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April 7, 2015 – April 13, 2015
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A New Kind of Life Insurance At John Hancock, they think life insurance should reward you for living. That’s why they are introducing a new approach to life insurance that helps you secure your financial future and pursue a longer, healthier life. The healthier your lifestyle, the more you can save - and the greater your potential rewards. Overview: Protection UL 15 On Wednesday, April 8th, John Hancock released an updated version of their death benefit protection current assumption product. Protection UL 15, which replaces Protection UL 13, is the product to beat in the Current Assumption marketplace. It continues in its legacy of extremely low premiums, very low cash value, and a unique, controversial product structure. Web Version of JH LTC Illustrator Available The web version of the new JH LTC Illustrator software is now available. This version provides you with the ease of running illustrations without the need to download the software. You can access the web version by going to www.jhltc.com and clicking on the "Run a Quote" button, or under Producer Support > JH LTC Illustrator. We are confident you will find JH LTC Illustrator's new streamlined design and enhanced user interface helpful in executing your long-term care insurance proposals. Ehansel/Hansel will be available during a short transition period* until April 27 2015, at which time it will be discontinued. *The repriced Custom Care III featuring Benefit Builder in New York will not be available on ehansel/hansel during this transition period and will only be available on JHLTC Illustrator. Performance LTC Available on LTC Captivate Effective April 6th LTC Captivate now includes the Performance LTC product, allowing you and your clients the convenience of a total on-line application experience. Please remember the transition rules for the current CC III featuring Benefit Builder product in compact states. The current Custom Care III featuring Benefit Builder product will be discontinued in the compact states on April 27, 2015. All Custom Care III featuring Benefit Builder applications for current rates must be signed and submitted to John Hancock no later than April 27th. Fillable Apps for Performance LTC Now Available John Hancock has fillable apps available for Performance LTC. To access them, please visit www.jhltc.com.
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Premium Savings Increases Your Value Proposition Here is one more way to make yourself more valuable to your clients. Rate Adjustments View upcoming rate adjustments in ID, KS, LA, MD, MO, MN, MO, SD, TN, TX, UT and WA. Provide Your Clients Added Flexibility Qualifying Guaranteed Universal Life and Guaranteed Universal Life Plus policies offer your clients future flexibility...at no additional cost.
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Blood and Urine Will No Longer Be Tested for HIV In certain jurisdictions, urine HIV testing will no longer be routinely required at ages 18 and older when the total amount inforce and applied for within 12 months is $50,001-$99,999. Nonresident/Resident Alien Taxation Reference Guide A broad summary of the estate and gift tax rules for citizens and residents of the United States and nonresident aliens. Enhanced Rate Plus Program Gains Momentum Check out a success story, podcast about the program, and the Teleapp FAQs Contracts and Confirmation Letters Now By Email Starting April 13th, the Contracting team will be sending all executed contracts and confirmation letters by email. If your firm would like to opt out of this electronic process please call the Contracting Team at 1-877-638-0411, prompt 4. Do Your Clients have a Retirement Income Strategy? While most clients have spent countless years preparing FOR retirement, most have not given nearly as much thought and effort into how to BE retired. For many clients, their retirement may last for as long as or even longer than they actually worked. With that thought in mind, how can Advisors better equip their clients for their portfolio “decumulation” phase while trying to take into account any unforeseen and unfavorable market conditions? Financial Underwriting: It’s Not a Mystery When it comes to life insurance, financial underwriting can seem perplexing, but it’s quite simple at its core – protect the interests of the proposed insured as well as the insurance company while applying the principles of insurable interest and affordability. The Value Behind Cash Value When is a life insurance policy not just a life insurance policy? Almost always, actually. A Guaranteed UL product can pay the same stated death benefit as a Whole Life product, but the two policies may be entirely different in many other attributes and have commensurately different prices. Given that both policies can provide the same lifetime death benefit protection, the decision to choose one or the other must take into account the full array of product attributes, not just the stated premium.
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Selling to Women: Stop Selling and Start Listening Women make up the largest national economy on earth. Women now make up one third of medical and PHD graduates, 40% of law students, and 55% of university enrollment. With such a large number of women earning and inheriting wealth, it is imperative to make female clients an integral part of your business. Put it on Automatic (Enrollment) Studies indicate that among new hires, participation rates in 401(k) plans with an automatic enrollment feature more than double to 91% compared to 42% in traditional plans that require voluntary enrollment. Increase Your Business in 2015 Reasons to consider ANICO and ANICO NY for your life, annuities and/or pension business. Please see attached. Note: IUL, Index Annuities, Whole Life and Pensions not available in NY. Underwriting Strengths Please see attached to find common rates for common afflictions.
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New-series UL Guard and SUL Guard coming April 27 Illustrations available April 13, transition timeline and rules outlined. MassMutual will introduce new-series UL Guard and SUL Guard products on April 27 that have higher premiums than the current products. These products were last repriced in January 2014. Since that time, new-money interest rates have dropped significantly, causing many competitors to reprice their products, while others have exited the no-lapse universal life market altogether. Following is an overview of the transition timeline and rules. Transition timeline April 13 - New-series products available in MassMutual Designs:
- The repriced versions will be added directly below the current versions in the product list and will include “available for sale 4/27” in the product name.
- The January 2014 series sales illustration report cover page will remind users that “The last day to submit applications for this product is April 24, 2015. A new version of this product will be available April 27, 2015.”
April 24 - Last day to complete application data entry (ADE) for the current series products. A formal application must be submitted. Informal underwriting inquiries do not create a qualification for the January 2014 series rates.
April 27 - First day to complete ADE for the new-series products.
- Old-series products remain available in MassMutual Designs for producers to run their own revised illustrations for applications and policies in the pipeline. Under no circumstances should producers show January 2014 series presentations generated after April 24 to prospects and clients for new applications/sale submissions. Applications submitted after April 24 will not be accepted for the January 2014 series products regardless of the illustration version submitted.
April 28 - Last day for current-series product applications to be received in good order at the home office. Otherwise, the new rates will be applied.
July 24 - Last day for all pending UL Guard and SUL Guard policies with the January 2014 rates to be issued and reported. Otherwise, the new rates will be applied.
July 31 - Last day field associates can run their own revised presentations for the January 2014 series products.
Transition rules Face-amount increases - Effective April 25, face-amount increases on January 2014 series UL Guard and SUL Guard will not be allowed on:
- Issued UL Guard and SUL Guard policies regardless of whether the initial premium has been reported.
- Submitted, pending or approved UL Guard or SUL Guard applications in New Business or Underwriting.
Plan changes - Effective April 25, any application or policy plan cannot be changed to a January 2014 series UL Guard or SUL Guard product regardless of submission or issue date. Only new series UL Guard and SUL Guard products are available.
Final day to issue and report January 2014 series policies - January 2014 series rates will be unavailable for any UL Guard or SUL Guard applications not issued or policies not reported by July 24. Only new-series UL Guard and SUL Guard rates will be available after July 24.
- Policies awaiting 1035 exchange proceeds from another policy are exempt from the July 24 deadline. (The policy must be issued by July 24 to be eligible for the exemption.)
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Life Choice UL WITHDRAWAL Life Choice UL will be withdrawn for new sales and conversions. New Banner or William Penn applications received no later than April 10, 2015 and applications currently pending, will be honored if approved. Applications received after April 10, 2015 will be returned.
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AGL/USL Retail Rate Announcement Effective April 13, 2015, the rates will change for the following product: American Pathway SolutionsMYG.
There are no changes to the American Pathway Fixed 5 Annuity, American Pathway Fixed 5 Plus Annuity, American Pathway Fixed 7, American Pathway Fixed 6, Power Index Choice, and Power Index 7.
The American Pathway Set Rate has been removed from this announcement. This product has been discontinued effective April 6, 2015.
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Genworth 2015 Cost of Care Survey Reliable data. Customized plans. Confident clients. Your clients need the latest long term care (LTC) cost data to help build personalized plans. Now it's here: the Genworth 2015 Cost of Care Survey. It's the industry's most comprehensive look at more than 15,000 long term care providers across 440 cities and regions. This new suite of materials can help you confidently explain potential LTC costs to your clients, from homemaker services, to adult daycare, to private nursing home rooms. Clients will see what care could cost them in their hometown, their planned retirement spot, or even where their kids live. And that could be just the encouragement they need to get started on their LTC plan.
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Accordia’s NEW Lifetime Foundation When compared to Accordia's other Indexed UL death benefit protection product, Life Provider, Lifetime Foundation is the less expensive product and provides premiums that are 10% lower on average; but, as expected, Life Provider has better cash accumulation. Tip for Illustrating: Regardless of the interest rate assumption, when running $1 CSV @ maturity solves, we noted many cases where Lifetime Foundation falls below the minimum premium threshold; this throws off the illustration by trying to force in more premium. It is best to solve for the "minimum premium" instead of a "cash value target" to maximize its performance and keep half death benefit guarantee in place. CLICK HERE to view Lifetime Foundation vs. Life Provider
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New Rx For Success eKit We've created an eKit for fast access to some of our most popular 'Rx for Success' topics. UL Protector with the BenefitAccess Rider - Flexible Death Benefit Options for Chronic and Terminal Illness As a caretaker to her ailing father, Margie comes to realize the financial demands families may endure due to the chronic or terminal illness of an aging parent. Thus, she does not want her children to worry about insufficient funds if she becomes chronically ill or dies prematurely. Margie's financial professional provided her with a solution that could help meet either of these needs through the repriced 2015 UL Protector with the BenefitAccess Rider.
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NEW: Upload Outstanding Requirement Documents via our Website Document upload capabilities are now available via the Outstanding Requirements tab in the Book of Business section of the AXA Distributors website. Through this feature, you have the ability to upload required new business supporting documents via a web-based application. This allows you to submit documents related to many outstanding requirements – replacements, HIPAA, Notice & Consent forms, etc. – directly via our website rather than sending them to the AXA Service Center by fax, mail or email.
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Enhanced Customer Service for Term Policies in Grace Effective April 15, 2015, the Lincoln Customer Service Department will proactively call Lincoln LifeElements® Level Term (2013) policyowners (in the second policy year) whose policies have been in grace for 15 days and are in danger of lapsing. This enhanced customer service effort is being piloted to ensure our customers are not unintentionally left without coverage and to help preserve our agent's book of business. This is in addition to the standard written communications for policies entering grace.
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Refreshed Preferred Underwriting Criteria In an effort to help you more easily determine which of your applicants may qualify for Preferred or Super Preferred classes, we've refined and retooled our Preferred underwriting criteria using a more traditional knock-out method. CLICK HERE for the refreshed Accelerated Underwriting Checklist
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IUL TransWare® Improvements TransWare® has been updated to enhance TransNavigatorSM functionality. The streamlined version is designed to increase efficiency. Make Sure Customers Are Covering Their Bases With Spring comes the beginning of baseball. Help clients scout for the right insurance, whether that's term-where most people enter the game-or Index Universal Life. Feel free to share this article with customers so they, too, can make the dive into coverage. Life Insurance: Your Legacy of Love Telling a story is a powerful and scientifically backed strategy for engaging your audience. When properly executed, it can help you increase your sales. Whether you're engaging your producers or, through them, current and potential customers, curating and sharing insightful content can grow your audience and your business. This powerful video can help both you and producers start conversations online and in person with key customers. Operations Tip: Handle Multiple Applicants with Ease When submitting documents for multiple applicants at once, include a separator page between the documents for each applicant to expedite processing. This way it's clear in which applicant file the document should be placed. Another option is transmitting each applicant's information separately. Both options will prevent any information from getting lost or misfiled.
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Athene Ascent Now Available in CT, DE, MS, OH, and VA Athene Ascent is now available in Connecticut, Delaware, Mississippi, Ohio and Virginia! Athene Ascent fixed indexed annuities offer:- Up to a 3% instant Premium Bonus
- 5- and 10-year products, plus a 10-year Bonus product
- Fixed strategy, plus four indexed strategies, including cap and no cap options
Income Preferred Application Deadlines Income Preferred fixed indexed annuities will be retired in states where Athene Ascent is available. - Income Preferred applications with cash received by Athene no later than 4 pm Central time on May 15, 2015, will be issued as applied for.
- Income Preferred non-cash applications (e.g. 1035 exchanges, IRA rollovers) received by Athene no later than 4 pm Central time on May 15, 2015, will be issued as applied for, if funds are received by Athene no later than 4 pm Central time June 26, 2015.
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Madison Brokerage is Your Life, LTC, Annuity and DI Resource
Single Source Capability™ and proud to be an industry leader in
customer service, technology, and product distribution
You have your clients' backs, we have yours
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