In this issue of InsurMark Insights, we are sharing insight ambitious advisors need to help build more successful, sustainable, retirement income practices. Connect with your Advisor Development Consultant today to learn more!
Summer 2022
“ Based on current estimates,
In this issue of InsurMark Insights, we are sharing insight ambitious advisors need to help build more successful, sustainable, retirement income practices. Highlights include: • Index Strategies: the rules of the game have changed. Laurence Black explains what you should do differently.
a high-earning, healthy man who claims Social Security at age 62 could expect to receive at least $458,038 by claiming now… Wait until age 70? The present value of Social Security benefits would increase to about $549,305, an increase of 2.3% in retirement wealth. — Professor Michael Finke, ThinkAdvisor.com article
• How to answer the $100K question wealthy pre-retirees are asking.
• The secret to increasing revenue 56% (without buying leads).
• Something to talk about: Wealthy investors are taking advantage of Roth conversions.
$100,000 QUESTION What’s the $100,000 question you can answer for wealthy pre-retirees?
Want to capitalize on the $100,000 question and look like a hero? InsurMark has the tools and support you need to make it happen! • The Ultimate Social Security Biz Builder provides a step-by-step plan to guide clients through Social Security planning, along with best-in-class technology
Uneducated investors often claim Social Security the day they retire because they don’t realize the significant impact early claiming can have on retirement wealth, taxes, spousal income and optimizing asset allocation. So, what’s the $100,000 question? Q. If I could do one thing to increase my retirement portfolio by $100K, what would it be? A. If you’re a high-earning pre-retiree with $2.5M+ in your retirement portfolio, strategic claiming of Social Security benefits could increase your wealth by $100K or more. While delayed claiming means forgoing Social Security income until age 70, it does present opportunities to boost retirement wealth, strategically spend down retirement savings, reap tax benefits and reduce risk by investing in fixed income assets.
to streamline your prospecting, nurturing and closing efforts.
• The Social Security Plus App makes it easy to illustrate trade-offs and filing scenarios in real time.
• Our Social Security Plus Office Hours tie everything together.
Ask your ADC for details. >>
“ Practices that connect with their best clients at least monthly have 56% higher gross revenue than those that do not. — Richard Beckel, RBC Wealth Management
SECRET TO INCREASING REVENUE BY 56% WITHOUT BUYING MORE LEADS In the last issue of InsurMark Insights, we discussed why it’s essential to go beyond customer service and provide customers with positive, memorable experiences. Those “experiences”—be it a hand-written note acknowledging birthdays, anniversaries, congratulations on promotion, etc., friendly staff and complimentary food and beverages at your office, tickets to a ballgame or a box of chocolates—encourage prospects to continue on the sales journey with you and share those experiences with friends they refer to you!
are changing—and in a big way. Some expect a major paradigm shift in the markets, while others see volatile markets becoming the norm. What’s going on? Today, we have a war raging in Ukraine, inflation rising at rates unseen in decades, the Fed poised to raise interest rates nine times, and the world order—once primarily dominated by the United States and more recently China—is going multi-polar. Laurence Black, founder of The Index Standard , recently told InsurMark that we may even see China, Russia and India aligning their financial interests and payment systems, not to mention global objectives (neither China nor India supported U.N. sanctions against Russia after it invaded the Ukraine). Major changes in the market mean investor portfolios could be dramatically impacted unless investors make equally significant shifts in the way they structure their portfolios. The good news? Advisors have more tools in their toolboxes than ever before to help clients adjust. Unlike indices of the recent past, which were primarily long AND primarily stock, Black expects to see more innovation in indices moving forward. Black (who decodes indices for a living) believes diversification will be key, which is something bank-managed indexes typically afford. Unlike indices of the recent past, which were primarily long AND primarily stock, Black expects to see more innovation in indices moving forward. This includes cozying up to types of investments that were bad bets in recent years but tend to perform well in a high-inflation environment. He also believes that innovation will provide advisors with more tools to help clients build the diversified portfolios (bonds, cash, real estate, FIAs and stocks) they will need to come out ahead, as profound changes occur in the world and financial markets.
IN LOWERING PERFORMING MARKETS, IT TAKES A DIFFERENT INDEX STRATEGY here’s one example…
3.88%
MARKET PERFORMERS AND POSERS Markets in the next ten years won’t look like they did the last ten years. Which indexes will perform and which will be posers? Indexed products have become essential for the 21st century retirement income planner. Should your expectations for these indexes be changing? In a “best interest” world, what steps should you take before you make an index recommendation? For the past 40 years, we’ve lived in a relatively stable world with peace, globalization and very low inflation. However, most economists and market strategists predict that the tides
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People value experiences over transactions. And the frequency of interactions matters! According to Richard Beckel , leader of practice management at RBC Wealth Management : Practices that connect with their best clients at least monthly have 56% higher gross revenue than those that do not. Need ideas on how to incorporate more experiences and interactions into your practice? We talk about this in our latest Catalyst Office Hours. >>
EXPECTED FORECAST
6.75%
Strong
“
5.56%
Moderate
DEMAND FOR FINANCIAL ADVICE GREW IN 2021
ADVISORS PLAN TO INCREASE MARKETING BUDGETS IN 2022
4.37%
Conservative
59%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Index Standard Data April 2022
33%
What tools do you have to guide those recommendations?
8%
InsurMark is a proud partner with Laurence Black and The Index Standard. Our Advisor Development Consultants can share his industry leading index ratings, analytics and forecasts. Read the article that follows to learn more about Laurence Black and how InsurMark’s partnership with his company The Index Standard can help you help clients maximize their portfolios and retire better. >>
INCREASED
STAYED THE SAME
DECREASED
42% INCREASE
40% SPEND THE SAME
16% SPEND THE SAME BUT REALLOCATE
2% DECREASE
The new reality. Are you positioned for the new reality with inflation, volatility and global reallocation? “The FIA structure should provide stable returns in stressful economic conditions. By combining a principal guarantee with a degress of stock market participation, FIAs offer a risk/reward profile that differs from either bonds or stocks alone. FIA returns have been less correlated to the economy than either bonds or stocks, potentially making them additive to a portfolio mix when added with other assets.”
INDEX STRATEGIES Laurence Black, founder of The Index Standard InsurMark’s Jack Martin recently asked Laurence Black to share insight on the changes he anticipates in the financial markets ( catch the entire podcast here ) and how his company The Index Standard makes it easier for advisors to help clients “generate better returns and retire better” by recommending robust, well-designed indices and forecasting expected returns. JM: Your career in investments and indices spans over two decades, with stints at Barclays, RBS and Lehman Brothers among others. What spurred you to choose that path? LB: I was born in Zimbabwe and my parents moved around to England, Spain and South Africa, so I had a bit of a varied childhood. But when I was a kid, my key characteristic was that I absolutely loved and was obsessed with sports (rugby, field hockey), even to the detriment of my school work. Sports taught me so much, winning, losing and working as a team. I learned a lot of amazing life lessons as well. Later, I bought some options on gold that didn’t do so well. That kind of spurred me to dig in and learn a little more. I’ve always had a general interest in financial markets, and when I finished university I was lucky enough to go to London and become a bond trader at a big investment bank. That really kick started my career. JM: You founded The Index Standard in 2019. What was your motivation for launching the firm? LB: As a kid I always dreamt of owning my own business, that was one of my goals. Five years into my career I thought in the next five years I should break away and start my own business, but the good and the bad is I got sucked into investment banking longer than I expected. I was lucky to have a very successful career, meet amazing people, and work with Professor Schiller but I wished I started my own business sooner. So, I was delighted to found The Index Standard. Of course, I’m trying to build a business but for me, my partner Jay Watson and our team, we have a real mission, and our mission is to help people retire better. Our guiding principle when we’re thinking about designing
a new product—whether it’s a new rating or forecast—is we want to design something we would recommend for our grandmothers, so that’s our North Star. From my point of view, it’s such a wonderful experience to build a business and actually believe we can help people do better, which is really important to me. JM: How does your firm help advisors help their clients through your association with InsurMark? LB: Our objective is to provide valuable tools to help companies like InsurMark and their advisors generate better returns, and we do that by trying to find indices that are robust and well designed, number one. And number two, we help forecast expected returns, so advisors can pick products that will do well. That’s the key thing we do to help people do better. We help advisors find indices that are robust and well designed. And we help forecast expected returns so advisors can pick products that do well.
We also want to arm the advisor with better knowledge so they can have better conversations with their clients. We provide descriptions of the indices and how they work, so the advisor can deliver those insights to their clients. We also want to help advisors have good conversations with their end clients because we don’t want them to have to apologize—we want to help them generate good, diverse and better returns. As I mentioned on the podcast, what we’ve seen generate high returns in the last 10 years is not going to be the same moving forward. It’s a difficult environment, so we’re trying to help people think about the future with our forecasted returns. JM: Your association with famed economist and Nobel Prize winner Robert Schiller is well known. What do you like most about collaborating with him? LB: He’s a Nobel Prize winner and very smart but if he does not understand something, he says “I do not understand that, explain it again and explain it again.” One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned from him is to really dig in and make sure you understand things because a lot of people gloss over things. He is not shy about saying he doesn’t understand something.
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Learn more from Laurence Black on the Breakthrough Advisor Podcast. >>
— Dr. Robert Shiller
Nobel Prize Laureate
THE INDEX STANDARD® INDEX RATINGS 6 HIGH-LEVEL RATINGS TO EACH INDEX FROM PLATINUM TO WATCH
7 CRITICAL CATEGORIES WITH OVER 30 QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE METRICS
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
Transparency Not considered by competitors
Robustness In-depth vs competitors
Risk
Efficiency In-depth vs competitors
Returns
Attractiveness Not considered by competitors
Captial At Risk Not considered by competitors
WEALTHY INVESTORS ARE TALKING Something to talk about… Wealthy investors are taking advantage of Roth conversions. When IRAs came out in the 1970s, average Americans who didn’t have the security of a pension were able to save money for retirement and claim a tax deduction for their contributions to boot. Fast forward to 1997, Roth IRAs were born! While they didn’t offer tax deductions for contributions, they did allow tax-free withdrawals later on. As IRA rules have eased, folks in upper income brackets still can’t contribute directly to a Roth IRA, however they can contribute to a traditional IRA and roll those funds into a Roth IRA later. These backdoor IRAs can help affluent individuals realize significant financial benefits in the form of tax savings. For advisors, talking to affluent clients about IRA rollovers can be a true win-win situation. Ready to light your IRA rollover business on fire? Ask your ADC how InsurMark’s Ultimate Roth Biz Builder can help you get the conversation started and quickly boost revenue for your business. SOCIAL SECURITY DRIES UP By 2033, the Social Security Administration says it will only be able to pay 76% of promised benefits. If this happens, your clients could be facing a loss of over $200,000 in lifetime income. The concern of future reductions of Social Security Benefits is the largest unaddressed fear in retirement planning. Through Insurmark, you now have tools and solutions that empower you to help your clients navigate and address this concern. New Social Security Protection tools and solutions available through Insurmark can help you reconnect with existing clients, attract new assets, and differentiate you from the competition. The world has changed. For 89% of Americans, you can no longer help them successfully plan for their retirement if you don’t protect their Social Security…
Check out the replay below from a recent Social Security Protection tools workshop to learn more about the annuities and rider we offer that specifically address this problem.
Contact an Advisor Development Consultant. >>
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