BSMG Blog: Protecting the Future of Families and Businesses

As announced December 10, 2020, on Capital Markets Day by Aegon CEO Lard Friese, Transamerica will discontinue sales of our individual, standalone Long Term Care (LTC) business on March 31, 2021.

Critical Information Center

On our BSMG website you will now find a comprehensive page that includes updates and important content from us, our carrier partners and others in the industry. It’s important that you have access to the most up to date, trusted information from a variety of sources. 

Congress has passed and President Trump has signed into law significant retirement reform which will go into effect on 1/1/2020.  The new law has many provisions which involve expanding and preserving retirement savings, administrative improvements, and revenue provisions.

From the moment we all first received payment for work, we have, either consciously or subconsciously, put a dollar value on our time.

When I was 10 years old, with no earthly expenses, responsibilities, or any other place to be, $10 to mow the lawn at my parents’ house felt like a dream. If it took me an hour to do it, at $10/hour I felt like I was winning big. My expenses were zero, and I was therefore making infinity times my monthly expenses. I had nowhere else to be and no other method of earning, so my opportunity cost was also zero. Every time the lawn would get barely long enough to cut, I’d be asking to do it again, in what I felt like was a chance to cash the same paycheck.

Term Insurance Revolutionized

Vive is revolutionizing the term insurance business? 5 minute online orders, no paperwork, and underwriting offers in as little as 24 hours.  Vive also creates a better experience for you and your client. Period. This revolutionary platform can make an important difference in the ease, speed-to-issue, and profitability of your term life business. See some of the benefits of using Vive below. 

Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) are always a hot button with brokers and clients, especially recently when Donald Trump asked the Treasury Department to examine RMD life expectancy and distribution tables due to longer life expectancy and more people working well into their 70’s. Nevertheless, RMDs “are what they are”, a required distribution that every individual who turns 70.5 must start taking from their IRAs. At its simplest level, an RMD will be withdrawn and either deposited into a client’s checking account or reinvested. Let’s look at other ways to utilize an RMD.

Term Life Insurance prospects are everywhere. You just need to know where to find them. Agents have shared countless stories with us about "picking up" clients in all kinds of places, from the gym to the grocery store line, even in the bar! There is a reason we've made selling term life insurance fast and easy; it is because there are so many reasons to offer it to your clients and prospects! Check out these 8 term opportunities that open a gateway into having the conversation!

If you've ever found yourself thinking something that starts like this, "I'd sell more life insurance if...", you are not alone. In 2016, we conducted an online survey of insurance and financial professionals that focused on the state of advisor relationships and decision-making criteria regarding their Brokerage Agencies. Hoping to get a better understanding of some of the road blocks insurance advisors face, we asked them to finish the statement "I'd sell more life insurance if..." Below is a compilation of the most common responses we received, coupled with key ways other financial professionals are successfully addressing these road blocks.

One of the most highly sought after sales prospecting tools revolves around simply getting in front of more prospects! But how can you get in front of them if they won't give you the time of day? Does this scenario sound familiar?

You spend a portion of your day reaching out to potential prospects as part of your strategy to grow your business. However, at the end of the day all you have to show for that activity is a list of voicemails you've left and emails you've sent. Days turn into weeks and all of a sudden you realize that all of this activity has gotten you no closer to building your client base. So what can you do to ensure more prospects call you back? Follow these tips below! 

Which entity to own life insurance?

The popularity of the irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) is well documented. Billions of dollars have been gifted by estate owners to single life and survivorship life irrevocable trusts to help fund the payment of federal estate taxes. Yet, a number of disadvantages revolving around lack of flexibility and lack of control discourage the use of such trusts in certain situations. When estate owners realize an irrevocable trust cannot be changed, they sometimes decide to think about it. Or when estate owners realize they don't own the cash value of the policy and have no access to it for lifetime financial needs, they feel a loss of control.