Articles

by Sam Barnett Look, life insurance IS a protection product, no argument there. So when it powers a COLI strategy, folks naturally file the whole thing under “protection.” And honestly, that’s not wrong. But here’s the question I’d ask: protection from what? An untimely death? Or from success?  Yes, COLI can address real business risks: […]

by Sam Barnett Many folks try to open a dialogue about important things with questions that can be answered with just a single word. That’s poor design. In the case of financial advisors and insurance agents specifically, client discovery conversations need to be open-ended. The more you can get clients to share with you about their full financial picture, the easier it is to identify and troubleshoot for them.   Think about it. “Have you thought about life insurance?” Is easy to deflect and easy to forget

by Sam Barnett You and your client’s legal team could have just designed the most elegant asset protection plan in the country—irrevocable trusts, a Domestic Asset Protection Trust parked in a friendly state, an LLC wrapped around every venture, maybe even a lawful offshore structure—and still lose it all because of a form they filled out years ago and never

by Sam Barnett The Short Answer is “Probably” Disability insurance is often treated like a box to check. You get a policy through work, you enroll, and that’s the end of the conversation.  “I’ve got coverage through my employer—I’m good.”  And to be fair, that might be true. However, just because you have coverage doesn’t mean it’s enough. More importantly, it doesn’t mean it will

In a recent episode of the Disruption/Interruption podcast, Covr CMO Mark Forman joined host Karla Jo Helms to pull back the curtain on a $2 trillion industry that has been slow to change. Mark and KJ share a candid, data-driven conversation about why permanent life insurance moves slowly and how the status quo isn’t just inconvenient. It’s preventing some folks from getting coverage, and possibly putting families at risk.  A $12

by Sam Barnett Life Insurance Retirement Plans (LIRPs) are oversold in our industry. I’ve seen them positioned in too many situations as a replacement for qualified plans, or sold to people who don’t have the cash flow, don’t have the liquidity, or frankly don’t even have a real protection need. It’s inappropriate in those situations.  But here’s the part that gets lost in the noise: Just because something is oversold doesn’t mean it’s not valuable

by Sam Barnett In a February blog that went viral, Citrini Research predicted that not only will AI replace us, but the impact of this replacement event will ripple through the global economy in some devastating ways. Meanwhile, career coaches and breathless LinkedIn influencers are feeding the algorithm–preaching that workers should embrace AI and level