College Grad, Mass Vs Northwestern

scagnt83 · 10-24-2009, 12:30 AM

CPF83 hit it on the nose. Learn the industry at one of the major mutual career shops. A lot depends on the management there. Make sure its a good fit for you. Befriend a knowledable agent who works in the markets you have interest in. Bring him in and split cases; you will have a higher closing percentage and learn the craft much quicker...remember 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

Northwestern in general has higher premiums than Mass on their term life & LTC products in my experience. So you need to consider what market you plan to cater to. Company presence and branding in your community and your particular market should be considerations as well.

I left NYL after year 2. It was a year earlier than I had planned to, but the experienced agent whom worked advanced planning cases with me decided to set up his own shop. So I seized an oportunity to move up and havent looked back since. I wouldnt be at the level I am now with out the core training I recieved with them.
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Originally Posted by CFP83

I advanced planning marketplace's....ie NQDC, SERPS, Buy-sells, and estate planning cases.

So do you miss Northwesterns products now that your independent and cant sell them? Northwestern is one of the few that is career only and no brokerers....right?

How do you feel their advanced planning departments stack up against the resources you have available now in a free setting?

Which carriers are you using the most these days in the NQDC & corporate benefits arena? any favorites? i always like to hear what other guys in the market are currently utilizing..

CFP83 · 10-26-2009, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by scagnt83

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So do you miss Northwesterns products now that your independent and cant sell them? Northwestern is one of the few that is career only and no brokerers....right?

How do you feel their advanced planning departments stack up against the resources you have available now in a free setting?

Which carriers are you using the most these days in the NQDC & corporate benefits arena? any favorites? i always like to hear what other guys in the market are currently utilizing..

Northwesterns cash-value whole life product is excellent. I am very much a believer in doing life/di business whenever possible with Mutual companies. I now have access to other great cash-value whole life products from Guardian, Mass Mutual, and Penn Mutual. Northwestern believe it or not does not even have a UL product(well they actually did but it was a min first year premium of 25k). I'm not sure how familiar you are with indexed universal life....but in many advanced planning cases (assuming your working with a financially strong company....I like Penn Mutual for IUL's) Indexed Universal Life policies are much more stable and flexable than whole life or variable life for certain types of business planning and deferred compensation planning. For most individual cases and some other advanced cases, I still love a participating cash-value contract through a powerhouse mutual.

Yes, Northwestern is still career only....there is absolutely no route of brokerage business.

When it comes to advanced planning departments, Northwestern did have a very good one. What I've found though is 95% of my learning and help on advanced planning cases has always come from the "specialist" advisor that I bring into the case, not a company's advanced planning division. For example, if I run into a large buy/sell planning case I know the guy that I'm going to bring along. If I get reffered into a very large estate planning case, I have another advisor that I would bring along for that case. Being still in my late twenties, I delegate and leverage other more experienced advisors with gray hair whenever I can. I totally agree with the line of thinking of "50% of something is better than 100% of nothing". People in our industry either think with a scarcity mentality or an abundance mentality. Those with a scarcity mindset all too often get in over their head in an effort to "pull the case off themselves". The advisors who have what I refer to as abudance mentalities want to make sure that every client is not just "taken care of" or "sold"....they want to make sure the client is given "the very best advice from an industry expert on the topic". This also allows you to leverage the other advisors staff and resources for the future servicing of that clients as well.

Regarding which carriers I like the best in the NQDC and corporate planning areas, I partially answered that above. If you would like to discuss further we can talk through a PM on that one. I can tell you that they are all mutual companies.

Lastly, for those of you who snear when someone like myself mentions the value and staying power of dealing with mutual insurers......why don't you check out the latest AP news on ING that was just released today: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=a2b4l29PuXL8
With all that has happened with public insurers such as Hartford, AIG, ING, and the whole list of others I stuggle to see how there is still a debate regarding mutuals being the best long-term decision for your clients.