Seeking Advice from Employee Benefit Brokers / Professionals

[LeeV]

Update for the thread. I spoke with them yesterday and am sorry to say I was not impressed, long on talking points and short on details. A couple of thoughts for you to consider.

1. The person I was speaking with is a broker in CA, who is marketing this for the company. First thing I was told was that my comp would be $40 PEPM. So my $40 plus all the other hands in the pot makes for a significant amount of compensation.
2. When I asked about how that much money is freed-up I was told it was due to FICA tax reductions. I am guessing it is more than FICA tax savings.
3. When I asked what parts of the IRS code was being used, she could not tell me. Later I was sent an email with additional information which showed it was Section 125, Section 213 (explanation of medical expenses), and Section 105 Medical Reimbursement. Now we are getting somewhere. She never mentioned Life Insurance, but the materials sent to me do.
4. Wellness Plans are a key, but nothing about how or why they are key.
5. Was told there are currently 25,000 covered by them.

BTW, she came across as a nice person, so I have nothing against her or the company. This is just an update for the forum.

 

[scagnt83]

And the IRS as made it clear how they feel about deducting permanent life insurance inside a wellness benefit plan.... the one form of it that was being marketed by a major insurance carrier was recently struck down by courts earlier this year (rpt plan).

If it has true 7702 Qualified LTC Rider, then the LTC Rider premium could possibly be counted... which is only a small portion of the premium. But that is still a huge grey area in employee benefit law.

 

[scagnt83]

"No net cost" is the exact same thing as the zero premium pitch. It is using the exact same logic in how the product works.

"Zero Premium" had a cost associated with it as well. And the "net cost" was zero. And it was deemed an illegal marketing practice by regulators decades ago.

You can take it as a personal insult, when I never said anything about you as a person...

Or, you can take it as the factual information that it is, and learn and grow as an advisor.

None of it was meant as a personal insult. It was meant as a warning about a subject you seem to not know the history behind or regulatory consequences of.