Do You Have the Old Kind of Life Insurance or the New Kind? Part 1

For many years we have had a few types of insurance. There's term life, universal life, whole life and indexed universal life, among others. They generally did the same thing, which was paying if you died and maybe building some cash value. Other than that, the differences were in rates and performance.

And then 2008 came around and the industry had a bit of a shake up. Companies offering life insurance as well as long term care began to change benefits of the latter. And as the years went by, the bond rates stayed very low, affecting dividends and profits. These carriers had to make changes.

Stand alone long term care (LTC) policies were stripped of certain benefits like lifetime payouts. Some companies got out of the LTC business altogether. Some maintain their business on the books but not writing new business, while others just sold their books to other companies.

Demand for the product, along with a slow but increasing awareness, was still there. Around this time, a few hybrid products began to get marketed. I was working at a very large life insurer at the time and we were told to poo poo any hybrid products if a prospect asked. For example, we were to compare a life/LTC product to those TV/VCR's that never quite worked as good as a separate system.

But it did address the number one objection to buying long term care coverage. And I'll cover that in part 2, so be sure to subscribe.

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

Cold Calling In Insurance (and other places)

When I first got into sales professionally I was taught to cold call and the mentality that went with it. I was selling accident plans door-to-door in rural areas of North Carolina and the hours were grueling. We'd have a meeting in the morning of a local diner and then spread out to assigned areas throughout the county.

Dropping by someone's home unannounced was the nature of the work, and many times the people were home. If someone was home, I'd go through my spiel only to be told that they wanted to wait for their spouse to come home and discuss it over. The whole scenario was dumb.

Through all of this I learned that how to introduce myself to total strangers, how to persevere through a lot of rejection, but most importantly, not to be afraid of the cold calling process. Knocking on doors was easy if you could handle people not wanting our product.

A few years later I sold office supplies for a small company. With just a few accounts I had adopted from a previous salesman and barely any knowledge of the products, I had to develop my own strategy to build a clientele. Using my experiences from the world of accident plans, I methodically worked one office building at a time, walking in with something in my hand to give out other than a business card. I would distribute our new catalog, or a sale flyer that I designed myself (this was before everyone had a computer with a word processor).

Working B2B was so much easier than calling on people in their homes and my success rate was above average when you consider the resources I was given. People were happier to see me at their businesses than their homes.

That office supply company was okay, but there was no room for growth and I didn't want to be an old guy asking people if they needed paper clips. I eventually got back into insurance again, but I decided to call on businesses to grow my book of business. Many times the sales calls result in individual policies, so it all works out.

Cold calling has gone by the wayside for most people nowadays. There are other ways to get clients, but I still use those basic skills to work a room or networking event.

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

New Year, New Insurance Plan

As we enter 2020, one of the things we should put at the top of our list of resolutions is making sure that our families are taken care of if something should happen to us. A review of our current plan can fix any potential landmines that could impede our goal.

Years ago I met a guy, we'll call him Chad, who was a confirmed bachelor. We talked for a while and he decided that he had no use for life insurance. We parted on friendly terms and I let him know I would be keeping in touch. About a year later, I called him and everything had changed. His brother had died and Chad was now the legal guardian of an 18 year old boy who had some severe learning disabilities. Chad was blindsided by this change of status and we set him up on a life insurance plan to provide for the boy if Chad should die.



By checking up on Chad instead of forgetting about him, we resolved a potential problem. Chad knew he needed to do something, but kept putting it off until I called him. It all worked out.

The moral of this story is that we should use the beginning of the New Year to make resolutions, but to also follow up on our old ones as well.

Happy New Year and let us at Surf Financial Brokers know if we can do anything to help you plan your family's financial security.

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

What Is Final Expense Insurance?

We've all seen the commercials on TV with Alex Trebek telling senior citizens that they can cover the cost of a funeral with a life insurance policy.  But what kind of insurance is it and how much will it cost?

Usually, final expense coverage is a whole life policy, which is the most expensive type of life insurance because it builds some cash value.  But do you really care about building cash value to pay for a funeral?  Probably not.  The main concern is covering the cost of a funeral  while making sure your premium doesn't increase.

In the case of our friend, Mr. Trebek, he says that you can't be turned down.  That's a good thing if you are in poor health, but being "guaranteed issue" also means that the additional risk to the company is being passed on in the cost.  Generally speaking, "guaranteed issue" costs more.

If you are in good health, there is a better and more affordable alternative.  Guaranteed Universal Life (GUL) typically runs about a third less and the rate is also guaranteed to never go up as long as you pay your premiums.  The GUL may ask for a paramed exam to qualify buy this lowers the carrier's risk, which in turn lowers your price. 

If you're looking for a way to cover the expenses of a funeral, let us help.  Contact Surf Financial Brokers for information. 

Time To Insure Your Love Again

February is when the life insurance industry wants you to "insure your love".  Using the month of Valentine's Day for promotion may sound cheesy but doesn't this get to the matter of what life insurance is all about?

When you really get down to it, life insurance isn't for the person who is covered, but to pay a benefit to those loved ones (spouse, kids) who will need that money in the event that you die too soon, to help pay for everything like usual living expenses to college funding.  And if you love your family, you'll make sure that after you are gone they can keep moving forward with their lives.

So give us a call and let us help you insure you and your loved ones this month.  And check out our website at www.SurfFinancialBrokers.com or look us up on Facebook. 

Does Medicare Cover Dental Services?

Did you know that Medicare will not cover dental care that you need primarily for the health of your teeth? For example, Medicare will not cover routine checkups, cleanings, or pay for you to get fillings. Medicare will never pay for dentures. Even if Medicare has paid for you to have teeth pulled (extracted) as preparation for a medical procedure, Medicare will not cover the cost of implants or dentures (complete or partial/bridge); you will be responsible for the full cost.

With this in mind, we at Surf Financial Brokers offer a dental plan online for our friends in South Carolina.

• Choose any provider you wish
• No health questions
• Great customer service

And you can choose from simple dental only plans to comprehensive dental protection with added vision and hearing benefits, and that's something to smile about!  

To get a quote and apply, click here! 

September is Lfe Insurance Awareness Monthi

Now that we're halfway through September, it's about time we mention Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM).  The purpose of promoting LIAM is to make the public aware that life insurance has a purpose and why we all need to have coverage.

For people who are married and/or have children, here are a few reasons to get some coverage.

1.  Pay off your debt.  Whether you're the bread winner or not, debt can smother the surviving family members.  This includes paying off the mortgage, credit cards, car loans and any other loans you have out there. 

2.  Replacing your income.  You contribute some or all of the money that pay the bills and those bills won't stop coming.  Utilities, taxes and everyday expenses still have to be paid.  Your survivors will still have to replace the refrigerator and make car repairs after you're gone.

3. Education costs.  Wouldn't it be great if your kids didn't have to worry about paying for college?  With enough life insurance, they won't.

4.  Final expenses.  How much is a funeral?  The average is around $12,000.  Yes, we've heard how much you can save by cremation, and that's great, but it's not for everyone.  Figure this into your burial plans.

4.1  Costs associated with death.  Odds are good that right before you die, you'll be in a hospital or have some other medical treatments.  Even if you're just throwing in the cost of your deductible, make sure your loved ones are blindsided by this number.

When you figure up the total of these numbers you'll probably be amazed at how high the total is.  No worries though, because most of this can be taken care of with affordable term coverage.  However,  we recommend that you use a Guaranteed Universal Life policy for the last two items.  (Whole life is expensive and you really don't need to worry about building cash value here)

For more information, let us at Surf Financial Brokers help.