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You probably feel as if the field of Estate Planning is in turmoil right now – uncertainty about income taxes, estate taxes and wealth transfer solutions seems so disruptive that Larry Brody, a widely respected estate planning practitioner, has titled an upcoming presentation: "What the Hell Do We Do Now?" Is it really that bad? Well, here are links to two excellent and recent AALU publications that may help answer that question. Survey Says: Tax Reform and Client Planning – What Advisors are Seeing and SayingWhat's Trending: What Experts from the 2017 Heckerling Institute Had to Say The takea...

The tension is palpable. Underwriting is being turned on its head, driven by big data, automation, alternative risk assessment tools, and more predictive underwriting models and processes augmented by analytics. Go to any underwriting industry meeting and there will be considerable time and energy devoted to one or more of these topics, along with a fair amount of angst among the underwriting folks present. Traditional and new industry players speak about the latest risk assessment models and tools, back-tested through hundreds of thousands of client records and data points, producing mortalit...

Last summer ESPN.com ran the headline: Michigan, Jim Harbaugh agree to increased compensation in form of life insurance loan. We suspect that most sports fans just shrugged and moved on to see how the Cubs were doing, but those of us in the life insurance business sat up and took notice. After all, we seldom get any press on the business page, let alone the sports page. And this was indeed big news about a big compensation boost, using a relatively little-known but powerful combination: Split Dollar and cash value life insurance. (Related: American Institute of CPA's: Split Dollar Insurance Pl...

As we close out the books on 2016 and begin a new year we wanted to express our gratitude for all the love and support we received during an emotionally challenging 2016. In June we unexpectedly and rapidly lost Jerry Schwartz; dad, best friend and co-founder of Windsor. Hal Brooks beat back lung cancer with surgery and two rounds of chemo. Lastly, in early December Jane Brooks, Hal's wife of 60 years, succumbed to her decade-long battle with Alzheimer's. Family, friends and business associates provided tremendous support for us during these difficult times with messages of love and friendship...

In our previous two blogs, Marc Schwartz talked about how pricing adjustments among a few life insurers had created an "out-of-control" environment for some of our clients. In part two of "Putting Clients Back in Control," Marc explored several product solutions that can help put your clients back in control – but for you, what's most important is knowing first what your clients want out of their life insurance policies. Here, Marc and DuWayne Kilbo discuss why you need to review your clients' policies now. The idea and process of Policy Review has been around forever. Why is it so important n...

In our previous blog we explained how many of our clients feel as though what they want and expect from their life insurance policy is no longer in their control. Because some life companies have taken actions that create additional uncertainty and expense for their customers, it's up to us, as experienced professionals, to find a way to put our clients back in control. The key is to know what's important to your clients and then find the products and features that deliver the predictability and value they expect. No Lapse Guarantees (NLG) No question that we've seen a dramatic retraction of t...

If you have taken out a mortgage or obtained new automobile insurance in the last few years you have probably used an electronic signature (e-signature) platform. An e-signature provides both extraordinary convenience and the same legal standing as a handwritten signature, as long as it complies with regulations published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (U.S. Department of Commerce). The beauty of e-signatures versus traditional wet signatures is that they can be executed portably and with ease via computers and devices. An insured can sign a document anywhere and anytime...

You've met with the clients and their advisors on a few occasions and the time has come to take an application and submit underwriting information to the carriers. However, what you hear next stops you cold: "Our son's friend is also in the business and we want him to shop our application as well to be sure we are getting the best offer and premium available." You pause and think. For several reasons you know that it's never a good idea to pit production sources against one another with multiple carrier submissions. It can complicate matters and often results in an inferior offer and a higher ...

Term life insurance sales in the US consistently represent about 70% of the total death benefit bought by consumers every year, according to the Insurance Information Institute. And for many of those buyers, the provision to convert their term insurance into permanent life insurance somewhere down the line represents an important option. But according to several leading term insurers, less than 5% of term life policyholders ever take advantage of this option, and those who do often are motivated by deteriorating health. Because these clients have a mortality risk of about five times normal for...

Accelerated underwriting is a new and growing trend that offers important advantages over other programs allowing for an insurance qualification process that does not require examinations or fluids. Having an approved policy in hand can occur in a few business days, rather than weeks, and product pricing is typically more favorable with many carriers offering their full suite of off-the-shelf products with no compensation haircuts. These are all positive factors associated with accelerated programs. However, since most accelerated programs are a triage process, there are no guarantees an appli...