| My Guest Author for Blog #97 |
| Mark Pace, CLU, RHU, ChFC, |
| President, ObjectiView, Inc. |
| “The value you create by charging fees is worth far more than the fees themselves.” |
At InsMark’s recent Symposium that I attended, President Bob Ritter asked how many of the 140+ advanced planners in the audience charged ongoing monitoring fees for their clients’ financial plans and strategies including:
- In-force policies;
- Executive benefit plans;
- Premium financing cases;
- Wealthy and Wise® evaluations.
A handful of the attendees indicated they charged such fees for some of their services. Throughout the meeting, I asked several who didn’t, why not? The most common answer was the commissions they received seemed to preclude their asking for additional fees.
Below are my thoughts on using InsMark’s Wealthy and Wise System as the basis for charging fees for a variety of monitoring services provided by you. (Bob Ritter tells me he will be providing examples of this in next week’s Blog #98 which will include fees built into the cash flow modeling.)
| Charging Annual Fees for Wealthy and Wise® |
| and |
| Managing Life Insurance Performance |
The opportunity to charge fees is mixed:
- Some have the ability to pull such fees out in this manner;
- Others can charge fees but have to be paid directly by their clients;
- Others are prohibited from charging fees of any sort.
The Asset Under Management Industry did not take off until it was figured out how to make it painless to pay for the service. When drawing fees directly from the funds under management, the industry began its meteoric ascent.
Advisers have to figure out which group they are in and check state/federal broker dealer and insurance company compliance.
The net worth and cash flow modeling that Wealthy and Wise provides is one of the best financial planning tools in the market place. In and of itself, it delivers tremendous value to the client. Moreover, when advisers update it annually, they deliver that tremendous value year after year.
However, until advisers have sold themselves on the value proposition of charging fees, they will avoid them -- resulting in their financial detriment or in reduced service to clients. That is why advisers must be encouraged to believe the value they will create is worth far more than the fees they can charge.
Virtually everyone using Wealthy and Wise® is using life insurance as a core component of each client’s financial plan. Since 1979 and the advent of universal life-type products, the vast majority of life insurance sold has been a buy and manage asset . . . not a buy and hold asset. Since then, each policy has been created with its own unique performance rights. These rights must be constantly managed if we wish the policy to perform as it was originally projected (and sold). (Click here to review my position paper on this subject: Crossing the Great Divide.)
The performance management of life insurance by itself - like annual Wealthy and Wise reviews - merits a fee because the work is not easy, requires considerable expertise and delivers significant value. Putting life insurance management together with an annual update of Wealthy and Wise creates a tremendously powerful value proposition.
Not only that, by going back to your clients consistently, and supplying this type of information, you are creating and maintaining a major differentiator that will not only reap you the added fees, but also provide you with strong referrals and new sales from existing clients.