Best Children's Life Policies?

[CFP83]

What company's in your mind have the best whole life policy's for children? What I'm looking for is good cash value growth as well as a rider that allow us to purchase more insurance in the future without evidence of insurability. The "career mutual" that I just left had an excellent program, I'm now looking for the next best alternative

Thanks

 

[LGilmore]

Probably look at Guardian as they will take independent agents. They are as good a mutual as the other guys out there.

 

[SalemInsuranceGuy]

What company's in your mind have the best whole life policy's for children? What I'm looking for is good cash value growth as well as a rider that allow us to purchase more insurance in the future without evidence of insurability. The "career mutual" that I just left had an excellent program, I'm now looking for the next best alternative

Thanks

Too me the best company for a children's policy is just to write a child term rider on the parents app you just wrote. They cover all the kids for one low price, usually will convert to a permanent plan and usually give them 5 times guaranteed coverage at normal rates when they hit age 18,19, 21, 23, or 25, depending on the company. I'm not a big fan of whole life on kids though because you only need final expenses on kids which many times is about a 10-25k term rider. When they do reach adulthood they'll most likely cash it in for the little cash value that's in it. It still amazes me how many families think that a 10k childs whole life will be worth 50k in cash instead of 50k of death benefit available at normal rates, when it's time for Junior to go to college. If Junior does have a family the small whole life amount isn't enough to take care of his family and usually only has the money for term to get the coverage he needs.

 

[CFP83]

Salem,

Thanks for you feedback.

Let me give you a little overview of why I like a good whole life policy for children, as long as it's with one of the top mutuals.

You can get a $50,000 policy on a 6 year old for 300 a year. The policies I wrote through my former mutual would give the child 7 options between the ages of 24 and 40 to come back and double the original face amount without any proof of insurability! So to put this in perspective, by the time the six year old is 24 the original 50k of death benefit is now around 100k and they have seven options to add another 700k! So your giving them a policy that grows every year in value as well as 700k of guaranteed insurance in the future for 300 a year.

Anyone selling a childs life insurance policy as an investment vehicle is a moron in my book Salem. When a parent is already doing a 529 plan or a UTMA account that's when I bring up the value this can be to their child....it's the gift of guaranteed insurability.

 

[SalemInsuranceGuy]

Salem,

Thanks for you feedback.

Let me give you a little overview of why I like a good whole life policy for children, as long as it's with one of the top mutuals.

You can get a $50,000 policy on a 6 year old for 300 a year. The policies I wrote through my former mutual would give the child 7 options between the ages of 24 and 40 to come back and double the original face amount without any proof of insurability! So to put this in perspective, by the time the six year old is 24 the original 50k of death benefit is now around 100k and they have seven options to add another 700k! So your giving them a policy that grows every year in value as well as 700k of guaranteed insurance in the future for 300 a year.

Anyone selling a childs life insurance policy as an investment vehicle is a moron in my book Salem. When a parent is already doing a 529 plan or a UTMA account that's when I bring up the value this can be to their child....it's the gift of guaranteed insurability.

Actually that doesn't sound bad. 100k is usually a good amount starting off life as an adult. To be able to add another 700k with no proof of insurability is great. It makes sense based on your scenario. Let me know what you find. Thanks.

 

[Lute]

Salem,

Thanks for you feedback.

Let me give you a little overview of why I like a good whole life policy for children, as long as it's with one of the top mutuals.

You can get a $50,000 policy on a 6 year old for 300 a year. The policies I wrote through my former mutual would give the child 7 options between the ages of 24 and 40 to come back and double the original face amount without any proof of insurability! So to put this in perspective, by the time the six year old is 24 the original 50k of death benefit is now around 100k and they have seven options to add another 700k! So your giving them a policy that grows every year in value as well as 700k of guaranteed insurance in the future for 300 a year.

Anyone selling a childs life insurance policy as an investment vehicle is a moron in my book Salem. When a parent is already doing a 529 plan or a UTMA account that's when I bring up the value this can be to their child....it's the gift of guaranteed insurability.

Wow, this is whole life I assume? What company or companies are you using?

 

[Dave020]

Dude, you left "mother mutual"?

On the plus side, you can go independent and probably be happier and less stressed. On the minus side, mother M has some unique product options in areas like that.

Mass does have brokerage contracts, but I believe that you have to get the GA/MP to agree to it (some will, some won't).

I agree with LGilmore, maybe a brokerage contract with Guardian, also check if you can get a brokerage contract with NYL and/Pru.

It is hard to compete with mother mutual in many areas.

 

[CFP83]

Dude, you left "mother mutual"?

On the plus side, you can go independent and probably be happier and less stressed. On the minus side, mother M has some unique product options in areas like that.

Mass does have brokerage contracts, but I believe that you have to get the GA/MP to agree to it (some will, some won't).

I agree with LGilmore, maybe a brokerage contract with Guardian, also check if you can get a brokerage contract with NYL and/Pru.

It is hard to compete with mother mutual in many areas.

Dave,

Great to see someone on the board who knows about "mother mutual"!...lol

Yeah, you are exactly right....in leaving I walked away from some great products and opportunities just like the great children's policy's we're discussing.

On the other side of the coin though, after five years "mother mutual" didn't really offer a value proposition for me anymore.

For all of you independents out there, you have to get a load of the details regarding my departure. From reading other post on this forum I am sure you all will find it pretty outragous. It really all came down to me having a business-owner mindset and needing "freedom" and "choice" which the career agency system was not allowing me. My "emancipation" had nothing to do with money, it was about growing my practice in the best way I saw fit. Now that my eyes have been opened though I'm seeing as a producer how bad a deal I was really getting. As many on this board have said previously, when you work in the career agency system, because you have a much lower than average payout (50%), you shouldn't have to worry about many other expenses. Like any situation, it all depends on the attitude of management above you though and unfortunatley my management team had a scarcity mentality and were greedy.

So here was my exact scenerio....here I am in my late 20's, five years into my career doing about 300k a year of premium through "mother mutual". I have 2 full-time assistants that i pay 100% of their salaries, and 750 sq ft of office space that I paid $1100 month rent for. On top of that i paid a monthly phone charge, fax charge, printing charge, a monthly technology fee to support troubleshooting for my staffs computers, as well as...get this...I had to BUY ALL SALES BROCHURES AND LITERATURE that pertained to the selling of "mother mutuals" products!

So over the past five years as my production has increased as well as my overhead, my cost have risen rapidly while my managing director (GA)as well as managing partner (MGA) have no more skin in the game then when I was in my first year....my margins were shrinking...theirs were growing. Not only does "mother mutual" give a 50% payout, but my monthly overhead including staff was over $5000....my management paid for nothing. Now, like i said, my decision to go on my own was because I couldn't have someone telling me how or when I could grow my practice when I was the one busting my butt and shelling out the dough. Like many of you who have left the career world though, you just don't know how much money you were giving away until you get "outside the bubble".

So here's the straw the broke the camels back for me. As my practice was continueing to grow I went to management at the beginning of this year and said that I needed to go look for 1500 sq ft so I could continue to grow...we were out of room in our current space. I of course would be paying for 100% of the new space. I was "told" that this wouldn't be allowed as the general agency I was attached too was at capacity and me having a space that was attached to this office space would not be permitted, even though I would be paying for 100% of the cost I'm sure all you independents out there are about ready to fall off your chair!!

 

[Mark]

A lot of agents don't like to write polices on kids. They say it is not worth they time to go write those small policies.

Most of the time you can write $100,000 U.L. for under $15 a month.

I will write them myself, in hope of while I'm out there, I can also write the parents.

I love the child riders on policies also. I can place $5,000 on unlimited kids for $25 a year.

 

[SalemInsuranceGuy]

Dave,

Great to see someone on the board who knows about "mother mutual"!...lol

Yeah, you are exactly right....in leaving I walked away from some great products and opportunities just like the great children's policy's we're discussing.

On the other side of the coin though, after five years "mother mutual" didn't really offer a value proposition for me anymore.

For all of you independents out there, you have to get a load of the details regarding my departure. From reading other post on this forum I am sure you all will find it pretty outragous. It really all came down to me having a business-owner mindset and needing "freedom" and "choice" which the career agency system was not allowing me. My "emancipation" had nothing to do with money, it was about growing my practice in the best way I saw fit. Now that my eyes have been opened though I'm seeing as a producer how bad a deal I was really getting. As many on this board have said previously, when you work in the career agency system, because you have a much lower than average payout (50%), you shouldn't have to worry about many other expenses. Like any situation, it all depends on the attitude of management above you though and unfortunatley my management team had a scarcity mentality and were greedy.

So here was my exact scenerio....here I am in my late 20's, five years into my career doing about 300k a year of premium through "mother mutual". I have 2 full-time assistants that i pay 100% of their salaries, and 750 sq ft of office space that I paid $1100 month rent for. On top of that i paid a monthly phone charge, fax charge, printing charge, a monthly technology fee to support troubleshooting for my staffs computers, as well as...get this...I had to BUY ALL SALES BROCHURES AND LITERATURE that pertained to the selling of "mother mutuals" products!

So over the past five years as my production has increased as well as my overhead, my cost have risen rapidly while my managing director (GA)as well as managing partner (MGA) have no more skin in the game then when I was in my first year....my margins were shrinking...theirs were growing. Not only does "mother mutual" give a 50% payout, but my monthly overhead including staff was over $5000....my management paid for nothing. Now, like i said, my decision to go on my own was because I couldn't have someone telling me how or when I could grow my practice when I was the one busting my butt and shelling out the dough. Like many of you who have left the career world though, you just don't know how much money you were giving away until you get "outside the bubble".

So here's the straw the broke the camels back for me. As my practice was continueing to grow I went to management at the beginning of this year and said that I needed to go look for 1500 sq ft so I could continue to grow...we were out of room in our current space. I of course would be paying for 100% of the new space. I was "told" that this wouldn't be allowed as the general agency I was attached too was at capacity and me having a space that was attached to this office space would not be permitted, even though I would be paying for 100% of the cost I'm sure all you independents out there are about ready to fall off your chair!!

I find this pretty interesting. I had no clue they operated that way. I almost had a similar experience in the early 90s with IDS Financial Services, who later became American Express Financial Advisors, who later became Ameriprise. Not sure who they are now, I stopped tracking them. Anyway this was in the early 90s, I went through all their training which was good, learned the products and scripts. In the begining they told me all about the training salary and I figured I could get by on it until I built my business. Right after training they told me about the expense side of the business. Remember this was early 90s. $375 to share a cubicle about the size of a closet. Postage and mailing fees, secretary pool fee, coffee fee, office supply fee, you name it. It ended up wiping out most of the training salary. So I bailed.

The good thing is it sounds like you have a ton of experience from working there for the short time. You're still young and can take those skills and your new found freedom and do it your way now. I have a feeling you'll do great.