Why retiring is about more than money

By D. Scott Brennan

The difficult part of retirement for a lot of successful people doesn’t concern money. It’s about the perceived loss of importance. It’s a blow to their ego. A lot of intelligent people never see this life phase on the horizon, but if you gently point this out to clients and talk about it, you’ll separate yourself from the herd of other financial advisors.

For someone on the life insurance side of being a financial advisor, managing relationships is probably more important than managing money. Relationships will put you in the human nature business. Some relationships are with people who want to retire or who are already retired, and most of us can figure the rate of return on money. However, the rate of return on your relationships with people is exponential. Math has no emotion, but people do.

Mindsets

People who are comfortable in their own skin seem to adapt best to retirement. But the higher up a person has gone in their career, the harder it will be to leave. Remember, most of us have had a front-row seat to a lot of great examples of how to retire. If clients are struggling with this, pick up the phone, wish them well, take them out for lunch. What most people want from other human beings is kindness. Abundance is a state of mind. We don’t always need more, but we need each other, and that will be enough. It always has been.

How are you sleeping?

If a client looks like they might be struggling and you ask if everything is OK, they probably aren’t going to open up to you all the time. However, if you ask how they are sleeping, most of the time they will tell you what’s bothering them. This type of intuitive behavior, called active empathy, is valuable in our profession.

Tapping into empathy and wisdom

First, you’re young. Then, you’re middle-aged. Then, you’re wonderful. Be age appropriate and enjoy the wisdom that comes with it. Make a retired person’s day and give them a sincere compliment. Older people, and even middle-aged people, tend to be overlooked and marginalized by society and the media. Young people look at us some days like we’re invisible. I have the same hands and the same feet. However, my heart and brain have grown because of the Million Dollar Round Table.

D. Scott Brennan, of South Bend, Indiana, USA, is a 41-year MDRT member and an MDRT Past President. Contact him at scbrennan@financialguide.com.

Overcoming 4 common reasons why people don’t buy insurance

By Zilia Tam

Sometimes due to preconceived ideas, prospects and clients think they do not need life insurance or other types of coverage and reject the financial services advisors who approach them. Seven-year MDRT member Lee Oi Tung, of Kowloon, Hong Kong, China, provides reasons for why you might experience this lack of interest in insurance, and what to do about it.

1. Failure to understand the proposal’s importance and value. Sometimes clients lack sufficient understanding about relevant insurance policies and what those coverages can do for them and their loved ones.

What you can do: Provide clients with additional information. Before offering suggestions, though, fully understand the contents of insurance plans and other relevant market information, so you can respond with well-prepared answers to clients’ questions. This helps clients feel more confident in taking out insurance, Lee said.

2. Lack of perceived urgency to insure. If clients have a false sense of optimism and think that they will never be in an accident or suffer a serious illness, they will ignore the need to buy insurance.

What you can do: Share stories and information. Lee had recommended a critical illness insurance plan to a 27-year-old client who, like other young clients, believed he was too young to suffer from a serious illness and did not want to buy insurance. Lee, however, kept in touch with him and regularly shared practical information, such as the waiting times for admission into public and private hospitals and cancer statistics, to make him aware of the importance of purchasing critical illness insurance. After a few months, the client bought the insurance.

3. Lack of confidence in financial advisors. This is especially true when life insurance agents and financial advisors contact potential and new clients.

What you can do: Lee suggests understanding a client’s background, expectations, financial situation, needs and beliefs before providing suggestions and plans for clients to choose from.

4. Fear of having an orphan policy. Clients may be concerned that if their life insurance agent quits, then their inquiries, compensation, renewal and other matters will not be managed, and they will lose protection. They won’t take advice from a new advisor they don’t have confidence in.

What you can do: More time and sincerity are required for advisors to establish a professional and reliable image to increase client confidence. Build a relationship by sending holiday greetings, checking in regularly and offering advice at the appropriate times. This approach takes patience and time though. Meanwhile, “reach out to other new prospects to build your experience and improve the possibility of future clients,” Lee said.

Always maintain a positive and sincere attitude, she added. Even if the client is initially wary, the advisor should continue to show they truly care about them to increase their confidence in the advisor.

Zilia Tam writes for Team Lewis, a communications agency assisting MDRT with content development for Asia-Pacific markets. Contact mdrteditorial@teamlewis.com.

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