Is Proud To Introduce To You:

Transcription

1 Is Proud To Introduce To You: A business model for today s insurance agent.

2 Key findings in the latest study by: LIMRA Deferred Annuity Buyer Attitudes and Behaviors This recent report highlights many of today s annuity buyers habits. We believe some of these findings may come as a surprise to seasoned annuity producers who have often felt the need to defend annuities from attacks either in the media or from competitors. The simple fact is that many consumers are now finally seeing the benefits of the guarantees and benefits that annuities have to offer. From the insurance industry s perspective, the story has not changed and as insurance professionals we have been touting these benefits for years. What we believe has changed is the overall perception primarily due to the uncertain economic times. Interest rates are very low and the markets are more unpredictable than ever. People are looking for assurances and safety. Why are we bringing the findings of this report to you in regards to Smart and Ready? One of the foundations of the Smart and Ready philosophy is to guarantee your client a Paycheck for life using Annuity products. This report shows that one of the primary objectives of potential annuity buyers is guaranteed lifetime income. In other words, what we propose in our presentations is perfectly aligned with the core desires of many if not most retirees. Today, consumers are actively seeking out what you have to offer. They are looking for you! 2

3 Key findings of the LIMRA report: Annuity Buyers Know they are on their own. Supplementing Social Security and Pensions is the #1 reason people bought annuities. Accumulating assets for retirement #2 across the board. Receive guaranteed lifetime income or cover basic living expenses in retirement Retirement Anxiety was clearly the driving force for buyers far more than before the financial crash of Average age of annuity buyers: Traditional Fixed = 60, Fixed Indexed = 61, Variable = 59 1 in 4 buyers purchased their traditional fixed annuities when they were under 50 years old. 38 percent of people that bought indexed annuities had investable assets of $500,000+. Build a financial plan before getting an annuity. Eight out of 10 buyers bought annuities as part of a financial plan. One in 4 had a formal plan & six in 10 had an informal plan. Bottom line: When clients develop plans, they are apt to buy annuities. Don t need to be sold; they are looking to buy. More annuity buyers, particularly young ones, are initiating sales. 47 percent, nearly half of fixed annuity buyers initiated the sale. In another LIMRA study retirees were asked: Are you as financially secure now as you thought you would be when you first retired? The percent who answered: No Less secure, was 20% before the 2008 market crash..and rose to 49% in

4 It appears that annuity buyers are trying to establish a personal pension that is truly theirs and that no one else can take away. What Should Agents Focus On? Baby Boomers o 10,000 boomers turn 65 every day for the next 18 years. o In general, Boomers are more financially savvy than their predecessors. o Boomers are among the age group most likely to say they lost money on investments since the Great Recession started 57% of them say their financial situations have worsened. o Among the age group 50 to 61, 60% of Boomers believe they will have to delay retirement. o Almost all have significant concerns about Outliving their savings. o Few have pensions. o Most will have only their retirement savings to generate the income needed to supplement social security benefits. Focus on Retirement Income Planning. They want a plan it helps them feel secure. They want guaranteed income. They are tired of losing money, they don t know if they have enough to last. A majority of those owners are not secure that their dollars will last their lifetime. That is why clients are eager to plan their retirement and when they make plans, they are more likely to include annuities. No one but a licensed insurance agent can provide a guaranteed paycheck for life. Today, $400 billion is waiting to be rolled over from retirement funds. By 2015 that s expected to grow by 50 percent to $600 billion. 4

5 Key Point You will be remembered for the problems you solve, not the products you sell. 5

6 One of the keys to effective Retirement Planning is identifying the potential risks that your client may face in retirement. If your business is primarily focused on Annuities, it is easy to forget or downplay that you are in the Insurance business. Being a licensed insurance agent gives you a huge advantage: Insurance is the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another in exchange for payment. It is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. That s what we do and your competitors do not have products that can insure against specific losses like we do. These are the most common risks people face in retirement: Longevity Risk Withdrawal Rate Risk Market Risk/sequence of returns Health Risk Longevity Risk This is simply the risk of living too long. Obviously as long as we are healthy and happy most of us would want to live as long as possible BUT if we do live a long life, we need to make sure it is prosperous! The primary fear of living too long is the concern of running out of money or outliving our savings. Therefore, the Smart and Ready approach is to guarantee an income for their basic needs that is guaranteed to last as long as they do. An insurance company is the only financial institution that offers products for sale that will provide an income based on someone s life. To what age should we plan? That s a really great question and one of the key shortfalls in traditional retirement planning. Most traditional retirement plans will plan to age 90. The logic here is according to current life expectancy statistics, it provides an average 5 year margin above normal life expectancy. We believe this is inadequate because you have no idea how long your client will live. 6

7 Will your client live to 80, 90, 100 more? Statistically women live longer than men. For an individual: When it comes to couples the odds that one of them will live longer go up considerably: For a 65-year-old married couple, there's a: 92% chance one spouse will live to age % chance one spouse will live to age % chance one spouse will live to age 100. Unless you have clairvoyant skills, you cannot determine which category your client will be in. Even family history is a poor litmus test and if you plan too short a timeframe, you are doing your client a great disservice. We believe at a minimum, income that is needed for basic living needs must be guaranteed for life and anything else should be planned at least to age

8 Withdrawal Rate Risk The risk of spending too much too soon. Naturally, if you withdraw too much too quickly, ultimately you will use up all of your savings. So the experts try to advise you how much you can safely withdraw based on conservative assumptions: A safe withdrawal rate is the amount of money that you can withdraw from your investments each year, with the ability for future year s withdrawals to increase with inflation, and with a high likelihood that this money will last for the remainder of your life expectancy, even if investments are delivering below average returns. In other words, it is intelligent guesswork! Historically the accepted withdrawal rate has been 4%. In 2008, MetLife did a study and reported that 43% of Boomers believed they could withdraw 10% of their retirement savings per year. Houston we have a disconnect! In 2011, a Wall Street Journal article published their findings that 2% was the bulletproof withdrawal rate, although 3% was considered safe. Today s annuity income riders provide guaranteed lifetime payouts ranging from 4% 7% depending on the age. Not only are these rates higher than traditional withdrawal rates but your client CANNOT OUTLIVE this income. In addition, these payouts are usually based on a higher amount than the principal due to bonuses and roll up rates. Market Risk The risk of losing value in your investments due to a market decline. We have all been taught that Over the long haul your best chance of making better returns is to invest in the stock markets. While there is no guarantee, we would in general agree with this when talking about saving for retirement. This is what is generally referred to as the Accumulation phase. But the principles used to accumulate money are not the same for the Distribution phase. 8

9 The minute you leave your retirement party, the game changes: There is no more time horizon to recoup from market downturns. When preparing for their client s retirement most investment advisors re balance the portfolio to reduce risk which likely means lower returns. When you take your Retirement paycheck in a down market, the losses relating to the amount withdrawn are realized, never to be recouped. A Fixed Index Annuity offers principal protection against market losses and upside potential when the markets are performing favorably. Health Risk The Risk of losing your savings due to the costs of a catastrophic illness or extended Long Term Care needs. Medicare and a good quality Med Supplement policy should adequately protect against the cost of illness/injury but Medicare does not cover Long Term Care. Dollar for dollar, a traditional Long Term Care Insurance policy can provide the greatest benefit to premium dollar ratio of any insurance policy BUT they are not inexpensive. Many consumers do not want to spend the money for LTC Insurance in case they don t need it. The Use it or lose it mentality. Too often, the people who need it most cannot qualify to get it. Your competition can only offer a self-insured solution as an alternative. While we believe a traditional Long Term Care insurance policy is the best form of protection, there are a number of alternatives. Many life insurance and annuity products offer Chronic Care benefits on a simplified underwriting basis. If the benefits are not needed, typically the remaining funds are left as a death benefit. 9

10 Overcoming Risks The bottom line is no financial professional is equipped to manage all these risks as well as the insurance professional. Retirees. Need income that lasts for life. Need to withdraw more than 2% 3% and guaranteed not to run out of income. Want upside potential but don t want the risk associated with it. Want protection against potential Chronic Care costs but don t want to lose the premiums if they don t need it. Overcoming these risks is a major step towards offering your clients Peace of Mind. There are options that your competitors may offer to mitigate some of these risks but typically these are self insured options. In other words, they suggest putting aside a chunk of their savings Just in case. If the risk does not transpire, then these assets are passed on to the heirs. There is nothing wrong with a self insured option if the client can afford it. Unfortunately, most of the time these options mean a reduction of income to pay for the Just in case. What If Retirement Tom Hegna, renowned author of Paychecks and Playchecks Retirement Solutions for Life talks about the common practice of What if retirement. This is the all too common practice of people giving up some of their perks because of what might happen.what if the market goes down? What if inflation goes up? What if taxes increase? As a result, these retirees live less than a fulfilled retirement because their plans don t account for the what ifs. We believe you can create a plan that provides true peace of mind so that your client does not have to live their Golden Years in What If mode. 10

11 Retirement Planning If you ask 50 different financial advisors, you will likely get 50 different opinions about how to plan for a secure retirement. Most likely, these plans will be sub optimal because they will be based on some speculative formula or complex forecasting model and not on the client s personal and unique situation. This is why we can say with confidence that a Smart and Ready plan is the right way to plan. Smart & Ready planning resonates with clients because it s SIMPLE, is based on COMMON SENSE and is designed for their PERSONAL situation. Smart and Ready Plans can be mathematically and scientifically proven. The Smart and Ready philosophy is based on a balanced approach to retirement income. We plan for two different retirement income streams and strategies. Required Income Lifestyle Income 11

12 Required Income is the income you need to maintain a basic quality of life Food on the table, a roof over your head, clothes on your back and basic medical. The lack of these things is what creates the fear in outliving one s savings. People are afraid of not being able to maintain a basic quality of life. The PRIMARY goal of any Smart and Ready plan is to GUARANTEE this Required Income for the client s life. So they know, no matter what happens their basic quality of life is there forever and cannot be taken away. Peace of Mind. Of course, to enjoy their retirement to the fullest they will want more but now the pressure is off and they can plan their additional income in a manner that meets their goals and personal preferences. 12

13 Lifestyle Income is the additional money above Required Income that you desire to maintain the retirement you WANT. Sometimes we refer to this as your Fun Money. These are the expenses you have for travel, entertainment, hobbies and family and friends. Because you ve already taken care of the Have to s, you can now afford to take more risk in your portfolio IF YOU CHOOSE. Every individual s situation is different. Some are comfortable with risk and others are very conservative from a financial perspective. Neither is right or wrong. If you want to take a little more risk in the hopes of achieving a slightly enhanced lifestyle, that is entirely up to you as long as you are aware of the downside. The only codicil we might add is that if you can achieve all of your goals without taking on additional risk, it is worth considering. 13

14 The Smart and Ready Planning Process Above we mentioned the first goal of any Smart and Ready Plan is to ensure that the client s Required Income is guaranteed for life. In order to achieve this, we need to be able to identify what expenses your client deems Required and what is Lifestyle. To achieve this PFG has designed a customized Fact Finder designed specifically for Smart and Ready plans. In our trainings we stress the importance of this process. It is critical that you work closely with your client in this process to truly understand what is important to them. It can also sometimes be fun to get a husband and wife discussing what is Required and what is not. No Dear, golf 5 times a week is not a Required expense. Just be careful it can sometimes be a little dangerous too! The bottom line is the more you understand their feelings, concerns etc. the more likely you will earn their trust and produce a better plan. If you handle this the right way, 75% of the sale is already made. The completed fact finder is sent to PFG Marketing Group for processing, plan development and presentation materials. 14

15 Now that we have a Fact Finder that identifies all the expenses, income and assets, PFG starts the process of building the plan: 1. First step is to identify the GAP between their Required Income and their known sources of retirement income (Not from retirement savings): Social Security Benefits & Pension Rental Business Other 2. We then close the Required Income GAP by guaranteeing a lifetime income using an ANNUITY (SPIA or Income Rider). On the average this premium typically equates to about 50% of their Retirement Savings. This is the minimum goal we are recommending for annuities. If the client is risk averse there may be potential for more annuities if they wish. 15

16 Total Retirement Savings Lifestyle Savings Less Annuity Premium (To Close Required Income Gap) Leaves TRAVEL HOBBIES $ GIFTS $ FAMILY which should be aligned with their remaining desires and objectives AND in tune with their RISK tolerance. May be a balanced securities portfolio Could include CDs or Money Market May be more annuities For Advisors who are also Securities licensed, this is a perfect opportunity to make recommendations. If you are only insurance licensed, you can either align yourself with a Securities Advisor or you could consider becoming an IAR an Investment Advisor Representative. If this of interest to you, PFG Marketing Group can assist you with the enrollment process through their affiliates. Bottom line, it is up to the client what they want to do with their Lifestyle Savings and if all you get is the annuity premium for the Required Income, you probably have earned yourself a pretty good paycheck. 16

17 Overview of the Planning Process 1. The Smart & Ready Fact Finder is filled out Designed specifically to support the Smart & Ready planning tool. Cover can be customized for each individual producer s name. A PDF fillable version is available. Provides the necessary details to properly calculate estimated income needs by including start and stop dates, inflation and income taxes. Should be completed jointly with client or initially by client followed by a detailed joint review. This is the fuel of the plan so information must be as accurate as possible. Otherwise we have Garbage in, garbage out. 2. The completed fact finder is sent to PFG Marketing Group for processing, plan development and presentation materials. 17

18 Overview of the Planning Process (Cont.) 3. Enters the Data into The Smart & Ready Planning Tool Client information. Financial Data. Results The PFG case designer will be in constant contact with the Producer discussing challenges, options, plan & product recommendations and presentation prep. 18

19 Overview of the Planning Process (Cont.) 4. PFG creates the plan and sends it to the Producer. 5. Producer presents and closes case. 19

20 Training The Smart & Ready Academy The Academy will provide a producer everything they need to know to be successful in the Retirement Income Planning marketplace. The five Academy class sessions are: 1. The key to completing a powerful fact finder 2. Presenting a Smart & Ready Retirement Plan 3. Getting in front of Boomer Prospects 4. Optimizing Social Security 5. Wealth Transfer strategies Each class is minutes long and there is one class per week. The training sessions are online webinars via GoTo Webinar and will be recorded for your review once you have attended a live session. You can join the 5 week course at any time and do not have to start with the first session. If you were unable to attend a session or if you started in the middle, the entire series will be repeated. There may be a short break between each series. From time to time, we may announce special sessions on specific topics on an as needed basis. 20

21 Over the next 2 3 years we want to establish a Club of about 100, dedicated Retirement Income Specialist producers. We call this the: 100 Our goal is to focus on building each practice into a $5 $10 million a year shop. How? Our closing ratio averages about 60% and our average case size is approximately $300K. Let s assume that initially your numbers will be lower but practice makes perfect. So we start out with reasonable goals. First Year Target Retirement Interviews per Month 12 Retirement Questionnaire Percent 30.00% Smart & Ready Presentations 3.6 Closing Ratio 35.00% Plans Sold 1.26 Average Annuity Premium $200,000 Monthly Production $252,000 As time goes by your marketing results will improve so you increase your monthly interviews by 3. Your story is a little more practiced so you are more effective at getting people to agree to a presentation and your closing is a more polished. So let s bump those numbers by a modest 5% and increase average premium by $25K. These are not challenging goals! 21

22 Second Year Target Retirement Interviews per Month 15 Retirement Questionnaire Percent 35.00% Smart & Ready Presentations 5.25 Closing Ratio 40.00% Plans Sold 2.1 Average Annuity Premium $225,000 Monthly Production $472,500 In the third year we are going to assume the same increases except by now you are so good at closing we are going to assume a 50% Closing Ratio. (These targets are still below are average Closing Ratio and average case size we have experienced to date). Third Year Target Retirement Interviews per Month 18 Retirement Questionnaire Percent 40.00% Smart & Ready Presentations 7.2 Closing Ratio 50.00% Plans Sold 3.6 Average Annuity Premium $250,000 Monthly Production $900,000 Let s Grow Together! 22

23 Thanks for reviewing the Smart and Ready System If you are interested in participating or have questions, please give us a call: Office: (602) Toll Free: (800) pfginfo@pfg-inc.com Web site: 23