Why Work with a Life Insurance Professional?
Henry Montag, CFP, CLTC | August 21st, 2009Our current finan
cial situation will make any buyer of any new financial product think twice about what they are buying as well as the integrity of whom they are purchasing the product from. However what many people miss is the need to be be as equally vigilant in evaluating those assets they already own.
Its extremely unfortunate for many consumers that they simply don’t realize that what they already own may not be as competitive as other similar products offered at other Insurance companies .
For example there are currently Three Trillion Dollars of various annuity products in force on the lives of millions of Americans throughout the United States. Many of those consumers will not know to take advantage of various qualifying events during their lifetimes. Often times a person that purchases an Insurance product be it from a friend or from an agent at a local Bank will not take advantage of the benefits that come when a person reaches age 591/2, and they are free of the IRS penalty for early withdrawal.
Similarly an individual may not take advantage of a declining interest rate which could otherwise trigger a favorable bailout. Often times rates are not competitively shopped at the end of a surrender period to the detriment of an insured.. The worst possible situation would be for an Insurance company to automatically annuitize ,begin making monthly payment, due to an Insds failing to notify the insurance company of the option they meant to choose for their Acct Value once they reached their Age of Maturity, usually at age 80.
Needless to say a good experienced Independent broker would never allow any of those situations to occur without first alerting and then if necessary prompting and reminding their client to take specific actions that would result in their best interest being served.
Too often an Agent has an obligation to place their business with the Agency that they work for . In doing so they inadvertently place their interest before their clients. Whereas an Independent broker doesn’t have that problem. Therefore they can place their business with the Company that not only has the most competitive pricing for their client but the right company for the long term benefit of the client as well.
Often times an inexperienced agent or broker will not have the courage to properly guide their client into purchasing the right product today which may result in problems down the road that could and should have been avoided. Many of today’s products are highly specialized and unless one specializes in the field an agent or broker may inadvertently be doing you a disservice by discussing a product they are not properly qualified to discuss..
Ask whether someone is an agent or broker. Ask how many years they’ve been practicing in the business as you don’t want them practicing on you. Find out if they’ve had any complaints lodged against them . This information can easily be verified with a call to their State Insurance Dept ..
Remember no one has as much of a vested interest in your financial well being as you do so be a very active participant and seek the help of a trusted adviser to refer you to a professional you’ll be comfortable and better off with.
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Tags: cfp, henry montag, independent insurance broker, insurance agent, life insurance, long term care, personal finance
About the Author: Henry Montag is an Independent Certified Financial Planner as well as a CLTC. He’s been in practice since 1976 with offices on Long Island, New York. He is a contributing writer for The Moneypaper, a national financial publication, been my sourced by Investors business Daily, Long Island Business News, Newsday, Wall St Journal, The Moneypaper,Investment News, Senior Lifestyles and has held insurance and securities licenses for over thirty years.
