Tomorrow’s Security

Instructor UIE Phone (253) 846-1155 Email mail@uiece.com

Course Overview This course is designed for the life agent. It is generally accepted that what individuals financially do today affects their standard of living tomorrow. While we all accept that each of us should be saving part of our wages to fund our standards of living in the future, too few people actually achieve sufficient savings. Tomorrow’s Security examines the many things that can be done to provide a sufficient income and standard of living following our retirements. It would be nice if we could simply buy an annuity or pay off debt and all our financial problems would be solved, but that is not the reality. There are many elements that contribute to a sound financial plan. This course looks at all the elements involved. While it is possible for an agent to present and sell life insurance, annuities, and long-term care products without having knowledge on financial planning, pensions, and other aspects of a full financial plan, he or she will not be as effective as necessary for planning for retirement and other future goals. It comes down to whether we want agents to just make a few commissions while selling insurance or whether we prefer agents that fully understand their financial planning role and have the ability to be as asset to the buyer. Since this course is geared towards insurance agents, it does, of course, involve insurance products, such as life insurance and annuities. However, agents must also understand other aspects that affect how life insurance and annuities should be applied. Without knowledge of how these products interact with other financial planning tools, agents cannot apply insurance products effectively. No matter how good an insurance product is, if it is applied inappropriately, then the premium dollars spent have been wasted.

Course Schedule

Chapter	Subject	Description
Chapter 1	Obtaining Appropriate Education	Tomorrow’s Security first looks at getting not only required state-mandated education, but also education in other areas that will benefit clients. Agents who understand inflation, for example, will also understand how insurance products can effectively be applied. Education is always the foundation of a successful career, whether that career is insurance or something else.
Chapter 2	Planning for Tomorrow	Chapter two looks at the elements involved in setting up the financial foundation. This includes Social Security, pensions, annuities, wills, and setting up the relationships between these to maximize their effectiveness. Later chapters will look at the details; chapter two is merely the introduction to their proper use.
Chapter 3	Determining Financial Requirements	It would be impossible to make a life insurance recommendation without knowing a few facts. Chapter three looks at the information necessary to allow sufficient recommendations to be made by agents that are based on the individual’s personal life. Blind recommendations are seldom efficient use of premium dollars, so obtaining particular information is necessary. That is why many states actually mandate agents to obtain specific information prior to placing products.
Chapter 4	Retirement Income	Retirement income from pensions and other employer-generated programs often determines the types of insurance products that make sense. For example, if an employer supplied sufficient life insurance (which is very unlikely), then it may not be necessary for the employee to buy additional life insurance from an agent. The agent would only know this if he or she was provided with the information on existing life insurance policies. Likewise, it is necessary for agents to understand how much income will be generated by pensions so that other recommendations take this into account.
Chapter 5	Pensions
Chapter 6	Annuities	Chapter six looks at annuities and chapter seven looks at life insurance. Both topics are important when planning for retirement. The various types of annuities are examined, since some are right for the retiree while others may not be.
Chapter 7	Life Insurance	Chapter seven on life insurance is brief since retirees are less likely to need life insurance, but more likely to need long-term care insurance. Therefore, long-term care insurance, chapter eight, is discussed in detail. This chapter, containing 47 pages of information, contains all the required information for Partnership plans and traditional long-term care policies. It is detailed regarding policy elements and would not be recommended for new agents due to its complexity.
Chapter 8	Long-Term Care Insurance	Chapter eight examines long-term care policies.
Chapter 9	Planning Tools	Chapter 9 looks at financial planning tools. Although agents are not involved in non-insurance products, insurance is part of financial planning in general, so agents must be aware of other financial tools. Agents must be aware of how wills, living trusts, joint ownership of property, and other items affect the use of life insurance, annuities, and long-term care products. Insurance producers cannot be effective without this knowledge.
Chapter 10	Cyber Insurance	Chapter 10 covers a new insurance area: Cyber Insurance. This is the new insurance kid on the block, but it will become a primary area of insurance coverage in the coming years. Insurance professionals will be asked for recommendations at an increasing rate as homes and businesses, and individuals are affected by cyber-crime.
Chapter 11	Insurance Ethics	Chapter 11 is an extensive look at today’s ethics for insurance agents. Insurance agents are being asked to know continually more regarding all types of insurance products, and how those products apply or do not effectively apply. There will be increasing lawsuits against agents who lack the knowledge to effectively present insurance products. Many lawsuits will be filed due to agent ignorance, not malice. In today’s world, agents must be educated as a form of lawsuit protection.

Additional Information

This course is not approved for partnership LTC requirements. It is approved for continuing education.