You Need to Educate Yourself Before You Educate Clients

Commentary February 19, 2010 at 09:44 AM

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In an upcoming print edition of the Agent's Sales Journal, we reported that 64 percent of producers don't know their state regulations when it comes to life settlements.

Now, granted, that portion includes agents who have never handled a life settlement transaction, and may not even be interested in doing so. Yet when we take another look at the numbers, we find that, of those producers who have handled at least one life settlement transaction in their careers, a full 29 percent do not know how their state regulates life settlements.

Given that more than half of all states do, indeed, now regulate life settlements (which, by the way, are NOT the same thing as STOLI), I think it might behove more settlement practitioners to brush up on their information.

So, to that end, we worked with the Life Insurance Settlement Association (which partners with us on our annual Life Settlement Market Study) to bring our readers this handy map showing you, at a glance, which states regulate settlements and which states do not. In the coming weeks, we'll be adding links to those state regulations – but for now, you can check them out here.

It can't be stated often enough: If you find yourself engaged in a specific financial transaction or selling a specific product, you should know what that product is, what it isn't, who it's right for, who it's not – and above all, what your state and your carrier say about what you're doing. It's the best way to keep yourself on the right side of the line, and meeting all of your clients' needs.

Christina Pellett is the editor of the Agent's Sales Journal.

NOT FOR REPRINT