Is it Time for a Life Insurance Review?
For many, life insurance is their largest unmanaged asset. Far too often, policyholders go many years without having their life insurance policies reviewed – much to the detriment of their portfolios. While you may assume that clients aren’t interested in visiting you for a policy review, they need to at least be given this option.
A life insurance policy portfolio should be reviewed every couple of years at a minimum, or whenever there is a meaningful change in a client’s life. To determine if a review is necessary, you can ask the following series of quick prompts. If your client answers “yes” to any of these questions, they are a good candidate for a life insurance review.
Since We Last Met . . .
- Have you or your spouse changed jobs or occupations?
- Has a member of your family retired, or do they have plans to retire soon?
- Have there been changes in your immediate family such as birth, adoption, or death?
- Has a member of your immediate family married, separated, or divorced?
- Have there been any significant changes in the health status of your immediate family?
- Has there been a change in a member of your family’s ability to manage their finances?
- Do you expect any changes in your expenses, such as the purchase of a new property?
- Have you purchased or acquired any insurance products?
- Have you purchased or acquired any financial products?
- Have you made any changes to your estate planning documents?
If any of these questions were answered “yes”, it’s time to dig deeper. Other questions you may also want to ask the client include:
- Why did you purchase the policy in the first place?
- Does this reason for purchase still apply today? If not, what do you want to use the policy for today?
- Has your policy been reviewed in the past couple of years to determine if it is still competitive in today’s market?
- Have you had an assessment in the past couple of years to determine if you have the right amount and type of life insurance?
How DBS Can Help
To help you determine if the client’s policy compares favorably to what is now available in the marketplace, DBS is making available our exclusive “quick-review” policy assessment service. You simply need to provide a client’s annual policy statement and some general client data. If you need to determine if the amount and type of coverage still meets your client’s life insurance needs, you can use our “Product Selector” tool. This tool will help you identify suitable life insurance products based on a series of question. To learn more, contact your dedicated DBS Case Design Analyst.