FUN FACTS
On average, people underestimate the potential for health and believe they will be in their current state of health going forward without planning for downturns in their health. Potential for job loss, financial problems, etc are also underestimated and make people feel overconfident about their future income. In respect to longevity, people underestimate their own life expectancy because they don’t understand the difference between unconditional life expectancy (that of newborns) which is often reported in the news, and conditional (age-based) life expectancy. As such, people fail to save adequately and fail to put protections in place in case of a downturn.
Here are some other fun facts about our industry and what you will do as an Agent.
You have several titles to use at your disposal when asked who you are with, such as “Field Underwriter,” “Broker,” "Financial Professional," “State Licensed Insurance Agent,” “Symmetry Financial Agent,” and “Caseworker.”
Some policies offer a Return of Premium; this means that after a period of time, the money paid into the protection is refunded after a certain period of time.
Each of the carriers we contract with at Symmetry are “A” rated by Moody’s or AM Best, indicating a company’s proven excellent ability to pay claims.
Chronic illness includes heart disease, stroke, cancer, depression, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, asthma, kidney disease, etc
Critical illnesses include heart attack, kidney failure, hepatitis, organ transplant, paralysis, loss of one or all of the limbs, MS, blindness, deafness, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, coma, Third-degree burns covering at least 20%, terminal illness, AIDS, liver or lung disease, head trauma, brain tumor, encephalitis, meningitis.
A nickname for “Critical Illness” is “Dread Diseases.”
If a person has certain health conditions, a policy may be “graded” meaning that the death benefit will not be in force until after a period of time (usually 2 years); if a client passes away within the Graded period, a return of premium (plus 10%) would be given to the designated beneficiary.
There aren’t policies available for clients over age 85.
There are over 10,000 Americans that turn age 65 each day, creating a huge demand for insurance.
The Mortgage Protection industry began in 2008 after the industry was deregulated, detangling mortgage protection insurance from the mortgage companies.
Accidents are the #3 cause of death for Americans; cancer and heart attacks are the leading causes of death. Accidental Death policies are very affordable.
‘Living Benefits’ offer a benefit and pay out for critical, chronic, or terminal illness, in addition to death. If a person cannot perform 2 of the 7 tasks of daily living (such as bathing, eating, getting dressed, personal hygiene, taking medication, etc).
Clients with Foresters are automatically enrolled in their care program that offers to give orphaned children $900/mo until age 18 and $6000/year for college each year for 4 years.
Money given for Final Expense or as Mortgage Protection is given tax-free
“Non-tobacco” means that the applicant has not used tobacco products for more than 1 year.
The average cost of a basic funeral is just over $10,000.
In addition to term and whole life insurance products, we also have access to disability policies, children’s policies that have a cash value, Indexed Universal Life policies that grow a cash value, and policies that pay out for cancer diagnoses or assisted living needs.
There are over 20 million Americans that are uninsured, under-insured, or have the wrong type of coverage.
Even if a person has extremely poor health or even terminal illness, there are Guaranteed Issue products available to any applicant.
Oftentimes, Real Estate agents are the first contacts for people that have refinanced or move, offering Mortgage Protection. They and captive agents typically have programs with much higher products than we offer as independent agents, saving people hundreds of dollars each year. How much higher? Usually 2-4 times our prices.
95% of Americans fit into one of three categories: (1) they don’t have any insurance or (2) they have the wrong type of insurance (term that will expire or universal life that has decreasing value) or (3) they don’t have enough coverage. And that’s where you come in to answer their questions.
Final Expense products are whole life products (paying out at death). Mortgage protection products are typically term life products, in force for a period of time.
Your role to to either help clients solve a problem or improve their situation
Group policies through an employer are awesome and very affordable. They usually don't carry over after employment, however, so it's wise to have a personal policy.
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Owner Math vs. Employee Math |
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Employee Math |
Owner Math |
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Spend as little money as possible on leads • Time is abundant, money is scarce • Exhaust every lead, because I paid money for it • I need to make money while spending the least amount possible |
Leads are an investment • Time is my most valuable resource • Cherry pick the low hanging fruit and then move on, because time is worth more than money |