of dying — that is something no one talks about. Specifically, how should a person be present in someone else’s grief? Sure, many agents have a story about being the hero with the benefits check. But is that enough? Especially these days when fewer agents are actually delivering a check. Agents might not even speak with family members who go straight to the insurer with the claim. Then why would the next generation stick around to do business with that agent? Well, we know they don’t. The children typically move their assets to someone they know. This is the world of Amy Florian, who had a thorough informal education in grief when she became a widow at age 25. Her husband died in a car accident, leaving her with an infant child. She was, of course, bowled over by the grief of losing her beloved but she also found herself bobbing in the sea of pain and helplessness. Well-meaning people could do little to help her. In fact, many people seemed to make things worse. Florian struggled back to life for the sake of her baby...