How many times has somebody asked you what you do for a living? And how do you answer? I am a financial advisor, a financial consultant, a financial planner, or, just maybe, an insurance agent.
Good grief! An insurance agent? Why would anyone want to be an insurance agent?
But there are many reasons why you should be proud of your profession. Think about what we do in our business each and every day. We don't just make phone calls – we sell money. We create money where none existed before. We create dollars for future delivery – dollars for pennies apiece. We create security for the spouse, the family, and the client's company.
With nothing but a piece of paper and a drop of ink, we can create more money for more people than any other professional in any other industry. Think about it: For a 40-year-old male nonsmoker, you collect a $1,000 annual premium for a $100,000 permanent life insurance policy. That's 1 percent of the face amount. Where else can you buy money for 1 percent per year? Just relate the premium to the face amount to determine the cost per dollar. At age 60, the cost is still less than 3 percent per year.
What we create is magic. It is security, dignity, and peace of mind.
When the client dies, you are the only one who brings money to the family or the company. The other advisors, the accountant, the attorney, and the heirs all have their hands out. Only you walk in with the money created from the magic of life insurance.
But in order to create this magic, you must believe in your products. You must own life insurance to sell it, and you must own an amount appropriate to the value of your human life.
After 9/11, the federal government determined that the average person who died in the attacks had a human life value equal to 15 times their annual earnings. Are you insured for 15 or 20 times your annual income? If not, why not? If someone offered to pay you, in cash, the amount for which you have your life insured and said you would now work for them for the rest of your life with no additional income, would you take the offer?
If you answered "no," you are underinsured, and are your own best prospect for a new large block of life insurance.
Don't know your human life value? Visit the LIFE Foundation website to run your own human life value calculations.
