Life Insurance HQ The Podcast

Earning a living to provide for your family is why you work every day. What would happen if you were not around to do all the things you do and make sure they could still afford their home, school costs, and future?Life insurance can help.

Life insurance policy riders are add-ons to a life insurance policy at issue. They can be added to any newly issued policy. What riders are available will vary by carrier, product, and state. Before adding a policy rider to your life insurance contract make sure you understand how the rider works, what requirements need to be met to use the rider, and what costs are associated with having the rider.Learn more about life insurance policy riders.

Beginning in 2023, ultra-wealthy individuals and families can protect more assets from federal estate taxes with the increased lifetime exemption and annual gifting limits increasing. Learn more at mericleco.com.

Indexed Universal Life Insurance policies have quickly become popular. There are a number of product designs and features that will ultimately impact policy performance.In this episode, we talk about how different multipliers and policy loans can affect how a policy will perform over time.

Join us as we discuss John Hancock and its recent crediting rate increase, along with the recent acquisition of Ohio National by Constellation Insurance Holdings, Inc.We will talk about how different factors can and will likely impact some policy owners.

A Split-Dollar Life Insurance Plan is a sophisticated strategy that can provide benefits to business owners, key employees, and families interested in minimizing gift tax for estate planning purposes.Click here to learn more about split dollar life insurance.

When you apply for life insurance you will typically go through an underwriting process. During this process, the carrier is taking into consideration a number of factors to determine your health class. Your health class, age, and gender are what ultimately determine the cost of coverage. Learn more at mericleco.com or email us at lihq@mericleco.com.

Life insurance is not a one size fits all product. There are many uses of life insurance from income replacement and estate planning to business protection. The use of life insurance is specific to your individual circumstances.This podcast reviews some of those uses and the type of policies available. To learn more please visit us at  https://mericleco.com or email us at lihq@mericleco.com.

When naming a life insurance beneficiary the policy owner should consider several factors ranging from individual circumstances affecting a beneficiary, creditor protection, and any income, estate, or gift tax implications that may arise.Learn more at mericleco.com.

Long-term care is care you may need if you are unable to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). Activities of Daily Living include eating, bathing, dressing, using the bathroom, or getting in and out of bed. The national average monthly cost in 2021 for home-based long-term care services is $5,148, while the average monthly cost of care in a nursing home is $7,908.Standalone long-term care insurance products or life insurance with a long-term care rider can help provide financial assistance to help cover some or all these expenses. Learn more about life insurance with long-term care.

No one likes to think about their own death, much less plan for it. But if you have a high net worth, estate planning is something you shouldn't ignore. Without a solid estate plan in place, your loved ones could be faced with a significant tax bill upon your death. That's why it's so important to start planning now.One way to help protect your loved ones and minimize the estate tax burden is by using life insurance. With life insurance, the proceeds from your policy can be used to help pay the estate tax.

There are several types of different life insurance policies. Life insurance policies can be really simple or extremely complex. Much of this is a function of the type of policy and how it performs.A life insurance policy can be broken down into two broad types of life insurance categories – term life insurance and permanent life insurance.Learn more about types of life insurance policies.

Families with special needs understand the unique challenges and joys that daily life brings. And they realize that special needs extend beyond the everyday.In this episode, we are going to discuss different planning tools that can be used to develop and implement a special needs strategy.

The purpose of an irrevocable life insurance trust or ILIT is to prevent life insurance death benefits from being subject to estate taxes.Life insurance owned by an irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) can be the easiest and most efficient way to pay estate taxes.Learn more at mericleco.com.

Premium financing life insurance is a strategy for high-net-worth families to borrow money to pay for large life insurance premiums. The policy owner (typically an irrevocable trust) borrows money from a third-party lender to make premium payments.Learn more about premium financing life insurance.  The information in this podcast is not intended to be opinions or advice for tax, legal, accounting, or investment advice. Consult with your attorney and/or tax advisor prior to the application of this general information for specific situations.IRC CIRCULAR 230 NOTICE: To the extent this podcast or any information concerns tax matters, it is not intended to be used by a taxpayer to avoid penalties that may be imposed by law.

A term life insurance conversion allows policy owners to convert their existing term coverage to a permanent policy without underwriting.  The health class on the permanent policy will be based on your health class when the original term life insurance policy was issued. If you have had a change to your health and are interested in having coverage last longer a term life insurance conversion can make a lot of sense.Learn more about term life insurance conversions.

In this episode we discuss the different types of universal life insurance coverage to include Current Assumption Universal Life, No Lapse Guaranteed UL, Indexed Universal Life Insurance, and Variable Universal Life Insurance.

Recently we have had a number of inquiries regarding overfunding life insurance for purposes of accumulating additional income in future years. Using a permanent life insurance to create supplemental future income can be a great option for the right individual.In this episode, we discuss some of the key components that should be considered when designing a life insurance policy for accumulation.

A buy-sell arrangement is an agreement between owners of a business to provide instructions as to how the business will be transferred upon the death, disability, or retirement of a shareholder. In this episode, we review some of the more common buy-sell agreements and how they are structured to include the different pros and cons of each. We also discuss the critical role life and disability insurance can play to properly fund a buy-sell agreement.You can visit buy-sell life insurance to learn more.

A life insurance 1035 Exchange can help existing permanent life insurance policy owners move their existing coverage to a new policy and preserve their cost basis and avoid paying ordinary income taxes on any policy gains.The benefits of a 1035 exchange can help policy owners reduce premiums, increase coverage amounts without additional costs, improve existing policy terms, and potentially create future income.Learn more about how a life insurance 1035 exchange works.

Your need for life insurance coverage over time will generally decline as income is earned, debt is paid off, and existing assets grow.Because of this the amount of life insurance coverage you need over time will generally decline. Layering different types of term life insurance coverage allows the insured to reduce their coverage over time based on their changing needs for life insurance protection.

Have you ever wondered how much life insurance you need to make sure your family would be financially protected if something were to happen to you?In this episode, we take a look at what variables to consider when determining your need for life insurance coverage. Once you understand how much coverage you need you can then start exploring what policy or policies would make the most sense to fund the need.You can check out our life insurance calculator at https://mericleco.com/life-insurance-death-benefit-calculator/.

Indexed Universal Life Insurance is quickly becoming a more popular permanent life insurance policy for individuals and families. With that said it can be an extremely confusing product with many different moving parts.In this episode we discuss index segments, segment growth rates, and how Cap Rates, Participation Rates, and Spreads ultimate determine how a policy's cash value is determined.

The 2022 Whole Life Insurance Dividends episode goes over the current 2022 dividend rates for six major life insurance carries, including:GuardianMass MutualNew York LifeNorthwestern MutualOhio NationalPenn MutualWe also review historical dividend rates and how they can impact the performance of whole life insurance current assumptions.Learn more at mericleco.com or email us at lihq@mericleco.com.

In the inaugural episode of Life Insurance HQ the Podcast we talk about upcoming predictions and trends for the life insurance industry in 2022. We discuss what we have seen happening and how they could impact policy owners in the future and what policy owners can do to protect themselves.

Coming Soon!Life Insurance HQ Podcast is excited to launch in January 2022!