Case Design
#424 | The 4% Rule and Life Insurance
A Refresher on the 4% Rule Fewer things in finance have been more unjustifiably maligned than the “4% Rule.” As interest rates fell in the mid-2010s, much was written about how the 4% Rule was too aggressive for the current…
#421 | Risk and Reward in Protection Sales
Just 20 years ago, the hottest ticket in life insurance was middle-market estate planning. The estate tax exemption was just $2 million – low enough to ensnare more than two million households with a net worth in excess of $4…
#206 | A Practitioner’s Guide to Picking Product
Since the inception of our industry, we have been bedeviled by the question of whether or not life insurance is a commodity. It is a question core to what we do and why we exist. If life insurance is a…
James Christie | Be Aware or Beware Part II
In my previous article titled “Be Aware of Beware – Part 1” we discussed the importance of truly understanding the underlying defaults setup in a carrier’s illustration system. We explored the “Minimum Non-MEC” solve and uncovered how at times it…
James Christie | Be Aware or Beware – Part 1
In my previous article titled “Flip the Script-Solve for the Rate” I discussed a different way to go about illustrating and selling a non-guaranteed insurance product, specifically Indexed universal life for cash accumulation and income purposes. The steps to follow…
James Christie | Flip the Script – Solve for the Rate
The IUL marketplace is backwards, matter of fact, it is upside down. Frankly, the way products are being sold right now feels like we are a bunch of mouth-breathers. As I spoke about in the first post of this series,…
#160 | Policy Funding on the Margin
A couple of weeks ago, one of the subscribers to this site reached out about a curious calculation he’d run while reviewing a proposal for one of his clients. The basic crux of the question was why seemingly minor changes…
#63 | Managing a Shadow Account Conversation
A year or so ago, I worked on a case with a producer on an extremely successful financier with three degrees from Harvard, one of which was a JD. All went well and the producer placed a large Guaranteed SUL…
#62 | Managing a Conversation about Non-Guaranteed Elements
It’s no surprise that clients generally don’t trust insurance companies, but one of the industry’s dirty little secrets is that most independent producers don’t either. These producers have consequently transitioned to Guaranteed UL as a means
#56 | Indexed UL and Illustrated Rates
Whenever I talk about Indexed UL, someone inevitably asks me what illustrated rate is best for Indexed UL. I have a love/hate relationship with this question because the answer is irrelevant. Illustrations of future performance are always inaccurate. Choosing the…
