Take "A New Look on Life"

Traditionally, life insurance is viewed as a necessary expense to protect your clients' families in case of the unexpected. But there's more to it than meets the eye.

With no funding limits based on the client's income, tax-deferred growth and tax-favored distributions1 coupled with the protection of an income tax-free death benefit, this asset may be an appealing solution for supplemental income, and efficient wealth transfer.

By understanding the power of cash value life insurance, your clients can take "A New Look on Life". Get started with the mobile-friendly, client-approved video that explains how cash value life insurance can be a valuable asset. Also visit the promotional website for more sales tools or contact the life sales desk for additional information.

Client brochure
"New Look on Life" client video
Producer brochure

2012 is "The perfect storm for estate planning"

Now, more than any time in history, a lifetime gifting strategy can provide more estate and gift tax savings. Time is running out for you to talk to your clients about taking advantage of the reduction in gift tax exemption from $5.12M to $1M in 2013.

Make your 2012 Lifetime Gifting appointments with your estate planning clients/prospects NOW! Then check out American General's complete program of agent-to-prospect marketing/training material. The flagship of the program is a one-of-a-kind consumer website: UncleSams2012Gift.com.

The one-of-a-kind consumer materials are designed to be delivered to prospects and clients by producers to help stimulate estate planning discussions.

The producer material educates producers about the current environment and walks them through the “how-to’s” of implementing a gifting program. It is, essentially, what to expect if the client says, “Yes!”

As always, MVP Financial is available to help you through the process...contact your Producer Relations Associate.

Should Indexed UL Be A Part of Your Business?

Over the past 2 years, the largest sales growth in the US life insurance industry has been in the Indexed Universal Life market. Due to this growth, and the current economic climate of our nation, more and more carriers are introducing indexed products to the field.

We believe that you will see and hear more and more about indexed UL products going forward, and that now is the time to know if it should be part of your practice or not.

On June 13, 2012, Prudential will conduct a special webinar focusing on Indexed UL—"Beyond the Illustration: How to Use IUL Responsibly in Today's Markets". This discussion will feature industry experts who will explore the ways carriers market, price, and hedge Indexed UL products. During this session, you will learn:

• How carriers build Indexed UL products compared to traditional fixed (Current Assumption) UL products.


• How to determine an illustrated rate.


• How you should position Indexed UL products to your clients.
  


• How to answer the tough questions clients will ask about Indexed UL products.


• Where Pru's new PruLife® Index Advantage UL fits in the indexed marketplace.

Register now for this special opportunity from Prudential!

MetLife's BOSS

Check out the latest Business Owner Strategic Solutions (BOSS) Newsletter from MetLife's Advanced Sales Center.


Sales Ideas Included are:

1. Capitalizing on the 2012 S Corporation Opportunity ---- "Last Call"


2. Non-Qualified Plans for the Business Owner ---- Do They Make Sense?


3. Revisiting a Familiar Friend Split Dollar Plans


4. The Business Owned Life Insurance Alternative


5. Key Questions for a Business Owner



For Producer/Broker Dealer use Only. Not for Public Distribution.

Use Annuity Proceeds to Pay for Long Term Care Premiums

Help your clients protect all of their assets by taking a partial withdrawal from their non-qualified annuities to pay for long term care insurance. Under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, money can now be transferred from a non-qualified annuity (SPDA) to pay for long term care premiums tax-free. The tax savings from this strategy effectively reduces the cost of long term care insurance in comparison to funding it with taxable income or withdrawals. The tax is only deferred, however, until the annuity is surrendered and then taxes will need to be paid pro-rata on any gains. Income payments from a SPIA can also fund a LTC insurance policy tax-free.

Example: If your client has a non qualified deferred annuity worth $100,000 with $20,000 in gains and $2,000 is used to pay for a long term care premium, 80% (or $1,600) will be subtracted from the principal and 20% (or $400) will come from taxable gains in the annuity. If enough money is transferred over time from the annuity to pay for long term care premiums, the taxable gain could be erased completely.

The process of transferring the money from the annuity to pay for the long term care premium is a Partial 1035 Exchange. If the annuity and the LTC policy are with the same carrier this process is made very easy by providing a form that will automatically initiate the annual partial 1035 exchange process to fund a LTC policy. If two different carriers are involved it is important to check with them to find out what their requirements and restrictions are regarding partial 1035 exchanges.

Prior to participating in any 1035 exchange, you should help your client carefully consider factors such as the features, provisions, and crediting rate(s) of their current product, applicable surrender charges, any new surrender charge period on the purchase of a new product, as well as the various features and crediting rate(s) of the new product.

Get 1035 Exchange FAQs answered here.
View Funding Long Term Care Insurance Using an SPDA Case Study.

MVP is not offering legal or tax advice. Your clients should consult independent tax and legal professionals for advice based on their particular circumstances.

ING White Paper: Valuation of Life Insurance Policies

Life insurance has become an important tool for advanced techniques used in the areas of estate planning, business planning, and executive benefits. Such techniques may include the transfer of an existing policy by gift or sale, or may include the use of a life insurance policy to create benefits for employment or retirement. In each of these situations, it is important to be able to provide an accurate valuation of the life insurance policy in order to determine the income, gift, generation-skipping transfer (“GST”), or estate tax consequences of the transfer or benefit at issue. Read more...

5 Tips for a Successful Executive Benefits Sale

The April edition of Life & Health Advisor features an article by ING Life Companies' Randy Kemnitz, director of business planning and executive benefits for U.S. Insurance.

Randy offers advisors five tips for a successful executive benefits sale and explains the benefits of Self Owned Life and Retirement (S.O.L.A.R.) insurance arrangements as an effective executive benefits solution.

Click here to read the entire article....