Insurance Experts

It seems that if ever there had to be a single part of the sales process that was to be singled out and blamed for much of the perception that insurance selling and sales in general is distasteful then that part of the sales process would have to be prospecting. Whether it is door to door knocking or cold calling; prospecting is distasteful to almost all parties involved. The insurance agent or salesman that is doing the prospecting gets disappointed and discouraged quite easily (no matter how hearty and stout of character and persistence the agent is) and the person on the receiving end of the cold call or uninvited front door knock is at best suspicious and at worst downright hostile.

Many people who are attracted to the field of sales state that one of the primary reasons that they love sales is because they enjoy helping people. Almost all sales people would agree that it certainly feels better to be seen as helping a client or potential client rather than selling or forcing a viewpoint upon them unwillingly. Yet prospecting is by far the single most forceful and pushy mechanism in the sales process – as prospecting is traditionally done that is.

In selling insurance or financial services or any other type of service or good your success is largely determined by your pipeline of new potential clients/customers. There are many ways to fill this pipeline: offline marketing, online marketing, referrals, and buying insurance leads are the most common.

However, if you are deeply involved in the prospecting portion of your insurance sales process then you are wasting one of your most valuable assets: time! Doing your own prospecting may work out just fine but in most cases if you are any type of even average or sub-par salesman or saleswoman then your time is best spent doing the actual selling. It is rare that a top producer is also a top prospector and if that is the case then it is almost impossible for that top producer’s time to be worth more prospecting than actually meeting with clients and potential clients and selling.

The reason that this is the case is that most top producers outsource their prospecting. They rely on a proven prospecting system to continually replenish their pipeline. This system may be a referral script and it may be buying insurance leads. For most agents that do not have a substantial amount of clients on the books then buying insurance leads is definitely the way to go.

Term life insurance does not build any kind of cash value, which makes it an original type of life insurance and considered pure insurance protection. Unlike whole life insurance, term life insurance is only temporary and only covers a specific term, or a specific period of time in a person’s life. Benefits will go to a beneficiary only if the insured person dies during that specific window of time.

Term life insurance is usually the cheapest way for people to purchase a death benefit package on a per dollar basis. The reason for this is because the term will expire and the insurer will not have to pay out.

It is recommended that people should purchase term life insurance with the Theory of Decreasing responsibility in mind. The Decreasing responsibility theory is provided that the insured person or persons realizes and understands that any and all financial responsibilities are only temporary and that they should purchase insurance to compensate for these responsibilities.

The easiest and simplest way to purchase term life insurance is on an annual basis. The premium to be paid is only the expected probability of the person dying within that period plus a few extra fees, such as a cost and profit component. Because insurers are able to choose whom they decide to ensure, the probability of someone they choose to insure dying within the next year is extremely low, most people opt not to purchase one-year terms. An annual policy is not very cost-effective either. Many people choose to go with annual renewable terms (ART). In ART, a premium is paid for the coverage of one year and then is guaranteed to be continued each for so an X number of years, which could be anywhere from ten to fifteen to twenty years or more, whatever the insured person decides on. Even though this direction will cause the insured to pay a higher premium, they are more likely to have the benefits paid.

A level term is a very popular form of term life insurance that is a renewable annual term with a constant premium for an X number of years. The years in a term are usually 10, 15, 20, and 30 years. A level term charges a higher premium for a longer amount of time simply because as people get older they are more expensive to ensure, and their age is averaged into the equation for the premium.

Even though they are more likely to be paid the benefits in the end, many people are uncomfortable with regular life insurance for one reason or another. For those types of people, term life insurance is an excellent choice. It gives people the option of having life insurance for a certain period and can be renewed annually or in larger periods.

Having trouble finding the insurance company that can give you the best and most affordable individual health insurance plans? If this is so, then you can turn to the Internet. Most insurance providers have their own Web sites where they feature the different kinds of insurance plans they offer, the benefits, coverage, quotes, and other helpful information.

How they help

These Web sites are easy to find on the Internet. What is hard is choosing which insurance company you want to apply for health insurance from. Insurance company Web sites are very helpful because you no longer have to physically shop for an insurance company and hop from one office to another. With just a click of the mouse, a list of the top insurance companies will be made available to you. You can check out the different features of their Web site to learn about the kinds of plans they offer and the coverage and benefits. Be sure to check out the FAQs page in case you have a question that you want answered right away. By giving you a detailed overview of what the different insurance providers have to offer, these websites can help you in making an educated and easier choice. You can also immediately apply online. Just fill out the online application form, send it back to the insurance provider and you are on your way to getting yourself an insurance policy.

A word of caution

The problem with this is that there may be sites that are not legitimate. There have been cases wherein people have become victims of fake Internet insurance sites. Think twice before you give out your personal information like your address, social security number and credit card number. Make sure the insurance provider actually exists by contacting them by phone or by going personally to their office.

Insurance is always a gamble, a bet actually.

You are betting that you’ll eventually get sick or hurt. And your insurance company is betting that you’ll stay healthy.

If you stay healthy your whole life, but still pay into insurance, that’s great for the insurance company. Actually, it’s great for you too, because you got to be healthy for your whole life. But you still lost the bet.

So an insurance company is never going to reward you for being healthy. That’s not the terms of the bet.

But here’s a secret.

You can reward yourself.

Here’s how. Open a Health Savings Account (HSA). Put as much money as you can into it. Tell your insurance company that you want to raise the deductible on your insurance policy as high as it will go. The deductible is the amount you have to pay before the insurance finally kicks in.

Now sit back and relax. You are completely covered for any healthcare crisis. You can use the HSA money for the small stuff and your insurance policy will kick in for the big stuff.

But…

If you don’t get sick or hurt, the money will stay in the HSA. Then you’ll put in the same amount next year, and it will sit there again. Earning interest, too.

After a while of being healthy, year-after-year, you’ll have tens of thousands of dollars sitting there.

And when you retire, your HSA turns into an IRA – individual retirement account. You can take the money out and live on it.

And guess what? It’s your reward for staying healthy. You rewarded yourself for staying healthy, and simultaneously covered yourself just in case you did get sick along the way.

Happy retirement!

Health care cost is extraordinarily high and is continually getting higher every year. It almost impossible to pay for a serious medical procedure out-of-pocket without help. That is the main function of health care insurance. For a fee they will pay for part or all of your medical bills.

Research has shown that nearly 80% of all Americans have some form of medical coverage. About 60% of them receive their medical insurance coverage from the work place, or medical policies from the workplace of their family members. Nearly a quarter of those left have their medical coverage provided by the U.S government through Medicare or Medicaid.

Even though health insurance can be a very expensive, not having it can be far more expensive. In case of a serious illness or an accident, the health insurance will help you pay for your medical bills. If you have a family or young children, it is very important to have some form of protection against unexpected medical expenses.

In the last year medical insurance premiums have risen at 11%, and the projected yearly increase is expected to go as high as 18% in the next ten years. The cost of an insurance policy will depend on the type of policy you need, and how many benefits you wish to have.

The way for companies to calculate your monthly or yearly premium is to look at many factors. Before they are able to give you a price quote, they will first need to asses your current health condition. Most companies require you to get a medial physical prior to approving your policy. They take into account your age, medical history, as well as those who would be included in your coverage. Only then would they be able to give you a quote. With the amount of insurance providers available, looking around and doing research will guarantee that you will find a provider that will be willing to give you adequate coverage at a reasonable price.

Term insurance is known as temporary insurance. If the correct policy is applied to the correct temporary need it will work well for policy owners. Some needs are short term and some long term but temporary just the same. On the other hand there are permanent needs for life insurance which will be there for the rest of your life. If you have a permanent need you need to buy a permanent policy like universal life, variable universal life, variable life or whole life insurance. There are many types of term insurance policies. Let us look at the need and which policy to apply to that need.

Your Mortgage

If you have a mortgage on your house you need insurance. You need a homeowners policy that would provide sufficient cash to repair or rebuild your home in the event of destruction by fire, flood, a hurricane or any other natural disaster. It is also important to own a disability insurance policy that would provide a portion of your income in the event you should become disabled. You certainly would want to have your mortgage paid off in the event of premature death…wouldn’t you…

As you will have that mortgage for a specific period of time that can be categorized as a temporary need. Most people buy decreasing term life insurance to fulfill this need. If you have, for example, a 20 year mortgage you would buy a 20 year decreasing term insurance policy. As the mortgage balance decreases the death benefit decreases as well. Upon death the mortgage balance will be paid off by the term insurance policy proceeds.

Paying Off A Loan

Suppose you buy a new car. You put down a small down payment and you will pay this off in about 5 years. If you suddenly died that money is still owed to the bank and they will likely come and repossess that car. If it is your desire that a relative or friend should own that car and you include that in your “last will and testament” it would make sense to buy a 5 year term insurance policy in the amount owed on the car. Upon your death the amount owed will be paid off. If there is any money over and above the amount owed coming from the policy your beneficiary will receive the balance.

Protecting A Young Family

One of the most devastating experiences a young family can go through is the death of the breadwinner. You are in your mid twenties and married. Your wife is about the same age and you have two children ages 3 and 1. Although your wife graduated college you both came to the decision that she would stay at home for a while and look after the children. Through the carelessness of a drunk driver you are killed in a automobile accident…

Try to imagine the situation the family will be in. There are final expenses to be paid. Court costs and attorneys fees, burial costs have to be paid while your wife and children have to continue living. Rent or mortgage payments have to be made as well as utility payments. The biggest bill will be the maintenance of the family until they can fend for themselves. All these things can be taken care of with a well thought out 20 year or 25 year term policy.

This term insurance policy can be designed to pay a small lump sum up front to cover the immediate needs. The balance would pay an income equal to your present income for a specific period of time. This income coming from your term insurance would last until your children graduate college. It could even be set up to pay an income for as long as your wife would live.

For additional information on the use and types of term insurance go to: http://www.lifeinsurancehub.net/termlifeinsurancequotes.html

Increase your deductible!

Increasing your deductible can make a huge difference to your homeowner’s insurance premium. We have seen premiums halved by taking the maximum deductibles for both wind and other events.

It means that the policy is only good in catastrophic circumstances, but people are using the following reasoning: if a hurricane hits, the damage will be catastrophic anyway.

Some are confiding that in the event of evacuating for a storm, that they will leave all their windows and doors open, so that they can actually cash in on the homeowner’s insurance policy!

Change the policy on your goods from Replacement value to Actual Cash Value (ACV)

Citizens calculates the replacement value of your goods by halving the value of your home. So if you have a $600,000 home, they assume you have $300,000 worth of goods inside it. What I did to reduce my premium was to specify I wanted actual cash value rather than replacement value in the event of a loss and subsequent claim. A gamble, but in this Florida insurance monopoly it was one of the ways to get the premium down, in addition to specifying an outrageous deductible on your homeowner’s (HO) policy.

Shop around for insurance brokers

You will want to shop around agents. Sometimes the quote that one Citizens agent provides will be different to the quote from another. Some insureds have saved hundreds of dollars by doing this.

For example:

I don’t know which (if any) carriers are writing non-owner occupied insurance policies in that area, but I did find that shopping Citizens rates can make a big difference. The best Citizens quote I got for my son’s Pasco home was $3,900 here in town, but an insurance broker in Orlando got me the same policy for $2,900 by using the $134,000 purchase price versus the $179,000 value local brokers were using, and charging lower fees.

The broker’s name is Colleen Pacheco with Florida Insurance Planners at (407) 767-1634. She may even be able to insure homes with knob and tube wiring! She uses Lloyds of London in the quotes I have gotten.

Lloyds is a surplus lines carrier not regulated by the state of Florida. The rates they are charging are not regulated. If a surplus lines carrier were to go insolvent then the state would not take over paying any claims. That protection for consumers under the Florida Insurance Guaranty Act does not apply to surplus lines carriers.

Get separate Liability Insurance

I have heard anecdotally that State Farm Insurance will do liability cheaper than Citizens, so you should waive it with CPIC and then go to State Farm.

If liability is a concern for you, for example if you have a lot of assets, then you need an Umbrella policy. It will only cost a minimal amount but will only cover you if other liability policies are in effect.

Driving a car is your biggest vulnerability in your asset protection strategy. Due to a split second of inattention on the road, you can lose everything you own in the consequent law suit.

Are you over insured?

The insurance company may sometimes overvalue a home which forces up your premium. You may be able to use an appraisal to demonstrate to them the appropriate value and thus reduce your homeowner’s quote and thus your insurance premium. Remember that an appraisal will include land value so subtract that out in order to come up with the figure that you are going to use to persuade the insurance company how much your building is worth.

Insurance companies are usually happy to accept inflated premiums on your coverage, but are then reluctant to pay out the amount insured in the event of a claim. Why pay high premiums for no gain?

Have An Insurance Inspection Of Your Home

An inspector can certify that your roof is up to code, and can give you a discount for having plywood shutters. Apparently there was very little difference in the the discount you receive for having hurricane shutters versus plywood.

Life insurance is a type of insurance that offers protection to people and their families, in case of unexpected death of the earner. The policyholder has to make periodic fixed payments to the insurance company in order to keep the policy alive. The insurance company in turn, promises to compensate the beneficiaries named in the policy, in the unfortunate event of the policyholder’s death. These contracts or insurance policies are written for the customers with the help of insurance agents. Insurance agents are representatives of the insurance company that assesses the needs of the people and recommend the best-suited policy. The best life insurance agents specialize in selling life insurance policies and therefore, posses all the expertise and knowledge to assist their customers in choosing the right policy.

The best life insurance agents have the knowledge of their product and the market, to guide their customers towards the most affordable life insurance policy. Life insurance agents need to have a license to sell life insurance in any state, provided by the state’s regulatory body. Life insurance agents can also sell life insurance policies that double up as a securities product. However, in order to sell such products, agents need to have a securities license as well, along with a state insurance license.

The life insurance agents who are the best in the business also become members of certain associations to serve their clients better. For instance, a membership of the National Association of Life Underwriters (NALU) signifies that, the agent maintains the ethical and professional standards in his practice.

Life insurance agents can also study many life insurance and family financial courses to enhance their knowledge of the market. The qualifications mentioned after the name of the agent, indicates the courses they have taken. Some of these qualifications are FIC (Fraternal Insurance Counselor), CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter) and LUTCF (Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow). These courses are aimed at helping the life insurance agents serve their clients in the best way possible.

Blue Cross of California, one of the state’s largest and most respected healthcare providers, has been in business for over 60 years. As times have changed, so has the company – making sure the almost 7 million people they serve get adequate health insurance.

The numbers are impressive – Blue Cross of California boasts more than 40,000 preferred provider physicians, 27,000 HMO physicians, and almost 4,000 vision providers. The company has over 400 participating hospitals and medical facilities. Blue Cross employs around 6500 employees statewide.

Not surprisingly, Blue Cross offers a wide range of plans and services ranging from several different medical and dental plans to disability and life insurance. Their wide range of plans, services and deductibles means a health plan for everybody, regardless of income or situation. They also offer several dental and vision plans as well as the workers’ compensation coverage, as required under state law.

Blue cross also offers health insurance under its “tonik health” subsidiary, aimed at young active people and priced with several different deductible plans offered.

Obtaining prescription drugs is inexpensive and convenient under most Blue Cross plans. The company administers prescription drugs and medication through its subsidiary company called Wellpoint. The company also offers a diverse array of specialist insurance products such as COBRA coverage, flexible spending accounts and pharmacy benefit management.

Blue Cross of California has a strong track record of innovation, and is proud of its ability to offer products to a diverse population – individuals, businesses of all sizes and seniors. They also provide health insurance for seniors and others eligible for state health insurance.

They also have a proud record of collaboration with education institutions and local organizations in helping with various health-related research projects. Blue Cross recently won a prestigious award from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) for its work in helping asthma sufferers – it’s the only health plan to receive such an award.

Getting Health Insurance Quotes By Phone

Though calling around for insurance quotes can be a very time-consuming task, it is a good way to get your questions answered about the policy by a professional. In many cases, calling an insurance company for a quote will lead to an automated session and then being placed on hold. This is the kind of frustration that you will face, over and over, when trying to receive any kind of insurance quote by phone.

It does take up a lot of time and you do have to keep notes about each quote you receive, but there are some good reasons for obtaining health insurance quotes by phone:

• You can talk to a professional in real time

Eventually, you will get through to an actual human being on the other end of the phone. This person can explain the policy to you in detail, answering any questions you may have as they come up.

• You can learn about different premiums and options on the same policy

When a certain health insurance policy interests you, you may be able to talk to someone about adjusting the premium and/or deductible on the policy, tailoring it to better suit your needs.

• You can purchase a policy right away

By using a check by phone or your credit card, you can purchase a policy based on the health insurance quotes you receive over the phone. This process is generally quick, including a brief question-and-answer session.

Getting Health Insurance Quotes Online

For those who prefer a quick and easy method of insurance shopping, the Internet is definitely your best option. Using the Internet, you can go to a specific company’s site and learn more about their policies by receiving free online health insurance quotes, or compare and contrast the policies offered by several companies at once.

The Internet allows you to receive many more health insurance quotes, in a much shorter period of time than you would be receiving quotes over the phone. There are many benefits to shopping for health insurance quotes online:

• You can get many health insurance quotes, quick

When time is a factor, the Internet is your best friend. You can look at several different health insurance quotes at the same time online, much more quickly than it takes to get through most phone automated systems.

• You can compare lots of health insurance quotes at once

Side-by-side or page-by-page, with the Internet you can compare health insurance quotes from several different health insurance companies at once. This makes comparison shopping a breeze.

• Ease of purchase

You can often purchase a health insurance policy online, using a secured method and your credit card. This allows you to get your health insurance policy quickly, so that coverage can start right away.

An Independent Agent

When doing your own research, finding different quotes, calling around or even using the Internet to shop just isn’t your thing, you’ll want to use an independent insurance agent. These agents do not work for any specific company but for you. They use their time to shop around for you, finding you the best possible policy based upon the health insurance quotes they receive.

Often, independent agents can get much better rates than the average customer. This is because insurance company offer agents deals and discounts simply for brining in new business. An independent agent will work for you to find the best health insurance quotes, so that you pay less while still receiving the best coverage possible for you and your family.