5 Hurricane Dorian Prep Ideas, for Annuity Professionals

The weather is unpredictable. Hurricane Dorian could flood many areas near the East Coast, or it could just cause a few ordinary thunderstorms. But the hurricane has already caused terrible devastation for people in the northern Bahamas, and it has already served as a reminder of why people use insurance to manage risk. Financial professionals who focus on helping clients use annuities in retirement planning may see Dorian as a concern mainly for property and casualty insurance agents (Related: 3 Ways Harvey Is Touching the Life and Health Community Now) Here's a look at five ways annuity professionals can play a role in hardening prospects and clients against natural catastrophe risk, as well as against the risk of outliving retirement income.

1. You can help make holistic planning a habit.

You want employers, agents who sell term life insurance, and stockbrokers to remind clients that they might want to retire someday, and that an annuity can help provide a guaranteed source of lifetime income. You can repay the favor by reminding your retirement planning clients that one way to protect their retirement arrangements is to have solid protection against flood, fire and windstorm risk.

2. You can encourage good paperwork hygiene.

Some life insurers are now encouraging affiliated financial professionals to market services such as the EverPlans important papers vault, and the digital vault-based LegacyShield program. This might be a good time to test those kinds of services yourself, and encourage clients to try them.

3. You can set a good disaster prep example.

Your carriers probably offer great disaster prep webinars and guides. Groups for such as the National Association of Insurance Financial Advisors (NAIFA) also offer disaster prep tools. NAIFA, for example, has posted business disaster prep tips here.

4. You can communicate.

Many annuity professionals are using social media services to express their thoughts about Hurricane Dorian — and, possibly, to show how a live-human advisor is different from an AI bot. A number of financial professionals affiliated with Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. who are active on Twitter have already tweeted about Dorian. Jonathan Ingalls, an Ameriprise branch manager in Connecticut, tweeted today, "As Hurricane Dorian approaches, our thoughts are with everyone in the affected areas. Please stay safe."

5. You can find and sell more good annuities that suit your clients' needs.

Hurricanes and other natural disasters can affect anyone, but people who have their own source of retirement income may be able to reduce their risk, by choosing homes that meet the latest, toughest building codes; having cash they can use to buy airplane tickets and hotel rooms; and signing up for homeowners insurance or renters insurance policies that include strong disaster recovery benefits. Clients with adequate retirement income may also be able to make life, and death, a little less unfair, by opening their homes and wallets to help friends, relatives and neighbors who are in dire need. — Read LTCI Watch: Hell Planning, on ThinkAdvisor. — Connect with ThinkAdvisor Life/Health on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.