My Plan Before Covid Struck

When I wrote my book on sales, "You're Going To Be Great At This!" in 2017, I had a strategy in mind for marketing it. I had been attending my local Toastmasters group for a few years and was working on my speaking skills. While there I met some people who were also aspiring authors and were working on presentation skills to support their books. 

My plan was to use my book, my speaking engagements and my insurance agency to all promote each other. If I spoke, I could mention the book and my agency. When meeting insurance clients, I could mention my book, etc. I could also speak locally to civic and other organizations on insurance topics, hoping to attain to clients, as well as talk up my book. 

Things were starting to happen. I was asked to speak to some new real estate agents about sales, and in my talks I mentioned the book, as well as life and disability insurance. One of the interesting things that happened was that I was enjoying it all. The change was fun and interesting. 

As I mention in the book, the first thing we are selling is ourselves, and I took that thought and ran with it. My agency grew a bit slowly, but steadily. Not only did I get a few more life insurance clients but I also met some agents who wanted to work with me. And I also met some great people along the way who were willing to give me some guidance, which I can always use. 

In a nutshell, I had created a PR firm with one exclusive client - me. 

Then the virus hit and things changed quickly. My insurance business dropped some, but not horribly. Since I typically meet people in coffee shops or their place of work, I just couldn't get out to see people with the quarantine in place.There was interest in some policies since a pandemic was hovering overhead. However the speaking engagements I had booked evaporated.  I was looking forward to doing one in particular, which was ironically at a long term care facility, speaking to a networking group consisting of good people who offer products and/or services to seniors. The people now had a whole new set of problems to deal with and I wasn't on their radar at all.

Taking a good look at the rest of the business community I could see others adapting to the brave new world. More video conferencing would have to happen. "Distancing while selling insurance" became my new mantra. And since I was selling myself, I needed to step up my social media game. More than ever, I was going to have to find more efficient ways to market my book, my insurance practice and my burgeoning speaking business. 

We've had the systems in place to take insurance applications over the phone for years. As a matter of fact, I've done it a handful of times and had no issues. Now I just needed to let people know that this was available as an option. Slowly, people are starting to realize that they can book an appointment with me online and have a good conversation to discuss their needs and budgets.

Using that knowledge, I transferred it to my other businesses. Where I was planning on speaking to a group in person, I can now use Zoom (or another app if needed) to speak to groups. And thankfully my book sales have continued to be steady. 

My hope is that when this is all over and we get back to a sense of normalcy again, I'll be able to get in front of a group, large or small, and give another one of my talks, either discussing insurance products we offer or the sales process. A colleague and good friend said that he thought the Covid situation was going to give us all a "reset" on all businesses, not just insurance sales. We are all having to make changes that may stay with us for a while. That's fine. I'm definitely flexible as long as it works. 

Let me know if you have had to make changes and if they are working. In the meantime, I hope you all have continued success and I look forward to seeing (or hearing) from you soon. And as always, stay healthy!

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, as well as a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient.

We Love Referrals!

When you find something you feel really good about, you tend to want to share it with your friends and family. At the same time, when you make a recommendation to someone, you feel like your reputation is on the line. 

We understand that. 

We want you to feel confident about referring your friends, family, and colleagues to us. That's why we think it makes a whole lot of sense to spell out exactly what we do when we get a referral. That way, both you and the person you refer to us know exactly what to expect and what not to expect from us. 
So, here's how we work with people who are referred to us:

Our initial meeting can either be at their home or at our office, and there is absolutely no cost for our initial meeting. 

Our conversations are 100% confidential, whether or not we eventually end up working together. 

We start with a review of what's important to them; in other words, what they value most in life. 

Next we move to a review of their current situation from a comprehensive financial basis. This is really the only approach that makes sense, because all the areas of our financial lives are interrelated. 

We finish the meeting by identifying strategies that may help them get from their current situation - where they are now - to "What's Important" - where they want to be. 

After our meeting, we leave it up to them to call us if they would like to visit further. 

We are insurace advisors, and we don't think any decision should be made in a high pressure environment. So, those we meet with should never expect us to pressure them into any particular course of action. We review, analyze, make our recommendations, then we let them make the decision. 

Should your referral decide to become a client, they should expect to hear from us on a regular basis. We believe that it is our responsibility to stay in touch with our clients. 

Thanks for your referrals! And as always, stay healthy!

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, as well as a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient.

5 Ways to Use Life Insurance Without Dying

There's a school of thought out there that says you should "buy term and invest the difference".  The people who tell you this are not enthused when it comes to permanent (universal or whole life) insurance. Some think it can be too expensive and others think that the growth inside the policy is too conservative. To be fair, term life is much less expensive and the cash values accumulations in permanent policies, especially whole life, are easily outperformed by some investments.

As I have stated in previous posts, all life insurance products have a need, but not all people need all kinds of insurance. And the biggest problem with the "buy term and invest the difference" scenario is that the vast majority of people don't do the investing part. And the ones who do are subject to market risks. Losses can happen. 

One of the worst objections I've heard when talking life insurance to a prospect is "it's not going to help me when I'm dead". Of course not. Life insurance is primarily for your loved ones who may need those funds to stay in the home, pay off medical bills associated with your death, pay off credit card debt or help fund educational needs. 

With this in mind, there are policies out there that can help you before you die. Here are a few ways:

1. Retirement supplement. Unlike a tax-qualified retirement plan, you don't have to wait for until you're 59 1/2 to get your money without a tax penalty. And by taking out cash as a "loan" and using the policy as collateral, you can likely get the money tax-free. 
2. Living benefits. Many of the permanent life policies out there now have some form of living benefits that can be used for chronic illnesses or long term care situations. Depending on the carrier, these benefits may be included or offered as a riders (some at an additional expense). 
3. Critical illness riders. Again, these are sometimes offered as part of the policy and will let you use some of the funds if a major health event, like a stroke or heart attack, occurs.
4. Education costs. I've had clients "overfund" a policy and use the accumulated cash value to fund their children's college expenses. Did you know that when applying for student loans and financial aid, one must disclose any 529 plan or Coverdell plan? But you don't have to disclose life insurance. 
5. Warehousing money. Funds can be taken out of the policy as a loan, repaid, and used again. For example, I had a client who loved to buy investment properties. If he saw piece of land he wanted, he didn't go to the bank for a loan because he'd have to fill out a lot of paperwork and wait for a loan officer to decide if he qualified. Instead, he'd call the insurance carrier, get the money he needed for the down payment (a check would be sent overnight in some instances) and he would repay the loan within a few months. When he found another piece of property, he'd do it all over again. Smart!

One interesting note is that we now offer a term life policy which includes the living benefits (#2) as well. If you'd like to learn more or have questions about this, please set up an appointment with us in the right lower corner of the screen to discuss over the phone. And as always, stay healthy!

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, as well as a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient

Covid-19 and Disability Insurance

As the pandemic continues to work its way across the country, there is a lot of uncertainty. But one thing is for sure and that is that people who have disability insurance (DI) in place, whether through their employer or bought as an individual plan, are grateful to have it right now. And I don't think any of our clients will be cancelling their coverage any time soon.

More than ever Americans are learning how valuable their DI plan is. In a recent conversation with a local business owner, she asked me if I would prefer short or long term disability during a time like this. Not trying to sound trite, I said it would be best to have both. This is because the Coronavirus can put you in the hospital for a few weeks, and short term DI is good for that, but other ailments may not be getting treated in the meantime. Elective surgeries can be postponed, leaving people out of work for longer amounts of time. 

One thing to be aware of is that if your employer is offering to pay for your DI coverage, that benefit can be subject to income tax. And if that benefit is around 60-65% of your income (which is close to your take home pay), expect to get another haircut from Uncle Sam. In the same vein, if your company offers a Section 125 plan, in which you can have the premiums deducted "pre-tax", again you may be subject to taxes. 

On the other side of things are the people who have to get their own individual policies. This makes up the vast majority of my clients, who are business owners, self-employed realtors or other contract employees. Generally speaking, the people who purchase their own DI are cognizant of why they need this protection. If they can't work, they can't pay their bills. For a affordable premium, these folk can shift the onus to an insurance company. 

Since these entrepreneurs are in different fields of work, from barbers to realtors to attorneys, they all have differing risk factors with their jobs. But the one thing they all have in common is that they have to work with other people who may or may not be contagious. 

As I watch our local news, I see that restaurants are closing temporarily as employees begin to test positive. I applaud them for being proactive and taking action. But if that is your co-worker, how confident or nervous does it make you knowing that you could be out of work due to the virus?

In the upper right of this page you can run your own quote (it's an estimate subject to underwriting) for disability insurance. It only takes a few minutes so check it out. You may be surprised as to how affordable it really is. 

If you have any questions about our DI plans, or any other plans we offer, feel free to drop us a confidential message from our website. We will respond promptly. And as always, please stay healthy. 

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, as well as a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient.

Accidental Death Rider at No Additional Costs

One of our favorite carriers now offers Accidental Death Benefit Rider (ADB) at no additional cost on their term life product. But what does that mean for you?

First, let's define what an ADB is. Simply put, if you were to die as a result of an accident, this benefit would add an additional 15% to the face amount of the policy. Lets's take a look at the following scenario that shows what this can mean for your family during a time when they are most likely already devastated by emotional loss and would welcome the chance to grieve without another financial worry. 

A young couple, we'll call them Jack and Holly, had been married for 14 years and were happily raising their three sons together when tragedy struck and Jack unexpectedly passed away in a car accident at the age of 40.

Because the ADB Rider was included at no additional cost with his $150,000 face amount term policy, Holly received an extra 10% of the face amount ($15,000) for a total of $165,000.

At a heartbreaking time when she and her children were mourning Jack’s death, they were able to use the additional $15,000 to pay for the various costs associated with his funeral, giving them a bit more space to grieve without additional financial worry.

Here, the ADB Rider shields Jack's beneficiaries from having to use a significant portion of the death benefit to cover his final expenses. 

Contact us for a free quote and let us complete an illustration for you. We can even take your application over the phone to keep us all safe and healthy. 

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, as well as a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient.