Agent's Sales Journal: Eight New Articles on Insurance and Retirement Planning

Group or Individual Insurance?
by Ron Agypt

When it comes to choosing the best insurance policies for their employees, small-business HR executives typically have fewer options from which to choose. The number of employees plays a significant role in determining whether or not group insurance is an option. This same decision applies to voluntary insurance programs.

Retirement Income Planning and Health Care: The New Normal
by Ron Mastrogiovanni

As millions of American baby boomers and retirees grapple with the challenge of creating a secure income stream that may need to last 30 years or more into retirement, there is one area that must be at the forefront of every discussion: the potentially devastating impact of health care costs. This distinct paradigm shift in addressing health care is occurring in investment arenas across the country, as advisors, financial services executives and retirement industry thought leaders are starting to realize the importance of accounting for this variable in the retirement planning process.

Winning Boomer Business: A Formula for Success
by Max Zimmermann

Are you marketing to Baby Boomers? Given that the first Boomers turned 60 on the first day of 2006, you may already be behind the curve if you're not focusing on the largest prospect demographic in the history of insurance, born between 1946 and 1964.

What's Your Retirement Number?
by Mike Zwecher

When it comes to retirement, asking someone "What's your number?" is a popular way to land at a rough guess of a typically yet-to-be-determined objective. It's a "kind of/sort of" type of question that results in a "kind of/sort of" type of answer. Usually, the answers fall within the categories of hopeful, fanciful or delusional. Many times, the answers rely upon predictions of future returns. Yet advisors and consumers rarely consider the risks commensurate with the expected returns of any plan. Fortunately there are a few simple ways to tether the answers to reality; the questions "Where am I?", "What are some likely outcomes?" and "What's my number?" can deliver a powerful dose of reality.

Future Protection: How Indexed Annuities Can Maximize Gain and Minimize Risk
by Adam Hyers

The overall markets experienced significant peaks and valleys over the last decade, and many watched as their retirement accounts were decimated and built back up, only to lose value yet again. As agents, we sometimes shy away from talking with our clients about products that can help them truly diversify their investment portfolio while avoiding considerable losses.

One Thing is Certain: Life Insurance Lowers Taxes
by Marvin H. Feldman

Estate taxes, death taxes and inheritance taxes are only for the very rich. Right? Wrong! While the federal estate tax may not start until the taxable estate hits $5 million, state estate taxes and inheritance taxes start at much lower rates. For example, the state of Ohio has an estate tax exemption of only $338,333 with a tax rate of 7 percent on the excess. New Jersey has a $0 exemption for inheritance tax with a tax rate of 16 percent and an estate tax exemption of only $675,000.

The Myth Buster: Clearing Up 4 Common Myths About Voluntary Insurance
by Tom Morey

Americans are beginning to take a front seat in driving their health care decisions. Health care consumerism is on the rise and more employers are implementing consumer-directed health plans, such as high-deductible health plans and health savings accounts (HSAs), than ever before. Previously considered a nice-to-have, non-traditional option, voluntary benefits are becoming more mainstream and in demand by employees and employers alike.

Limited Medical Plans: What's the Next Step?
by Brian Robertson

I must be honest: I never expected to be on the same side as the Obama administration in the midst of a limited medical (aka mini-med) health care argument -- but not very long ago, that's exactly where I found myself. In a recent hearing on limited medical plans put together by Senator Rockefeller, administration officials contended that mini-med coverage was better than no coverage at all. This I agree with. That said, it's about where our common ground starts and stops.