A family tradition of client service for 75 years.

That long term care insurance is available as a rider on certain life insurance policies?  Some policies keep the death benefit to a minimum in order to maximize long term care policy benefits.  This policy design has the advantage of guaranteed, increasing long term care benefits at a guaranteed premium.  When long term care services are needed, someone other than the care recipient will often make the critical care decisions.  Who will make these decisions for you or your clients?  Will insurance-funded long term care benefits help family members make better decisions?  These are the critical questions that are very seldom analyzed objectively by senior family members and their advisors.  If you would like more information, please contact us.

That guaranteed convertibility of term insurance to more permanent life insurance without future medical evidence of insurability can be a very important contractual provision?  If the insured’s health declines during the level premium duration of the term insurance policy, this contractual provision can provide a manageable alternative to letting the term insurance lapse when the term premium becomes unaffordable.  Some well-known life insurance companies are designing new policies just for term insurance conversion with premiums 50% to 100% higher than the previous conversion policies!  Do you or your clients know if existing term insurance policies are guaranteed convertible, for how long, and at what conversion premium cost?  For clients with health issues and term insurance, this can be an exceedingly important question.

That many whole life policies are actually a blend of whole life and term insurance in one policy?  This policy design is used to lower the annual premium.  The non-guaranteed whole life policy dividends are supposed to convert the term insurance to permanent life insurance over time.  With continuing low interest rates, many whole life dividend interest crediting rates are declining.  If dividends become inadequate to convert the term insurance to whole life insurance, the policy premium can increase or the death benefit can decrease.  These policy changes often come as a very unexpected and unpleasant surprise to many “whole life” policyholders who may never have been advised of this risk.  Are you or any of your clients suffering or soon to be suffering from this “whole life” insurance problem?

That continuing low interest rates are leading some life insurance companies to increase the cost of insurance in existing universal life policies?  We have seen cost increases ranging from 10% to 250%!  Do you or your clients know if any existing universal life policies are impacted and, if so, how much these cost increases will harm future policy performance?