I received an advertisement email yesterday offering Instant Term Life Insurance Quotes. Being that our company, Lifeinsure.com, is in the business of marketing and selling life insurance online, I thought Id take a look at how one of our competitors was doing it.

I clicked the link on the email that said Get Instant Quote and was sent into the companys website, where it boldly states that Rates are Ready for you Right Away with no Wait. I enter my zip code, as requested, and away we go.

I am greeted by a typical web form, asking me how much life insurance I want, for what term, date of birth, height and weight, tobacco use and gender information that is needed in order to provide a life insurance quote.

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As I mentioned in Part 1 of this subject, while term life insurance is a great option for many people and purposes, there are situations for which permanent life insurance might make more sense.  To continue the list:

• To Provide Liquidity to Pay Estate Taxes:  This is one of the reasons we see most frequently.  People with large estates may be subject to estate taxes at death.  Life insurance owned by an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) can escape estate taxation and provide the liquidity needed to pay those taxes.
• To Provide for Business Continuation:  Permanent life insurance can be a better solutions than term life insurance for funding a business continuation plan.  It insures the policy will be in force regardless of how long the business owner stays active in the business.
• To Maximize a Pension:  A retiree may elect to take the highest (life) payout option on his/her pension, while still protecting the surviving spouse.  Permanent life insurance is a great way to accomplish this.
• To Provide Creditor Protection:  Some states protect policy cash values from the claims of creditors.
• To Provide for Executive Benefits:  If structured properly, policy cash values can be used to fund deferred compensation retirement benefits paid to executives.  Death benefits can be used as cost recovery mechanisms for the company.

We will continue this list in our next post.  In the meantime, feel free to look at permanent life insurance quotes or term life insurance quotes.

Life insurance agents and brokers hope their clients will never need the term insurance policies they purchased.  I dont know of many sales jobs in which the sales person prefers their clients dont use the product they sold them.

Yesterday, once again I was reminded why I choose to sell life insurance.  We received a call from one of our clients beneficiaries that our client passed away.  She was inquiring about how to file a claim.  It is never an easy conversation for me, but knowing that the life insurance policy my client purchased from me is going to provide for his family for many years, helps me get through the call.

In this profession, its not difficult to get into the daily minutiae involved in selling life insurance policies from completing a mind-numbing amount of paperwork to working with sometimes-stubborn underwriters, etc.  On some days, one can get so wrapped up in these details that one can lose sight of why we do it.

Speaking to my clients recently-deceased wife and helping her navigate through the claims process, I remembered (again) why I sell life insurance.  Sure, I earn a good living and I get to speak with a lot of interesting people from all over the country.  However, it is knowing that I am helping my clients to financially protect their families futures that makes this a great a great occupation. 

I wish I had a dollar for every prospective life insurance client I spoke with who was nervous about getting their blood drawn.  I have even had a few people decide against purchasing life insurance because they couldnt confront the needle.  Medical exams, including blood tests, are part and parcel of the life insurance application.  It provides valuable data to the underwriter as to what type of risk you present to the life insurance company.  A

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