Commission Levels for Term Insurance?

[MichaelBurton]

Wow! You really are transparent! Thanks for posting!

Transparent . . . or crazy!

(You're welcome!)

 

[jboussea]

The highest term comp I've seen is with Assurity Life. Nonmed for 125% and medical required for 115%.

The lowest I've seen is 45% for term or term riders on WL with MassMutual as a career agent.

do you get different commissions with Mass as an independent?

 

[MichaelBurton]

do you get different commissions with Mass as an independent?

No. But they might, if you ask up front and they think you'll produce, give you some expense allowance to make it 60% or a little more.

 

[SammyJ]

That's incorrect. Many co's like Aig will pay the producer directly up to 100% on 20/30 yr with no production. Your Imo is making north of 130 % on that so many will split that with you if you're doing any vol.

 

[aclaro]

You should be getting a lot more than 45 on MassMutual. Should be closer to 70. I forget what it is exactly but if you're getting 45 you're getting hosed because the GA is making the difference. Why would you even sell it at 45? Is not competitively priced anyway.

 

[AboutThatLife]

Here you go:

Life Insurance Commissions - Fiduciary Life Insurance Services

I notice you mention that you are a "fiduciary" a lot on your website. From what I understand this can only be true when you are operating under your CFP designation and series 65.

Even then contract you have with an insurance company is going to be an Agent Contract, which means you owe yourself first and foremost to the company.

Unless there is something I'm missing, how would one become a "fiduciary broker"?

 

[DHK]

I notice you mention that you are a "fiduciary" a lot on your website. From what I understand this can only be true when you are operating under your CFP designation and series 65.

Even then contract you have with an insurance company is going to be an Agent Contract, which means you owe yourself first and foremost to the company.

Unless there is something I'm missing, how would one become a "fiduciary broker"?

Being an insurance analyst has absolutely nothing to do with a Series 65 (investment advisor regarding securities per the Investment Advisers Act of 1940) or CFP (which is only a designation that they pretend is a license).

To be a Fiduciary Insurance Analyst, you have to have the appropriate analyst license in your state. Even a CFP (or those that hold a CLU or ChFC) can't legally charge you a fee to review your insurance policies without having an analyst license.

Here is the link in California:
Life and Disability Insurance Analyst

A Life and Disability Insurance Analyst is a person who, for a fee or compensation of any kind, paid by or derived from any person or source other than an insurer, advises, purports to advise, or offers to advise any person insured under, named as beneficiary of, or having any interest in, a life or disability insurance contract, in any manner concerning that contract or his or her rights in respect thereto.

I actually talked to him about this on another forum, and he has that license in his state.

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Just to clarify - charging a fee for a financial plan has nothing to do with analyzing current investment portfolio holdings or current insurance coverage. Charging such a fee is more about creating a plan for the future or solving a specific problem than it is about analysis of your current holdings and coverage.

However, if you're going to replace coverage, or do an "investment switch", you had better be able to back up why and how it is in the best interests of your client. Broker/dealers have "switch letters" that you would use to document the risk, return, costs (or CDSC), and other factors of both the old investment and the new one. I'd take a similar approach regarding insurance coverages as well.

 

[AboutThatLife]

Being an insurance analyst has absolutely nothing to do with a Series 65 (investment advisor regarding securities per the Investment Advisers Act of 1940) or CFP (which is only a designation that they pretend is a license).

To be a Fiduciary Insurance Analyst, you have to have the appropriate analyst license in your state. Even a CFP (or those that hold a CLU or ChFC) can't legally charge you a fee to review your insurance policies without having an analyst license.

Here is the link in California:
Life and Disability Insurance Analyst



I actually talked to him about this on another forum, and he has that license in his state.

----------

Just to clarify - charging a fee for a financial plan has nothing to do with analyzing current investment portfolio holdings or current insurance coverage. Charging such a fee is more about creating a plan for the future or solving a specific problem than it is about analysis of your current holdings and coverage.

However, if you're going to replace coverage, or do an "investment switch", you had better be able to back up why and how it is in the best interests of your client. Broker/dealers have "switch letters" that you would use to document the risk, return, costs (or CDSC), and other factors of both the old investment and the new one. I'd take a similar approach regarding insurance coverages as well.

Thanks. I was totally confused by this because most agents call themselves advisors anyway.

That being said, I have no idea how you would convince someone to pay you to advise them on life insurance. People think they know everything as it is.

 

[DHK]

And so do agents... and sometimes that can create problems for consumers.

Rather than having consumers guess, or call the insurance companies (who also have a vested interest in keeping the policy on the books)... they want an impartial person to review their coverage. It can also be helpful for litigation cases, fraud cases, etc.

Max Herr is a poster on this site and he's practically in my backyard. He holds an analyst license in California. This is his website link:

Our Story

 

[MichaelBurton]

I notice you mention that you are a "fiduciary" a lot on your website. From what I understand this can only be true when you are operating under your CFP designation and series 65.

Even then contract you have with an insurance company is going to be an Agent Contract, which means you owe yourself first and foremost to the company.

Unless there is something I'm missing, how would one become a "fiduciary broker"?

DHK covered most of the bases on what I am doing. I will only add that I'll concede I am occupying in an odd and "gray" space. The space has existed for quite some time. So what I am doing is not entirely new. What is new is that I've put language to it and built my brand around it.

I may be the first; but, I doubt I will be the last.

As for what I can and can't do with regard to my appointment contracts, I will let the insurance companies declare themselves individually to me on that front. I make no secrets about my allegiance: client first, period. I doubt any insurance company, or any regulator for that matter, is going to want to draw attention to themselves by rescinding my contract or licenses on the grounds that I'm putting the client's interest's first. But who knows?

It will be a lucrative and newsworthy day for me if/when it happens, though!