I'm sure you've seen your share of cases where a client comes in after being taken to the cleaners by an insurance agent. There are agents that are honest but the industry has a bad rep for a reason.

Have you found that people are under-insured (even using term)? That has been my experience.

However, many in the insurance industry have for years only had one tool in their toolbox. Their “hammer” was cash value life insurance, and if all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. So life insurance, as you reference, became their solution to everything.

Today, that's less the case, though there are still many that see life insurance as the solution to everyone's problems. More commonly we find that insurance agents are now also licensed to sell securities which most often take the form of mutual funds or mutual fund “wrap” accounts. So now, consumers need to be wary because if they push back on the “life insurance can fix everything” sales pitch, now many agents can come back with other “solutions” that might not necessarily be insurance-based.

Bottom line – this is and has always been about selling products. And once people become resistant to one product, salespeople will find another product they can push onto you.

The better approach is develop a plan or a strategy and shop for the right solutions based upon your needs rather than having something sold to you in the hope that it will all work out in the end.

Another great post, Carl.

I'm sure you've seen your share of cases where a client comes in after being taken to the cleaners by an insurance agent. There are agents that are honest but the industry has a bad rep for a reason.

Have you found that people are under-insured (even using term)? That has been my experience.

However, many in the insurance industry have for years only had one tool in their toolbox. Their “hammer” was cash value life insurance, and if all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. So life insurance, as you reference, became their solution to everything.

Today, that's less the case, though there are still many that see life insurance as the solution to everyone's problems. More commonly we find that insurance agents are now also licensed to sell securities which most often take the form of mutual funds or mutual fund “wrap” accounts. So now, consumers need to be wary because if they push back on the “life insurance can fix everything” sales pitch, now many agents can come back with other “solutions” that might not necessarily be insurance-based.

Bottom line – this is and has always been about selling products. And once people become resistant to one product, salespeople will find another product they can push onto you.

The better approach is develop a plan or a strategy and shop for the right solutions based upon your needs rather than having something sold to you in the hope that it will all work out in the end.

Another great post, Carl.