Whole Life Insurance is a Good Investment Product for Savers

With so many different types of insurance out there, it can often be difficult to determine which policy best suits your needs.  Depending on your current financial situation, as well as your future financial goals, different plans meet different needs. If you are starting out with a young family, term life insurance may suit your financial situation and goals.  If you are in a stable financial position and you are interested in combining life insurance and investments, then you need to know that whole life insurance is a good investment product for savers! 

What is whole life insurance? Whole life insurance is an insurance policy that protects you for your entire life. Unlike term life insurance, which covers for a specific range of time, 10 or 20 years for example, a whole life insurance policy covers you for life. This means that you are protected for your entire life, without having to worry about renegotiating after your term life insurance policy has expired. 

Even better, whole life insurance is not just important as a life insurance plan – it is also a great way to invest and save money for your future!  Whole life insurance is a good investment product for savers because it carries a cash value, is a safe investment vehicle, and because it carries important tax benefits! 

Carries a Value and Can Be Borrowed Against: A whole life insurance policy carries a cash value, and you can use this cash to borrow against. The cash value of your insurance policy can be taken out and used as a loan for other expenses. Also convenient is the fact that you can pay it back in a number of different ways, for example, making regular payments or letting the interest accumulate and having the amount owing subtracted from the benefit paid out in the end, whichever option works for you. 

Safe Investment: As an investment, a whole life insurance policy is also an effective vehicle by which to accumulate wealth and generate value for your future financial needs. Whole life insurance policies are designed to be low maintenance. The accumulated cash value is invested in a diversified investment pool which is managed by professionals, meaning little to no involvement is required by you. Safe and secure, whole life insurance policies are designed to meet your investment AND insurance needs. 

Tax Deduction: If you choose not to withdraw the cash that accumulates, the value of the investment will grow tax free. If you wait and only draw the cash once you retire, you will most likely be in a lower tax bracket than before you retired, and thus will have the chance to keep more of your money!  

These three major reasons why whole life insurance is a good investment product for savers should help you to determine, firstly, what it is you want to gain from your insurance policy, and secondly, how your insurance policy can work for you.  

For more information about how whole life term insurance is a good investment product, or to discuss what insurance policy will suit your current needs, please contact Gary Mandel at Independent Financial Concepts Group at 416-849-1653 or visit www.wecoveryou.ca.

What Would Make You Leave Your MGA or Insurance Company?

If you work in the insurance industry then you know how competitive it is and that it takes drive and ambition to be successful. Insurance advisors in Ontario will generally work with an MGA or an insurance company. We speak with insurance advisors all the time who are unhappy with the MGA or insurance company that they work with, and often for different reasons. 

Generally speaking, many insurance advisors who work with insurance companies sometimes find it challenging to stay competitive because they can only recommend insurance products offered by that insurance company. If the insurance company’s rates and products are not competitive, they will be less successful. If the insurance company doesn’t invest in marketing their brand it impacts their success, and if the insurance company is behind with technology and innovation, this too will make being competitive and successful a challenge. 

The sky should be the limit for insurance advisors who work with MGA’s because advisors who work with MGA’s have access to most insurance products available on the market. However, insurance advisors who work with MGA’s often run into other challenges that surround a lack of support.

A good MGA will invest in their team. They will ensure that they are up to date with the latest technology, provide sales and product-related training to their insurance advisors, help their advisors to get their deals processed and make themselves available to answer questions and provide support as needed. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. We have had many advisors who have joined our team because of issues such as not having their calls returned. While an MGA may be busy and put off returning a call as less of a priority, receiving that call from the MGA could be a top priority for an advisor because they could have a deal riding on a question they are waiting for an answer to.

What’s interesting is that in the past few years, employee recognition seems to be one of the biggest driving factors that results in many advisors choosing to leave their MGA or insurance company. Employee recognition is really important and insurance advisors need to be credited for a job well done. This could be something as simple as taking an advisor to lunch. Strangely enough, we have heard of instances where top performing advisors have been invited to dinner and then sent an invoice from their MGA.

All in all, recognition, support and compensation seem to be the leading drivers that impact whether or not an insurance advisor is happy with their MGA or insurance company. The biggest challenge for insurance advisors who become unhappy in their support arrangement is how involved and complicated it is to switch insurance companies or MGA’s. This is often one reason that insurance advisors will continue to work with a company who is not providing them with the recognition, support and compensation that they deserve.

The best advice that we provide to advisors who have had enough and want to switch insurance companies or MGA’s is to make a list of what is important to them. Research and meet with different companies, and when you find one that offers you what you need, take the leap. Many times taking the leap will result in increased job satisfaction, competitiveness and success.

If you are unhappy with the support provided by your insurance company or MGA please contact Gary Mandel at 416-849-2939 at Independent Financial Concepts Group or visit www.joinifcg.com for information about the benefits that come with joining our team.

Term Life Insurance is a Good Choice for Young Families

Starting out with a new family is an exciting time, but it is also a time when many different financial decisions need to be made. Securing life insurance for your young family is very important. 

Life insurance at any stage of the life cycle is important, but how do you know which type of policy to purchase that will best meet your needs? Depending on your own unique situation, this will vary. However, if you have a young family, term life insurance can be best choice.  

Firstly, what is term life insurance? Term life insurance is a life insurance policy that is set for a specific range of time, be that 5 years, 10 years, or up to 30 years. This means that the policy and premiums are set for the term that you choose, and the insurance covers that time frame. For example, if you are just starting out with a new family, and know that your situation is not likely to change in the near future, a longer policy, 20 years for example, would work best.

Term life insurance is a good choice for young families for 2 major reasons. The first reason that choosing a term life insurance policy is a good choice is that it gives you the flexibility to decide what year term will fit you current and future needs.

Because term life insurance policies can be purchased for terms starting from just 5 years, and ranging upwards, you are not locked in for an unending, permanent period of time. This is useful and convenient, as once children leave home or become financially independent, financial responsibilities often lessen, and you can easily choose a new insurance policy to fit your changing needs.

The second reason that term life insurance is a good choice for young families is that it is affordable. Young families often have many different monthly expenses, which can range from mortgage payments to child care costs, and so affordability is crucial. By choosing a term life insurance policy, you can determine what plan best suits your current financial situation. Moreover, because it is a term life insurance policy, you know that when your financial situation has changed (kids moved out, going to college, job advancement, etc.), you will be able to change the policy so that it fits those changing needs.

By choosing a term life insurance policy, you can guarantee that your family is protected in the case of your untimely death, while also ensuring that your policy is financially manageable. Fixed monthly payments, set at the beginning of the policy, do not change over the course of the chosen term. This means that a term life insurance policy financially safeguards your family while remaining within your means.

Life insurance is essential for new families, and term life insurance is the best choice. Because of its flexibility and affordability, it offers both financial security and peace of mind, and allows you to relax knowing that your family’s future is protected.

For more information about how term life insurance is a good choice for young families, or to discuss other policy options, please contact Gary Mandel at Independent Financial Concepts Group at 416-849-1653 or visit www.wecoveryou.ca.

The Moments When You Could Really Use Support from Your MGA

If you are an insurance advisor then you likely work with either an MGA or an insurance company directly. Insurance advisors who work with MGA’s have increased benefits over insurance advisors who work for insurance companies because they are able to offer a more competitive range of insurance products. Instead of only being able to arrange insurance through a single insurer, they are able to offer insurance products from many different insurance companies. Working for a good MGA can be enriching, but like any business, some MGA’s are better than others. 

As an insurance advisor, the level of service you provide your clients will largely depend on the support provided by your MGA as well as the support provided by the insurance companies who you broker insurance policies for. Sometimes it is the insurance companies who present the biggest challenge to the success of insurance advisors.  

Of course you would think that insurance companies would be highly motivated to act quickly to lock in an application that they receive from an insurance advisor, but often their own internal bureaucracy and disorganization can cause an insurance advisor to lose a deal.

Some examples of ways that insurance companies have been known to let down insurance advisors include:

1.       Not living up to time lines. Selling an individual on an insurance product can be hard enough, but when an insurance company takes too long to approve an application it can create an opportunity for the customer to shop around, or they may forget their reason for purchasing the insurance in the first place, resulting in lost deals.

2.       Lost information. There are instances from time to time where insurance companies actually lose information. This can be frustrating and can mean extra work for you.

3.       Requesting more piecemeal information. This is a huge challenge because when insurance companies do this, it gives a customer the impression that you don’t know what you're doing. Ideally, an insurance company should provide you with all of the questions they would like you to ask your client at once- but this often is not the case.

4.       Sales that result in substandard service. When insurance companies promote sales it can cause them to get really busy, really fast. This can impact customer service and service delivery which will ultimately impact the level of service that you provide to your clients.

The insurance business is a service business. The level of service that you provide to your clients will directly impact your ability to be successful in this business. When insurance companies give you grief and you work with an MGA, this is one of those moments when you will need to be able to count on your MGA to step up to the plate and support you.

Some MGA’s are not prepared to intervene and stand up for their advisors when an insurance company is providing substandard service. This is because they are often more concerned with “not bothering” the insurance company than with seeing their advisor be successful. Or they may fear losing their good standing relationship with the insurers.

If you work for an MGA who doesn’t stand up for you with insurance companies who are making it difficult for you to process your deals then it may be time to look at switching to an MGA who will. While it can be an involved process to do so, it will be worth it in the long run because it will likely lead to increase job satisfaction and profitability.

If you are unhappy with the support provided by your MGA please contact Gary Mandel at 416-849-2939 at Independent Financial Concepts Group or visit www.joinifcg.com for information about the benefits that come with joining IFCG. “In business for yourself, but not by yourself.”