Reputable? Whole Life with Northwestern Mutual...

all i have seen are cons so far for Northwestern WL. am i the only one who thinks Guardian had way more pros over the course of this discussion?

This is an internet forum made up almost exclusively of independent agents who cannot sell NMLs products and must compete against them in the open insurance marketplace (neither good nor bad, it just is). That is a grain of salt you must take into consideration.

Without getting into the quality of advice given here (I am sure it is honest, heartfelt and intended to be accurate and objective), if it were me I would prepare a list of questions brought up in this thread and present them to your NML agent (beforehand, don't ambush him/her, that's bush league) and have the agent address them point by point.

How your agent handles that and how NML stacks up in real numbers and value in response to these questions will tell you what you need to know before you move forward.
 
This is an internet forum made up almost exclusively of independent agents who cannot sell NMLs products and must compete against them in the open insurance marketplace (neither good nor bad, it just is). That is a grain of salt you must take into consideration.

Without getting into the quality of advice given here (I am sure it is honest, heartfelt and intended to be accurate and objective), if it were me I would prepare a list of questions brought up in this thread and present them to your NML agent (beforehand, don't ambush him/her, that's bush league) and have the agent address them point by point.

How your agent handles that and how NML stacks up in real numbers and value in response to these questions will tell you what you need to know before you move forward.
i feel like just having him read this! however, i know that is probably not the best approach. he is going to wonder where the heck i pulled all these questions from!

are you saying i should email him a list of ?'s so he is prepared?

i am pretty busy, i might just direct him here or i will never get this meeting set up.
 
Nobody has told you to not buy the Northwestern contract. They have just said to look around. In all honesty, you are not going to find anything better, but you are going to find comparable policies to Northwestern. As someone else has said, the vast majority of people on this site are used to competing against NWM, because they can't sell it.
 
Nobody has told you to not buy the Northwestern contract. They have just said to look around. In all honesty, you are not going to find anything better, but you are going to find comparable policies to Northwestern. As someone else has said, the vast majority of people on this site are used to competing against NWM, because they can't sell it.
i understand. but the part about NW i do not like is the dividend/loan deal. why can't others sell it? they make it hard for everyone to sell it? or does it mean you have to be exclusive and the people on this forum do not want to sell NW exclusive?
 
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All the par WL policies from the major mutuals (NWM, Guardian, Mass, NYL) are solid. I prefer non-direct recognition policies due to the fact that dividends will not be affected by having an outstanding loan from the policy. NWM is a direct recogniton policy. Mass is not. I am not sure of Guardian and NYL.

Guardian and NWM are direct recognition. MM, NYL, and Ohio National are non-direct recognition. I like Guardian in all aspect except they are direct recognition. If you get cold feet on NWM I would consider MM or Ohio National.

However, my advice is buy a WL policy now from one of the mutuals. You will not regret it. If you buy the NWM policy in the long run you will be happier than you will be if you allow all of these questions and comments to talk you out of it.
 
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"All i have seen are cons so far for Northwestern WL. am i the only one who thinks Guardian had way more pros over the course of this discussion?"

Kid, Here's why the conversation is going this way. NWM is a captive agent company, Guardian uses independents. You are in a forum dominated by independent agents.. think for a second, it should become clearer. When I was with NYL, I sold NYL's Whole life. Now, as an independent, I sell Guardian. A person would be fine with either company. It's just with Guardian, I'm his agent.

You are also hearing a bunch of opinions, somewhat based on what products agents sell or have to sell. Some products suck, especially if you can't sell them. ;) Remember rotations? Did you ever get the feeling each faction was trying to convince you that "their" specialty was what you should do, over all others? :)

There's another expression "too many cooks spoil the broth". While a forum is a good idea, it is also a place where you can get confused by jargon. Some is unintentional and some is just "p issing in the well" to get you to doubt what you're attempting. And it sounds like it's starting to work.

Sometimes complex things need to just be simplified. Don't become immobile by over thinking.

Palpatate just means "feel" doesn't it? ;) While in your profession, latin and quadruple sylable words dominate the landscape, a patient still won't follow your advice until he understands your advice. Talk with your agent and have him simplify a bit.

Whole life would work for you. So would some DI.

Here is the simplest way to think of DI. The longer the definition of disability... the sh itier the policy. The more words they use, the more they take away. You can keep the cost down by self insuring the days before you actually would need help to kick in.
 
i understand. but the part about NW i do not like is the dividend/load deal. why can't others sell it? they make it hard for everyone to sell it? or does it mean you have to be exclusive and the people on this forum do not want to sell NW exclusive?

Northwestern is one of very few companies that have exclusive agents. It's similar to a franchise. If I had a hamburger stand, then I couldn't sell a Big Mac there, because McDonald's owns the rights to that product.

The load...I'm not sure I understand you on that, but if you are talking about the additions, then the payout for the agent should be 4% on additional premiums. That is similar to an A share mutual fund.

People on this forum sell what they sell, because it is probably what they were introduced to originally. If they had started at Northwestern when they were looking at a career, then they would probably be successful with them as well.

The best time for you to buy a policy was yesterday, and you will be kicking yourself when either your age changes or your insurability is compromised. Either will cost you thousands in the end.
 
i understand. but the part about NW i do not like is the dividend/load deal. why can't others sell it? they make it hard for everyone to sell it? or does it mean you have to be exclusive and the people on this forum do not want to sell NW exclusive?

Basically yes. In order to sell Northwestern you must be a Northwestern agent. They do not allow their products to be sold by anyone else. So Northwestern agents can sell their own proprietary product and other products from other companies.



Concerning your worries that he is going to be upset with you...

Tell him you've been doing your research, and you've been looking at Guardian. Let your intuition guide you concerning how well you believe he handles hearing this news. Ask him about the PUA load, the annual fee, what the dividend rate for policies with loans is.

Tell me, do you have the illustration for the policy that he is proposing?

Your questions regarding disabilities

Yes it's possible that you have a group long term disability plan, check with HR. As has already been mentioned, this coverage is likely minimal. Also, when you leave the hospital--I believe I remember your stating earlier you are in PA and will be moving to SD in the not too distant future--you'll lose that group coverage.

1 out of 3 working men have a serious injury or sickness that takes them out of work for 6 months or more. The average length of such an event is just over 2 years.

That's the statistic. Your question about investing the premium instead, this is a self insure strategy that mathematically will never work. Disability insurance covers your ability to earn an income, more specifically future income you don't yet have. You can't self insure something you don't yet have.

Disability insurance isn't just about paying for the bills you have--though a lot of us mistakenly take too much time talking about it in that regard.
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As far as waiting a few years

Remember, WL returns premiums plus guaranteed interest and dividends. The sooner you have it, the sooner you are depositing money into this thing. Time lost can never be regained. The longer you wait to put this plan in motion, the more you will need to put into it to make the outcome you want. You won't necessarily be better off waiting later for a larger policy with a higher death benefit and as such a higher MEC level.

There's another trick that can be used especially for people who anticipate a much higher income soon. This strategy involves something called blended whole life insurance. This might be a good test. Tell your agent you are considering waiting and just putting in a lot more money in a few years when your income is hire. He'll likely talk about time not being on your side and how doing this sooner will benefit you. But I'd be curious to know if he can come up with this strategy. It can significantly increase your MEC level.

I can't imagine you have any idea what I am talking about with regards to this blending thing. That's ok, I'll explain more later when I have a little more time.
 
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Northwestern is one of very few companies that have exclusive agents. It's similar to a franchise. If I had a hamburger stand, then I couldn't sell a Big Mac there, because McDonald's owns the rights to that product.

The load...I'm not sure I understand you on that, but if you are talking about the additions, then the payout for the agent should be 4% on additional premiums. That is similar to an A share mutual fund.

People on this forum sell what they sell, because it is probably what they were introduced to originally. If they had started at Northwestern when they were looking at a career, then they would probably be successful with them as well.

The best time for you to buy a policy was yesterday, and you will be kicking yourself when either your age changes or your insurability is compromised. Either will cost you thousands in the end.
typo, sorry "loan"
 
As far as direct recognition, Northwestern does pay a lower dividend to policies where there are loans outstanding. I suppose their basis is that if you sold some of the company's dividends by borrowing from the cash value, then you shouldn't be able to receive as many, because you don't own as much of the company as someone who hasn't borrowed from the cash value.

If you don't plan on accessing the cash value until retirement there is a way to access the money at the cost basis first, then loans. This will enable you to access the money in a tax favorable manner.
 

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