The numbers don’t lie, or so the saying goes. While this is the simplest turn of phrase, it’s not exactly the whole truth. It’s not necessarily the numbers that are the issue, but the interpretation and application of the numbers. This just so happens to be one of the primary limitations of financial planning and forecasting, in general. Financial Planning Issues to Consider The thing about the typical financial planning industry is that projections and math are used to show people idealistic scenarios without all the proper contexts. For example,
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Should You Take Social Security Early and Invest It?
Should you take social security early and invest it? This question can come up often when helping clients secure their financial future. However, the answer is a resounding no in most cases. Taking an early social security benefit only works to remove dollars from your client’s future assets, when the future assets are less certain. Social Security benefits can supplement income, yet should not be considered the bread and butter. In general, we recommend delaying benefits for the optimal impact and finding other ways to supplement income. This includes working
Read MoreThe Whole Truth About Direct Recognition vs. Non-Direct Recognition
When trying to explain policy loans, and Direct Recognition vs. Non-Direct Recognition life insurance companies, we like to begin with a discussion of ownership. In a mutual insurance company, policyholders are the owners of the company. Whole life insurance is not like car insurance, home insurance, or other types of property insurance where you funnel money in and may never see it again. Yet life insurance frequently gets lumped together with all other insurance by agents and clients alike. Helping a client to understand that they’re an owner of the
Read MoreThe Huebner Foundation: Foundational Life Insurance Education
“There is nothing more uncertain than life, and nothing more certain than life insurance.” Solomon Huebner It’s easy to get caught up in the more exciting parts of life insurance, like the infinite banking concept. After all, it’s exciting to think about leverage and cash flow and building your own “bank.” Yet it’s important that we don’t neglect the foundation of life insurance, which is protection and certainty. Whole life insurance is foremost, insurance. And it is the only type of insurance that is guaranteed to pay out—which is one
Read MoreHow to Build Trust and Make Sales
Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach recently posted on LinkedIn: “My definition of selling is two-fold.The First part is that you intellectually engage the person you’re selling to with a future desirable result, something that would be an improvement or achievement in their life. And it’s not what you want for them—it’s what they want for themselves. The second part is that you then enable them to emotionally commit to that goal and then to courageously take action to move forward and achieve the goal. And if you do both of those
Read MoreUnderstanding the Participation Ratio in IULs
Earlier this year, we wrote about how to illustrate IUL returns in the Accumulation calculator. The reality is, IUL’s are sold as something they just aren’t—there are fewer guarantees, and a lot is still left up to risk. Now, we have a new button that illustrates another “lesser-known” provision of an IUL policy: participation ratios/rates. The insurance company sets the participation ratio, and is non-guaranteed, which means it can change from year to year. A participation rate controls how much dividend a policyholder will receive. For example, say the index
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