Medicare Supplement/Gap Vs Final Expense

[staythecourse]

Looking at these two avenues, what are the pros and cons of both? Is one a better long term pursuit then the other? Seems as though their is more of a residual income type concept to Medicare Supp/Gap over FE. FE is more money up front it seems, but is Medicare Supp/Gap more "stable" long term?
Any thoughts on the wiser pursuit? Is one easier than the other?

 

[John Galt]

Looking at these two avenues, what are the pros and cons of both? Is one a better long term pursuit then the other? Seems as though their is more of a residual income type concept to Medicare Supp/Gap over FE. FE is more money up front it seems, but is Medicare Supp/Gap more "stable" long term?
Any thoughts on the wiser pursuit? Is one easier than the other?

Hi, welcome to the forum. They are both good options. The thought of medsupp being a residual income is somewhat of a misnomer. It takes 6 years to payout on a medsupp what most agents earn in 9 months on a FE policy. Retention may or may not be more stable with medsupps, you can be replaced with those as well. I guess it depends on really what type of client you want and how fast you can make sales. With medsupp you are gonna be struggling the first few years until your book builds up....with fe you can hit the ground running with a good lead program. Pick one, some may disagree with me but I dont think you can do both and earn more than $100,000 consistently, those that do that are hardcore and are not newbies. If you pick only one you can surely hit that and more.

 

[Thad.Sipple]

IF you are starting from scratch then my suggestion is to do Medicare Supplement / MA sales and only MS and MA sales, for 5 years. Do it hard, do it long and only do MS / MA.

Get in touch with Rick or Chris and then get off the forum. In 5 years you will have more income then 95% of all the guys on the FE forum.

Don't fall for the FE is easy money or FE is more money up front it is NOT more money up front.

Placement and persistency with MS sales is way way higher than FE sales, the average FE sale is not what is advertised so the average FE commission is not what is advertised. FE money will have the illusion that it is easy money until your 4th or so month.

I spent the first quarter or so of my career selling MS and MA and it bought my house, funded everything else I started, and I still get paid from it. If I could do it all over again I would have kept doing MS/MA sales, but I got talked into the "easy" money. Granted it hasn't been bad for me, but "I" did it differently than most, but at the end of the day I am going back to my roots MS sales.

Anyway just one drunk man's opinion.

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

Hi, welcome to the forum. They are both good options. The thought of medsupp being a residual income is somewhat of a misnomer. It takes 6 years to payout on a medsupp what most agents earn in 9 months on a FE policy. Retention may or may not be more stable with medsupps, you can be replaced with those as well. I guess it depends on really what type of client you want and how fast you can make sales. With medsupp you are gonna be struggling the first few years until your book builds up....with fe you can hit the ground running with a good lead program. Pick one, some may disagree with me but I dont think you can do both and earn more than $100,000 consistently, those that do that are hardcore and are not newbies. If you pick only one you can surely hit that and more.

You make $1,500-$2,400 per sale doing FE? Actually that's only for 9 months so I guess you are making way more than that?...

 

[thomasm]

I do both.

Med Supps has a lower barrier of entry. You just need a decent PC, a dial-er, and a list to call and you're in business.

To start your FE career off the right way, you need enough working capital to buy 25-50 leads a week consistency for at least the first 60-90 days. By then you should be able to cashflow your leads from commissions.

As far as which is better long term, from what I hear, when you have thousands of Med Supp clients paying you $20+ per month, you don't worry about the occasional FE charge back.

 

[liorselamb]

Looking at these two avenues, what are the pros and cons of both? Is one a better long term pursuit then the other? Seems as though their is more of a residual income type concept to Medicare Supp/Gap over FE. FE is more money up front it seems, but is Medicare Supp/Gap more "stable" long term? Any thoughts on the wiser pursuit? Is one easier than the other?

Why not sell both? (And indemnity products as well) Get paid upfront while building your residual income from Med Supp. Don't depend on leads only, be creative and ask for referrals. There are tons of scripts on efficient ways to ask online and this forum. They're easier to sell to than any lead.

Find a mentor that will show you how it's done. It may be difficult for the first few months, but with persistency it will happen for you.

There is more than one way to do this business. The only way to find out is try...

Good luck!

 

[John Galt]

You make $1,500-$2,400 per sale doing FE? Actually that's only for 9 months so I guess you are making way more than that?...

Many times its over $1000 per policy. Cmon dude you have been doing this long enough to do the math. Yes I am that damn good.

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Why not sell both? (And indemnity products as well) Get paid upfront while building your residual income from Med Supp. Don't depend on leads only, be creative and ask for referrals. There are tons of scripts on efficient ways to ask online and this forum. They're easier to sell to than any lead.

Find a mentor that will show you how it's done. It may be difficult for the first few months, but with persistency it will happen for you.

There is more than one way to do this business. The only way to find out is try...

Good luck!

Lior, you are one of those hardcore guys I was thinking about when I posted my response to the OP. Anyone looking for a great medsupp trainer Lior is your guy.

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IF you are starting from scratch then my suggestion is to do Medicare Supplement / MA sales and only MS and MA sales, for 5 years. Do it hard, do it long and only do MS / MA.

Get in touch with Rick or Chris and then get off the forum. In 5 years you will have more income then 95% of all the guys on the FE forum.

Don't fall for the FE is easy money or FE is more money up front it is NOT more money up front.

Placement and persistency with MS sales is way way higher than FE sales, the average FE sale is not what is advertised so the average FE commission is not what is advertised. FE money will have the illusion that it is easy money until your 4th or so month.

I spent the first quarter or so of my career selling MS and MA and it bought my house, funded everything else I started, and I still get paid from it. If I could do it all over again I would have kept doing MS/MA sales, but I got talked into the "easy" money. Granted it hasn't been bad for me, but "I" did it differently than most, but at the end of the day I am going back to my roots MS sales.

Anyway just one drunk man's opinion.

Good points. I agree...just pick one and go with it. Maybe when you jump back in hard you can share more.

 

[Newby]

Sell one and cross sell the other. It's a no brainer.

Focus on your main thing and skim the cream off the top of your secondary product.

Adding a few Medicare sales to your FE sales each month makes your renewals build much faster.

Or adding a few FE sales to your Medicare sales each month gives you a big boost to your up front income.

Either one works. Just choose your path and work it.

 

[jdeasy]

Looking at these two avenues, what are the pros and cons of both? Is one a better long term pursuit then the other? Seems as though their is more of a residual income type concept to Medicare Supp/Gap over FE. FE is more money up front it seems, but is Medicare Supp/Gap more "stable" long term?
Any thoughts on the wiser pursuit? Is one easier than the other?

The med sup market and the FE market are completely different markets.

There is quite a bit more opportunity to cross sell FE when focusing on the med sups.

There are a few opportunities to cross sell med sups when focusing on FE. But they are few and far between.

You are asking for guidance on which market is best for you and that's impossible to answer without knowing you and how you work and what's your knowledge base of either market.

The MA market is more closely aligned with FE. You didn't ask about MA so I assume you aren't interested in those or don't know to ask.

If it's the latter then you have a steep learning curve ahead of you.

 

[Rearden]

Sell one and cross sell the other. It's a no brainer.

Focus on your main thing and skim the cream off the top of your secondary product.

Adding a few Medicare sales to your FE sales each month makes your renewals build much faster.

Or adding a few FE sales to your Medicare sales each month gives you a big boost to your up front income.

Either one works. Just choose your path and work it.

I have a few agents that have come from a Medicare Advantage background and transitioned into final expense sales.

All have done extremely well selling final expense, with one I've done an extended interview here on how he used his existing book of Medicare business to sell final expense to, and a more recent interview here where he did $13,500 in sales just in one week, all within his first year full-time selling final expense.

Several of them still cross-sell Medicare products, mostly Medicare Advantage type products.

I am amazed at how much Medicare Advantage business can be written off of final expense leads - lots of people on disability that do not have a Medicare Advantage plan, and many who have automatic Special Election Periods where one can flip them into a new Medicare Advantage plan