Life Insurance Agent

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. 1. Determine that the agent is a member of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA).
2. Find out the agent's point of view regarding Permanent and Term life insurance. If the agent appears to be using a memorized sales pitch, you may want to get a second opinion.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. How will my policy work, when the stock market goes down?
How sure can I be that the policy will be there when I or my family needs the money? Is there an agency that will protect me if the company fails?

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. Are you a member of NAIFA?
Do you have or are you in the process of getting a professionally recognized designation?
How long have you been in the business?
(If the agent is relatively new) Who do you rely on to help you serve me correctly? What are her/his credentials?

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. What amount of income would be needed at the point that the income is needed?
What is one's risk tolerance level?

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. I do not rely on past performance of the insurance industry or the stock market when projecting possible results.
I focus on what will create the most practical solution for my clients' concerns.
I communicate in words and pictures that the client can understand.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. Creating greater financial security for my clients by moving retirement accounts systematically into high accumulation life insurance. Recognizing the hazards, both stock market risk and potential taxes in 401(k)s and many IRAs, I show my clients a safer more suitable way to build retirement wealth.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. What is better, Term life insurance or Permanent?
Each is better based on the purposes, situations and goals of the insured.

Does B.O.Y. (Bank on Yourself) work? Yes, but not exclusively with the companies and policy type that are described in the book.

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. A number of years ago, one of my clients died of heart failure at the age of 41. As I was delivering the insurance check, the widow was sharing with me their daughters' reaction to his passing.

The younger daughter was mad at God for having taken her father. I responded by saying that God did not take her father; He received him.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. There was a life insurance and mutual fund marketer who had claimed, "We are not talking rocket science. We are selling apples." He was wrong.

Professional life insurance agents are highly trained in understanding the intricacies of not only the products, but also the impact of these products and the impact of the culture, taxes and events on the products.

In working with my clients, I take into account the impact on the financial industry of the retiring 'baby boomers,' and the forced liquidation of their Qualified Retirement Accounts brought on by the Required Minimum Distributions starting in 2016.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. When I had become dissatisfied with working for the US Navy, I was invited into the life insurance business by my insurance agent.

I did not immediately take his advice. But when I was presented with the possibilities of what I could do for others, and what it could do for me, I accepted a training contract with a New York State based company in November 1968.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. Using a little-known section of the Internal Revenue Code, I was able to turn a 401(k) account for an after-tax value of about $130,000 into an estate value with an after-tax value of over $300,000.

This was done without a Federal premature distribution penalty, even though the client is under age 59 1/2.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. Yes, up to age 70, this is required in the amount of thirty hours every two years. Even after that age, we are required to take annuity and ethics courses every two years to retain our licenses.

Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?

A. Many employers have learned that there is value in following the IRC and ERISA regulations that allow employees to do non-hardship transfers of portions of their 401(k) accounts into self-directed IRAs.

With the risky nature of the stock market, there has begun a movement to get funds out of the 401(k)s into fully insured IRAs. This opens up opportunities to take advantage of the 72(t) section of the IRC.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. This is a field that is littered with drop-outs. For the right people it is a great career, but as with many other careers, it takes dedication, education and perseverance to succeed.