Prospects for IUL?

[bill3173]

To whom are you marketing IUL? I had two life cases recently that I wanted to present a product that I like, both were lawyers, one older and one in his 30's. After pre-screening both of them, I could tell that they had very little investment experience and no life insurance knowledge, which was really surprising.

Knowing how suspicious lawyers tend to be, and it was evident in both of these cases, I stuck to the traditional life, term and GUL.

It seems that the best candidates would be investors who were either burned by a VUL at some point, or are dedicated to keeping their life insurance separate from any true market investment, but like the slight edge of a potentially higher return on the life.

Anybody having any luck marketing these things want to discuss it?

 

[stuy119]

With lawyers, you have to cut through the BS with them. I had a similar situation, and the guy kept pushing back, until I finally asked if it was worth his time to keep fighting me, when he normally gets $300/hour. I further asked if he put up with his clients questioning him when the advice obviously suited their needs. He got the point, and the paperwork was signed within 10 minutes afterwards.

 

[TwiLight]

Lawyers, Docs and Dentist are the best prospects for IUL.

The trick is that the IUL should be Max Funded with as little DB as possible. Use a 20-30 Year Term plan for actual Needs based insurance. They get that quite easily.

LSW has a really good proposal that shows the accumulation and distribution quite nicely. With their guaranteed distributions for life under the loan model it is a no brainer for these folks.

Max Funding for any small business owner on IUL is ideal with the accumulations. We are having a record year this year on IUL because of the S&P gains last year which just about capped out many indexed plans.

 

[scottstreet]

Awesome income with LSW. Ratings can be a question particularly with that crowd...

 

[TwiLight]

Ratings can be a question particularly with that crowd...

When are A ratings across the board (AM Best, S&P and Moody's) questionable?

Remember National Life Group owns Life of the Southwest (LSW)

 

[bill3173]

Awesome income with LSW. Ratings can be a question particularly with that crowd...

Ha..sounds like you've had some experience with lawyers. As a group, they tend to question ratings of the carriers on everything that I've sold to them.

It's like a signal that they like what they see and now need to know the carrier's rating, before they purchase.

Everytime, whether, DI, Health, life, annuity etc. The funny thing to me is "they're lawyers" they know how to read and investigate and can see the rating right next to the carrier's name in many instances, it's like they want you to commit to the rating or something. They're holding you responsible.

 

[scottstreet]

"When are A ratings across the board (AM Best, S&P and Moody's) questionable?"

When the alternatives are MM,GL,NYL,NWM..........

 

[stuy119]

Heck, after the entire 2007/8/9 meltdown, all ratings should be considered questionable.

 

[scagnt83]

When are A ratings across the board (AM Best, S&P and Moody's) questionable?

Remember National Life Group owns Life of the Southwest (LSW)

They arent questionable but they certainly arent strong at all. And not even in the same league as the other main players in the IUL world.

Both LSW & NLG have the exact same ratings, so NLG doesnt matter.

LSW has single A ratings.
And a Comdex (which is a better means of comparison) of 80.

Penn-96
NA-92
LFG-89
Pac-89
Allianz-87
AG-82

When that is your competition it becomes questionable. Questionable as in "why wouldnt I pick a stronger company for a policy that will be with me for the next 30-70 years?".

I would throw ING in the mix because they probably have the best products on the market, but their ratings really are questionable!

And as far as I know NA still beats everyone on income.

 

[TwiLight]

Penn-96
NA-92
LFG-89
Pac-89
Allianz-87
AG-82

First, the question form the OP was about IUL and selling to Lawyers, its nice that you know how to compile a list and all, but you should really compile one with companies that actually have significant track records.

NA, has by far a superior accumulation product and can be difficult to sell without additional software illustration.

LSW has been doing IUL a long time and has excellent illustration software and also has contractual guarantees and Living benefits that the others do not have.

While your list is just getting into the game (exception - NA)...They are not the leaders or even know how to play in the IUL sandbox yet.