Some prospecting ideas are not easy to create. At least ones that actually work. Here's one that could change your practice immensely, for the better.
For several years a very popular planning strategy that caught fire was helping veterans with veterans benefits planning, or applying for aid and attendance pension benefits from the Veterans Benefits Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
(Related: Dishonesty is for losers)
This strategy came under serious scrutiny, and many marketing organizations stopped helping clients use the program. However, this program has re-emerged as a reinvented, viable, acceptable and very lucrative planning method. It also has a built-in prospecting process that actually works and is virtually cost free.
The problems of the past have been solved. When you have a very lucrative process that can earn high commissions, there are always those who will abuse the privilege. The abuse was bad enough that Veterans Affairs officials started watching closely and discovered bad apples.
When you have a bad apple in a barrel, sometimes the easiest way to solve the problem is to throw out the whole barrel. The organizations that were doing everything correctly had to weather the storm.
The veterans were the ones who suffered the most from the VA response because of a lack of real qualified help with applying for aid and attendance benefits. Many veterans are still unaware of this very valuable VA benefit.
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The veteran and spouse may qualify for $34,050 of annual benefits that can be used for home health care, assisted living expenses or nursing home care.
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A single veteran can receive $21,466 per year.
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A surviving spouse of a veteran can receive $13,794 per year.
These are significant sums and could mean the difference between quality care and doing without. Our veterans don't need to do without. They don't deserve that treatment.
The veterans aid and attendance benefit is an un-advertised, underutilized benefit available to veterans of foreign wars.
Since we have had plenty of those, there are millions of veterans who may potentially qualify for this benefit. However, there are certain requirements applicants have to meet. Having too many assets or too much income can disqualify a candidate.
There are options available and allowable to fix an asset or income problem.
The best estimates are that about 60% to 70% of applicants can qualify without adjustments. The other 30% to 40% need a financial advisor to help. So, that's where a good insurance agent can help and get paid well to do so.
