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  If we had a nickel for every time a carrier suggested we spend more time showing life insurance as a supplemental retirement income strategy, we would have a ton of nickels.  After all, Windsor was started by Jerry Schwartz and Hal Brooks when Universal Life and Interest Sensitive Whole Life were first invented.  From that time on, we've been steadily promoting the unique advantages of life insurance, most recently in our June 2021 Blog on Life Insurance Retirement Plans (LIRP). But we have a stake in the game.  So when life insurance companies encourage us to emphasize t...

Ready for some fast and furious sales ideas that can help you get a head start on 2022?  Here are some of the best from Windsor and our carriers including:     The retired wealthy client who has no cash The couple on the edge of their seats about estate taxes  The PhD in Financial Engineering  The retiree with overfunded IRAs The business owner who needs to find new ways to keep the best people 1,  The retired wealthy client who has no cash - or who doesn't want to spend it right now. Your client is 78 years old and knows he needs more life insurance – but hi...

What an extraordinary year it has been for life underwriting.  We've experienced rapid and remarkable changes on a number of fronts — some positive and helpful, others more challenging — and all either accelerated by, or initiated because of, the COVID-19 pandemic. We've seen the expansion of technological enhancements and automation of the underwriting process, helping get cases approved more quickly and with less hassle for our applicants.  Conversely, we continue to see COVID-related underwriting restrictions that sometimes affect our ability to get coverage issued, especially wit...

- by Jeff Driscoll, Vice-President, Product and Carrier Management, Partners Financial Let's start with good news.  Your clients and many life insurance carriers definitely need your expertise in selling and servicing Indexed Universal Life (IUL) products.   And now, with the growing trend of volatility control (VC) indexed accounts, your value is more than solidified.  The trade-off for your increased value is that more homework is required to understand and make the correct recommendations with these more complicated indices.  Before going any further, one could argue tha...

We're guessing that Roth IRAs probably don't show up on your radar these days.  What with the S&P, NASDAQ and the Dow ringing the bell on new records almost weekly, investment advisors focused on wealth creation might just pass right by a qualified plan option with income ceilings of about $200,000 and contribution limits of $6,000 to $7,000 (depending on age) annually, as of 2021. But Peter Thiel of PayPal fame might change your mind.  He simply used a Roth IRA to create a $5 billion tax-exempt fortune. Roth IRAs were created in 1997 to provide for a need not filled by other qua...

For life insurance industry veterans, using cash value life insurance to supplement retirement savings is as old as the rate book.  Overfunding premiums and enjoying the advantages of both insurance protection and tax-free accumulation (without the burden of qualified plan rules) is what makes our products unique.  And with the potential for tax-free income down the road, we really have an unmatched solution for clients wanting to enhance their retirement in a very tax-efficient way. If life insurance is new to you, or if you just need a refresher on the LIfe Insurance Retirement Pla...

With only a few carrier exceptions, enhancement and streamlining of the underwriting process over the past few years has primarily focused on cases in the $1 to $3 million range, with a maximum age 60 limit and qualifying rate classes of standard or better.  While these applications cover a wide swath of carrier submissions, they typically fall short both for large case applicants who desire an expedited, less invasive underwriting process, and for opportunities that truly move the premium dial for producers. John Hancock stepped up big time recently and developed a solution to this large...

This is a question a number of carriers are being asked today.  Roughly a year ago with the onset of the pandemic a majority of carriers introduced underwriting restrictions to deal with COVID's potential impact on various age groups, and especially those age 65 and older with comorbid health conditions (see COVID-19! What Have You Done to Underwriting?). Since then carriers have learned a lot about COVID and its effect on mortality.  Discussions with several carriers indicate that their mortality impact is mostly in the 75 and up age groups and with insureds whose policies have been...

  Much has been written about the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and IRC section 7702, (§7702) where, effective January 1, 2021, minimum interest rates associated with the Cash Value Accumulation Test (CVAT) and the Guideline Premium Test (GPT) under the definition of life insurance have been lowered.  These adjustments created welcome changes for:  1) owners of insurance to put more money into cash accumulation plans of coverage without running afoul of definition of life insurance and Modified Endowment Contract (MEC) limits, and  2) carriers to get relief from o...

Here are some of Windsor's best conversation starters, marketing strategies and sales ideas that you can use right now and well into 2021! As advisors to our clients, we can start a conversation with 60-page product illustrations or we can focus on something simpler and closer to home:  Caring for our families by leveraging low interest rates, securing fully guaranteed life insurance benefits, supplementing retirement income, protecting valuable assets, saving money on taxes, and finding easier ways for clients to get the insurance they want and need.  Even in these difficult times, ...