- 8,707
My only disagreement is without 90 days of savings they are not a di prospect I find many people would benefit from STD with elimination periods of 30 days even if we need to cut back on benefit period.
Why DI when CI is Cheaper?
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My only disagreement is without 90 days of savings they are not a di prospect I find many people would benefit from STD with elimination periods of 30 days even if we need to cut back on benefit period.
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I admit it is a broad and possibly bold statement. But in my experience the ones who end up taking the policy and keeping it are the ones who are already financially disciplined. Individual DI isnt cheap, so it takes someone who is dedicated to their financial safety to go through the UW process and then keep up with the payments. A good judge of a persons financial discipline is if they keep 2-3 months of expenses in the bank.
I am a bit jaded when it comes to selling DI. I have found a lot of people will talk about it and even look at quotes. But when it comes time to write a check not as many are willing to. It has become like LTCI, only the upper middle class and wealthy are willing/able to budget it in.
Most of the DI I have sold has stuck on the books. But the ones that didnt dropped very quickly. The first month or two that things got tight or priorities changed they dropped it like it was nothing. But the ones that dropped off were the ones that were not as financially disciplined. They did not have a lot of money in the bank and could only afford min coverage. DI is too much work to not keep it on the books. If someone does not have adequate savings then I usually write them off for DI. It doesnt have to be 3 months of savings; but if they do not have at least 1-2 months of savings then that should be their first priority over any type of insurance. jmo
First, thanks for writing about the AG info on being a good CI choice...I did a quick search and didn't see if it has a ROP rider. It is nice though, very comprehensive. Without looking at rates, it looks like one I'd like in the brief case. The ROP riders when it's affordable I believe has kept my retention rate very high. Crazy high in fact since I've been adding it for quite some time.
Or would you bundle both products? --Well, you have to have a good idea about who your client is and what they're about...philosophies, budget, savings, what they have, what they don't have...find out what the gaps are and fill those gaps. Ask a ton of questions.
Accident plans are a good choice, to me, BUT the last thing you should be adding... considering most my clients occupations...farmers, fire fighters, truckers, contractors, roofers, etc... prospects that I've often intentionally sought out who are in occupations with a high rate of accidents. But, that is generally bundled with other products.
CI and DI are different birds...for different issues, as you know by now. A few real life examples of CI and Accident might help you get a better idea. I can't speak to real life DI claims, because I've never had a client have a claim.
First, here is an actual case of mine that's been ongoing with CI as a benefit for awhile: Male in his 40s...melanoma diagnosis. His wonderful group health insurance DOES NOT cover his experimental treatments. However, his nice CI policy is paying for those treatments---$3000 per month. He has told me that this is the only thing keeping him alive.
In this guy's case, he is able to still work most of the time (oddly--hard for me to believe but this is what he tells me), therefore DI does nothing for his staying alive and keeping himself on the right track to becoming healthy again, nor does it pay for his treatments.
Now, here's a real life accident plan example -- a farmer in his late 40s was run over and killed by his own tractor this past spring. Aside from his term life policy, he had an accident plan with $250,000 accidental life, a DI rider and a ROP rider. His family, got the $250,000 in addition to his term life million dollar life policy. Obviously, he didn't need the DI, but had he lived, that would have been a decent benefit while his boys and farm hands held down the fort. If nothing ever happened at all, he would have gotten 100% premium back in the end.
AcciFlex accident plans with Assurity are a win/win when there's a ROP on it....they can't lose--like it for the very reason it's affordable and the ROP. They will either use the plan or get 100% of their premium back if they never use it. Almost every policy I sell, I max up as long as it's cool with there income on the DI portion, and I've never sold one without the ROP (not only a win'win, but keeps my retention rate very high) and the commission is very good. However, if the client QUALIFIES for other products, this should be the last thing you would add when it comes down to budget. However, some clients can't get any thing else due to height/weight, medical conditions (this is the case for a number of farmers, truckers, etc that I deal with-- too many diabetes meds or whatever), so this might be all you can do in some cases, and it's better than nothing.
One mistake I used to make was to think in my own head, "what would this client need?" and possibly miss the mark without asking enough questions. You can almost not ask too many questions...For instance, if I was talking to a female hair stylist with hubby as the breadwinner, I might think I could only sell a little life and CI, but after asking questions, I might find out she's a horseback riding enthusiast, and a part time fire fighter, and would actually be a good candidate for accident, DI as well.... You never know. Ask the questions...saddle up with a variety of good companies...get a bunch of actual info from your MGA or your higher up, and compare.
Some companies may not cover certain occupations, know the own occ defs, exclusions, etc...there's a lot to look at when comparing policies...read, read, read and read some more because things are ALWAYS changing and new plans are always popping up.
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Also to add: With the cancer client example above...he got only a $50,000 lump sum pay out with the CI. I actually wish I would have given him more...although that is what he wanted to budget for....just wanted to clarify.
I went back to edit, bc I think I had too many specifics in the real life examples...lol.
Or would you bundle both products? --Well, you have to have a good idea about who your client is and what they're about...philosophies, budget, savings, what they have, what they don't have...find out what the gaps are and fill those gaps. Ask a ton of questions.
Accident plans are a good choice, to me, BUT the last thing you should be adding... considering most my clients occupations...farmers, fire fighters, truckers, contractors, roofers, etc... prospects that I've often intentionally sought out who are in occupations with a high rate of accidents. But, that is generally bundled with other products.
CI and DI are different birds...for different issues, as you know by now. A few real life examples of CI and Accident might help you get a better idea. I can't speak to real life DI claims, because I've never had a client have a claim.
First, here is an actual case of mine that's been ongoing with CI as a benefit for awhile: Male in his 40s...melanoma diagnosis. His wonderful group health insurance DOES NOT cover his experimental treatments. However, his nice CI policy is paying for those treatments---$3000 per month. He has told me that this is the only thing keeping him alive.
In this guy's case, he is able to still work most of the time (oddly--hard for me to believe but this is what he tells me), therefore DI does nothing for his staying alive and keeping himself on the right track to becoming healthy again, nor does it pay for his treatments.
Now, here's a real life accident plan example -- a farmer in his late 40s was run over and killed by his own tractor this past spring. Aside from his term life policy, he had an accident plan with $250,000 accidental life, a DI rider and a ROP rider. His family, got the $250,000 in addition to his term life million dollar life policy. Obviously, he didn't need the DI, but had he lived, that would have been a decent benefit while his boys and farm hands held down the fort. If nothing ever happened at all, he would have gotten 100% premium back in the end.
AcciFlex accident plans with Assurity are a win/win when there's a ROP on it....they can't lose--like it for the very reason it's affordable and the ROP. They will either use the plan or get 100% of their premium back if they never use it. Almost every policy I sell, I max up as long as it's cool with there income on the DI portion, and I've never sold one without the ROP (not only a win'win, but keeps my retention rate very high) and the commission is very good. However, if the client QUALIFIES for other products, this should be the last thing you would add when it comes down to budget. However, some clients can't get any thing else due to height/weight, medical conditions (this is the case for a number of farmers, truckers, etc that I deal with-- too many diabetes meds or whatever), so this might be all you can do in some cases, and it's better than nothing.
One mistake I used to make was to think in my own head, "what would this client need?" and possibly miss the mark without asking enough questions. You can almost not ask too many questions...For instance, if I was talking to a female hair stylist with hubby as the breadwinner, I might think I could only sell a little life and CI, but after asking questions, I might find out she's a horseback riding enthusiast, and a part time fire fighter, and would actually be a good candidate for accident, DI as well.... You never know. Ask the questions...saddle up with a variety of good companies...get a bunch of actual info from your MGA or your higher up, and compare.
Some companies may not cover certain occupations, know the own occ defs, exclusions, etc...there's a lot to look at when comparing policies...read, read, read and read some more because things are ALWAYS changing and new plans are always popping up.
----------
Also to add: With the cancer client example above...he got only a $50,000 lump sum pay out with the CI. I actually wish I would have given him more...although that is what he wanted to budget for....just wanted to clarify.
I went back to edit, bc I think I had too many specifics in the real life examples...lol.
Last edited:
Michael Stack
New Member
- 12
Anyone know the average premium for Assurity's simplified issue critical
illness plan, with return of premium?
tks
illness plan, with return of premium?
tks
