We look forward to the Van Mueller newsletter every month. It's chock-full of sound bites, sales tips, and eye-opening statistics. Here are our favorite parts of the July 2023 edition. We're sharing the full introduction, and 2 of the 7 monthly sales ideas. If you like what you read, we encourage you to click here and become a subscriber.
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July 2023 – 7 Ideas and Views Newsletter by Van Mueller
June newsletter clarification. I was very proud of my June newsletter as it is filled with so much ammunition for having wonderful conversations with your prospects and clients. There are dozens and dozens of conversation starters that will help you endeavor to get an appointment with anyone, anywhere or anytime you want an appointment with someone.
I was also proud of June's newsletter, because I was hoping it would change your perspective and maybe create some different thinking about multiple issues that have not been given enough consideration to.
Most Americans feel that the biggest economic issues they will face in the future are taxes, outliving their money, loss of benefits and volatility.
I believe we have understated far more dangerous economic challenges: Such as dying too soon, long term care and the silent killer called inflation.
Having said all of the above, I worried the entire month that readers of this newsletter may have misunderstood what I was trying to say. Worse yet, I worried that I might not have done a good enough job of explaining the point I was trying to make. If so, my apologies. I felt I had done a magnificent job of adding an enormous number of additional tools that you could use to inspire your prospects and clients to take action. I realized after reading my own newsletter 20 times that I wanted to make several clarifications.
First, I do not believe mathematically that higher taxes, lower benefits, volatility and running out of income in retirement are as serious of an economic challenge as dying too soon, long-term care and inflation will be for the American people in the future.
Having said that, here is where I became concerned that I had not made myself clear enough. When marketing to the American people to endeavor to get an appointment, we must use what THEY, our prospect or client thinks is of vital concern. According to every survey, taxes, running out of income in retirement and loss or reduction of Social Security and Medicare benefits in retirement are easily the most important concerns of the American people.
Taxes, running out of income in retirement, and loss or reduction of Social Security and Medicare benefits in retirement are easily the most important concerns of the American people.
Mathematically, they shouldn't be the most important economic concerns: Emotionally, they are the most important concerns for our customers.
In order to increase your appointments, you must be skilled at using emotional questions about taxes, running out of income in retirement and reductions or losses of Social Security, Medicare and other health care benefits.
Why must you become skilled at the above three issues? Wouldn't it be so you could get more appointments? Let's talk about those issues or challenges a little.
Taxes
You must ALWAYS start conversations with everyone using questions about taxes. Why? Because we are the ONLY industry with a competitive advantage when it comes to taxes. We sell the only products that allow you to pay your taxes now on the original investment and at a later date withdraw both principal and all the gains, income tax free. In essence, we can provide triple compounding. Interest on principal, interest on interest, and interest on the taxes we would have paid in a taxable investment.
You must ALWAYS start conversations with everyone using questions about taxes.
Americans hate taxes. Last month I provided you an article that shared that 51 percent of Americans even thought they were unfair.
Will taxes increase in the future? Of course, they will. However, can they increase enough to deal with the tremendous unfunded liabilities being promised by governments? Not even close. Even if we raised taxes to 100 percent for everyone, we do not have enough money. As I said last month, I believe the government will have an almost impossible task just to raise taxes to 50 percent. Don't misunderstand: You must still use higher taxes in the future as a door opener, because that is what the majority of the American people believe will happen. I was trying to show you that mathematically there are much higher considerations to plan for.
Running Out Of Income In Retirement
As I am writing this, a brand-new survey has shared that for retirees, their number one concern is living longer than their money: It outranks every other issue.
Last month, the point I was trying to make was that mathematically this is not as serious of an issue as dying too soon, long-term care and inflation. Social Security will not end. In fact, I don't believe it will be reduced. More than 100 million people would be affected by such a reduction and those recipients will never allow a politician to reduce their benefits.
Also, when our customers’ assets diminish, we can still buy straight life annuities that pay increased yields for as long as our customers live.
When our customers’ assets diminish, we can still buy straight life annuities that pay increased yields for as long as our customers live.
Again, I do not wish to mislead you and I don't want you to misunderstand me. Are prospects and clients' concerns about higher taxes and running out of income in retirement more EMOTIONAL than they are a reality? Of course, they are. The math proves it however, will I get more appointments using those two EMOTIONAL issues as my door openers? There is no doubt.
When you ask someone if they had a choice between being rich or never ever being poor, why do 95 percent choose never to be poor? Emotionally, people cannot allow themselves to even be seen as poor. Even more powerful, what if they once were poor? I can remember to this day being poor. It is vivid in my mind. I can remember going without eating for days. I never want to be poor again. So, if you asked me if you could show me a way that even if I ran out of money, that I would never run out of income, don’t you think, even if I didn't do anything, that at the very least, I would want to know how that could be done?
Based on the most current surveys, even if I knew your intention was to try and sell me something, wouldn't the question and the answer to that question be so powerful that I would give you an appointment even though I knew you were going to try and sell me something?
Questions that strike at the EMOTIONAL hearts of our prospects and clients are what get us our appointments.
Questions that strike at the EMOTIONAL hearts of our prospects and clients are what get us our appointments.
Do you think it's fair that you did everything that was asked of you by our government? Didn't you work hard? You lived within your means. You saved using the tax deferred retirement vehicles developed for you by our country. Didn't you build a life that allowed you to stand on your own two feet in retirement? Didn't these savings vehicles allow you to build a legacy that could be used by you and your family for generations? And now, they are telling you that they want to take from you much of your legacy to take care of most of the people who were not willing to do what you did. Do you think that is fair? Do you want to allow that to happen, or do you want to take CONTROL while you still can decide and determine how much the government and Internal Revenue Service will take from you and your family to take care of the majority who were not willing to do what you did for you and your family? Are you going to let them or are you going to stop them? Which do you choose?
Now, I have that conversation multiple times a day because it elicits an emotional response.
The same emotional response is derived from questions about outliving your money. Do you want to be an elderly gentleman or an old man? Do you want to be a dignified woman or a bag lady? What's the difference? Isn't it money? Do you want to run out of money before you run out of month? All these questions paint a word picture that will elicit an emotional response both verbally and mentally. That is the goal of the questions. We want emotionally involved prospects and clients. We want to dramatically increase our appointments. The two hottest emotional levers we can use are, will taxes be higher in the future, and do you want to pay those higher taxes? And what would it be like to outlive your money? How would these issues make you FEEL? You want an emotional response. You want to inspire them to take action. You should be developing as many questions as you can about those two issues. Here are a few suggestions. Start with yourself. What would you want someone to ask you about those two issues that would make you take action? Then ask your spouse and any other family members available. Then ask all your friends what they would want someone to ask them about those two issues. It will start a conversation with surprising results. Finally, literally go to everyone of your customers and ask them what someone should ask them about those two issues of higher taxes and running out of income in retirement that would inspire them to take action. When they ask you why you are asking, explained that several very recent surveys revealed, over and over again that those were the two issues people in retirement were most worried about and you want to do the best you can for your clients, and you were concerned you were not focused enough on those two issues. Explain that it would help you do a better job advising if this were truly the case, and you were hoping they would share their opinion with you.
We want emotionally involved prospects and clients. We want to dramatically increase our appointments.
The surprising outcome of this strategy will be wonderful conversations about two of the most important issues retirees feel they have to face and you will also learn how to increase the emotional responses of prospects by going through this process with existing customers.
In essence, this is PRACTICE. This is successful practice that makes you much better in a very short amount of time. You will easily learn to have conversations with anyone, anywhere, anytime about these two EMOTIONAL issues.
Last month, I was helping you to increase the power of those two emotional issues by sharing my concerns that we weren't focusing enough on what I believe are the three most vital issues
- Dying too soon
- Long term care
- Inflation (The stealth tax)
These issues can be used to reinforce the emotional considerations of higher taxes and running out of income in retirement, or they can add additional layers of emotion making a more powerful conversation or a bigger challenge for the customer to address.
Please don't misunderstand; dying too soon and long-term care and inflation have their own emotional considerations. However, media has not elevated their emotional duress at a matching level to higher taxes and running out of income in retirement. They eventually will, but they haven't yet. You will actually be ahead of the game with your customers. You will be addressing for them, something media has not yet amplified to its proper position or consideration. The discussions of these three additional issues broadens the discussion and in many cases to the areas our customers haven't even considered yet. Ask them If there was a strategy that could give consideration to ALL those issues with the same dollar, wouldn't they at the very least want to know about that strategy? Now you are proposing strategies rather than products. This discussion really elevates you in the eyes of prospects and clients.
You will actually be ahead of the game with your customers. You will be addressing something media has not yet amplified to its proper position or consideration.
Just a quick review. The math easily verifies that the issues that could destroy lives are dying too soon, long term care and the stealth tax of inflation.
Dying Too Soon
Debt signals the need for life insurance. The more debt families and businesses have, the more danger they are in if the primary breadwinner dies too soon. Because of current economic conditions, debt is increasing dramatically. Mortgages are bigger. Automobiles cost much more. Food prices have increased dramatically, and healthcare costs have become enormous. More and more Americans are being forced to use credit or credit cards even for daily essentials.
If the primary breadwinner dies too soon, these families and businesses are in serious trouble. We must have this conversation with all our customers or they will be put in a precarious financial predicament that almost no one thinks about. Most people never think about dying too soon. It is our job to make sure they give consideration to that very issue.
Long Term Care
This is an issue that can destroy families both emotionally and financially. If you do the math, by 2030 there will be almost 80 million people over age 65, with millions and millions more on the way. Additionally, it is forecast that 85 percent of these retirees will require long term care. Add to that information some additional math. Last year, 7000 nursing homes went bankrupt. It is predicted that 7000 more will go bankrupt because of the low reimbursements by government for recipients on Medicaid. That leaves only 7000 nursing homes remaining and they are having difficulty securing enough staff.
According to AARP, one out of every five Americans is an unpaid caregiver. This is a family member, most often the woman, and this number will increase exponentially as more and more Americans retire.
One out of every five Americans is an unpaid caregiver. This number will increase exponentially as more and more Americans retire.
Even if the recipient of the care can pay the female caregiver, when the person receiving care dies, there is usually no legacy and many times they run out of money and can no longer pay. Not having that second income many times destroys the economic stability of the caregiver’s family.
Instead of keeping money in a CD, savings account, money market, short term bond fund or checking account, if the money is reallocated to a cash value life insurance policy, you now have leverage to use against this family challenge. If all the money is not used and a salary is paid to a family caregiver, the legacy benefit or death benefit replenishes the money used. If they run out of money during life, they still can use the death benefit to help mitigate the economic damage done to the caregiver and their family. Cash value life insurance is a win-win asset.
Inflation - The Stealth Tax
I am working very hard to inspire the industry to see what an awful and devastating economic challenge this is. Inflation will become even more destructive in the future. It is essentially a way to tax everyone, with very few Americans truly understanding the damage being done to the purchasing power of their money.
Inflation will impact the rich in a dramatic way. Many millionaires will not have millionaire purchasing power in less than a decade's time. At seven percent inflation, if your assets are $10 million, they will only have $5 million of purchasing power in a decade. Upper middle class, middle class and the poor will feel the effects greatly. Remember, according to wage statistics provided by the Social Security actuary, 68 percent of Americans make less than $54,000 annually and 50 percent of Americans make less than $35,000 annually. Reducing the purchasing power of two-thirds of Americans impoverishes them. Leveraging up every safe asset, we could create money for these families to replace their lost purchasing power.
Many millionaires will not have millionaire purchasing power in less than a decade's time.
This presentation should be given to every grandmother and grandfather in America. They must be shown that cash value life insurance can replace savings accounts and money markets and CD’s, and still provide safe money returns with access to that money, and leverage that can make $50,000 look like $75,000, $90,000 or even $100,000 at death.
We sell pennies that buy dollars and dollars that can do the work of many dollars at the same time.
I believe these three issues are the mathematical giants we will have to understand and then accept the challenge to take advantage of these issues rather than be hurt by them.
Please remember, use higher taxes and running out of income in retirement as the emotional issues that the American public is currently tuned into to increase appointments. Use the additional three issues I have been sharing with you to increase your success in those appointments.
I practice questions so I am conversational enough about those three issues so I can even use those less emotional issues to create more appointments. We will review many of those questions the rest of this year.
Let's get started with this month's sales ideas.
Idea #1: Milliman Medical Index
Every May the actuarial firm Milliman shares an index called the “Milliman Medical Index.” They share the cost of health care for a family of four and the costs for an average individual.
This year, the average healthcare costs for a family of four reached $31,065. For the average individual, the amount increased to $7,221. Think about this: According to the Chief Social Security actuary, 69 percent of Americans make less than $58,129. And, 50 percent of Americans make less than $38,000 annually. Most Americans can’t afford quality health care.
How can you effectively use this information? Share this information with every grandmother and grandfather in America and share with them that their legacy won't be wasted on foolish things. It will make sure that their children and grandchildren will be able to afford access to quality health care in the future. You could protect your family's health even after you are gone. I have had this conversation with customers many times. It works.
Title: Milliman Medical Index: Healthcare costs exceed $31,000 for hypothetical American family of four
https://www.prnewswire.com/ (PR Newswire, May 30, 2023)
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/milliman-medical-index-healthcare-costs-exceed-31-000-for-hypothetical-american-family-of-four-301836834.html
Idea #3: Americans Want More Annuities
The American Council of Life Insurance provided information that should be very reassuring to agents and financial professionals who sell annuities.
People who own annuities want more annuities, and two-thirds of Americans who don't own annuities want annuities. What great information?
Title: Americans With Annuities Want More Annuities: Survey
https://www.thinkadvisor.com/ (Think Advisor, May 30, 2023)
https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2023/05/30/americans-with-annuities-want-more-annuities-acli-survey/
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