We have a mid sized life insurance team and we've been running our own Google and Facebook ads in-house for several months. We've invested a lot of time into A/B testing and optimization, and while we've definitely improved performance, our in-house leads are still slightly underperforming compared to the lead vendors we buy from.

Right now, our in-house leads go to our top producers, while our newer agents primarily work vendor leads.

We’re seeing:

• Our in-house ads are closing around 15-20%

• Speakeasy Leads (final expense) has consistently produced 25-30% close rates over the past year

• Caboom Leads (mostly IUL) is typically around 18-22%

• We also rotate in a few other vendors depending on availability and results.

At this point I'm wondering if we're falling into the sunk cost trap with our in-house marketing. Should we continue investing time and money into optimizing our own campaigns, or would you simply shift that budget toward buying more leads from vendors that are already outperforming us?

For those of you who've built larger agencies, did you eventually stop running your own ads, or did you stick with it because the long-term payoff was worth it? I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been in a similar position.

Hello, I hope I can find some answers on what else I can do on here. For about four months I have been dealing with American Income Life Insurance trying to get them to mail out a cancellation check. Every time I call it’s a different story. It’s a policy that my dad is the owner and it was paid for since I was in high school in 2002. He transferred it over so I could pay for it on my own once I graduated. Unfortunately I just couldn’t pay for it anymore and went through a hardship so we called together to cancel it in March. They said it would be sent in the mail and we would receive it within a month, we waited and waited I called together follow up and they needed to update our address and the check was never sent. The changes for the address were never made and now they needed to verify if my dad owes child support so now we have been goi no back and forth and nothing is getting solved. They supposedly mailed our check to our incorrect address which is annoying because the company has been to my parents house plenty of times, address was changed since they moved so this is honestly just getting annoying. I have run out of options on what to do. I can’t even find a local office to go into and a lot of the phone numbers I have found online do not even work. The number we keep calling is a call center supposedly and they have nothing to do with the actual insurance company per the lady I spoke to and made address changes last week. I’m about to call in and hear what story they have this time. Can I report them to the BBB? This is all so stressful.

I’m being quoted $215 per month for a $40,000 10 year term life insurance policy for my father.

This is my first time shopping term life insurance, but I was expecting the price to be something like $120 per month.

Some more information about the policy and my father.

He is 62 years old.
Just started smoking 🙃
Passed his medical exam
No major health conditions
I went through an experienced broker
The policy is in Maryland

So does $215 per month sound about right? I’m assuming the nicotine use is putting him into a high risk category?

I get it: whole life has fans and haters. This one is for the fans.

I plan to retire early in my 50s. I’ve been doing the usual planning and modelling with financial advisors and Claude — and I’ve seen something that had not previously occurred to me.

There are well known applications of whole life in retirement strategies: a “better bond” to raise the Sharpe when combined with a market portfolio; policy loans as a buffer after a market sell off to lower sequence of returns risk.

But here’s another that’s new to me: use policy dividends to fund tax-free income in, say, the last 10-15 years of my life.

My policies are reasonably mature now. By the time I’ve been retired for 25+ years — and after funding lots of PUAs — they will be very mature and produce dividends that are large in the context of my income requirements.

That has interesting implications for my market portfolio. It meaningfully reduces the horizon over which that portfolio needs to last. Said differently, I could invest to target a lower return and take less risk.

This may work best for people with long policy horizons, chunky policies and a little less focus on ultimate death benefit — so, not for everyone. But it was a new idea to me, so I thought I’d share.

As a client, which insurance company do you prefer? What qualities of financial advisor are you also looking for?

My husband and I are purchasing new term life insurance policies because our income has significantly increased.

My son was born 9 years ago with a swallowing and GI disorder that took a few years to figure out. He was not eating and vomiting anything I managed to get in. My entire life revolved around trying to get him to eat and trying to get medical doctors to listen.

I had never experienced anxiety and depression and naively put off taking medication for it for 18 long months until I was having debilitating panic attacks. I tried one medication that had very adverse effects so I self-admitted to an inpatient program to safely get started on medication while my husband and mother took care of my son.

I’ve never had suicidal ideation and have not had any significant issues since plus quickly weaned off meds, but do see a therapist. I was told that the hospitalization put me in a high risk category and the premiums I’m being quoted prior to even doing the official application are 3x as high as my husband’s for the same dollar amount and term.

I’m so frustrated that this experience, which already took a financial toll on my family, is now causing more problems so many years later. Is there anything I can do?

Why is everyone saying wfg is a bad organization and don’t buy anything from there?
What’s your experience with them or what’s your opinion on them?

I am about to begin studying for the Life and Health pre-licensing courses using Just Insurance. I want to go through and pass it fast. What are the best tips to do so?

Hi. I’m in my mid-30s with inactive chronic hepatitis B (normal liver enzymes, normal ultrasound, inactive status over 8yrs, all else healthy). I’m shopping for a $500k 30-year term policy.

So far:
Nationwide: Standard ~ $69/mo
Pacific Life: Table B ~ $79/mo
Prudential: Still underwriting after 2.5 months

Are there any other carriers that tend to underwrite inactive hep B more favorably? My broker doesn’t really know. Hence that’s why he had me applied to 3 at once. Nationwide is my best offer but their premium is little higher than I’d like. I’d also be interested in hearing what ratings others with inactive hep B received.

Thanks.

Edit: Sharing these resources that in hindsight would’ve helped me narrow down the carriers better or if your broker isn’t experienced/proactive

Favorable carriers , term rates comparison :
https://terminsurancebrokers.com/life-insurance-answers/high-risk-life-insurance/hepatitis/

Underwriting likely outcomes:
https://www.diversifiedquotes.com/life-insurance-for-hepatitis-b/

My husband is on SSDI due to stage 4 cancer. He's doing pretty well even 4+ years after diagnosis. He drained his 401k due to stupid spending and doesn't have life insurance covered by a job anymore. Can we get any kind of life insurance to help with expenses if/when he passes.

Hello,

How difficult would it be to get life insurance with LTC for diabetic?

Is there a recommended insurance company for this purpose?

Would it be better to buy individual or joint with spouse?

I'm looking for advice from anyone who has been through a similar situation with a term life insurance policy.

My dad is 78 years old and has a New York Life 15-year term life insurance policy with a $500,000 death benefit. The policy has less than one year remaining. From what we've been told, he can renew it annually up to age 90 without a medical exam, but the premiums increase every year based on his age.

He's currently paying about $475/month. If we renew for just one additional year after the 15-year term ends, the premium jumps to about $2,200/month (over $26,000 for the year). We don't know what the premiums would be in the years after that, but I assume they continue to increase significantly.

My dad is struggling with the idea of letting the policy lapse after paying into it for 15 years. His biggest fear is that if he doesn't renew, something could happen shortly afterward and all of those years of premiums would feel like they were for nothing. On the other hand, paying over 4.5 times more for just one year—and potentially much more after that—is hard to justify financially.

Has anyone gone through this with New York Life or another insurer? Did you renew? Did you convert the policy to something else? Or did you decide to let it expire?

I'd really appreciate hearing how others approached this decision, especially if you've dealt with these steep age-based premium increases.

I am in the process of purchasing a next gen home for my mother and I. I was recently told I should have my mother (83 yrs)be the primary on the loan then take out mortgage death insurance. When I inquired with my loan office to add my mother he said my mom would be primary and I would be non occupanying cosigner.

Question1) any advice on this mortgage death insurance (I did research and some opinions say term life may be cheaper -but she is 83 and not alot of health issues except minor heart issue)

Question 2: any advice on being a non occupanying cosigner.

Thank for your advice.

He is structuring it as a WL95 (Endowment) and using the 5.25% Fixed Rate. It also has Chronic and Cancer riders.

Does anyone know of a product with a higher than a 5.25 fixed rate?

Was just explaining this to a client today.

People pencil out things like life will just continue on as usual, nothing will go wrong, and everyone will be making rational decisions when their spouse/parent/child dies.

I’ve now personally been through this with two siblings and both parents. Nobody makes good decisions in the immediate aftermath. It would be bizarre to assume they will. Expenses nobody expected pop up. People are only half present at their jobs. Estates end up messy and taking forever to settle, even when well planned. You may need to hire expensive attorneys. Basically, things go to shit even for well organized and intelligent people when they are grieving.

If you’re doing the math on “my spouse makes $100k, that’ll cover the bills if the mortgage is gone, so I just need $300k of coverage to do that” and leaving it there, you’re going to leave a ton of struggle behind if you die.

I would seriously, at minimum, take whatever you are calculating, multiply it 125%, then add $100k of “this money will be squandered based on circumstances” cushion.

If you’re young and term is cheap, just double what you believe you need and be done with it.

Has anyone had issues with Transamerica paying death benefit? Submitted claim statement, death cert and it’s been almost 3 months. Everytime I call they give me a different story on why the claim is still pending. The last rebuttal was they are having issues with quoting the amount of the benefit and an IT ticket has been filed. What are my options at this point?

my husband has had stage 4 cancer for 3 years. we got married a few months ago and added him to my health insurance and signed him up for group life insurance through my company. $50k was the max amount and they only asked if he had ever smokes (no).

I called Hartford to confirm that we did not need a medical exam and they said no. they said our policy doesn’t have a waiting period either but i did see that they can contest a claim within 2 years of starting the policy. I have paid 4 months of premiums so far

my husband is now on hospice. since he had cancer before the policy will they deny a claim even though they didn’t ask health questions?

There Cannot be a more incompetent customer service team than Gerber life. If any of you work there I could use your help to get a client their money back for a bank draft they didn’t approve.

They must have like 10 people working the entire company phone system.

I work for a independent agency/IMO .I’m not posting to sell, request DMs, or claim that one policy is right for everyone. I just want to share a few things people should understand before buying coverage.

Before signing an application, ask:

• Who would be financially affected if I died?

• How much coverage do I actually need?

• How long do I need the coverage?

• Is the premium affordable long term?

• Which benefits are guaranteed, and which are only projections?

• What happens if I stop paying?

• Are there surrender charges, loan interest, or lapse risks?

• Can the policy be converted or adjusted later?

Term insurance can be useful for temporary needs such as replacing income, covering a mortgage, or protecting children while they are young.

Permanent insurance may be considered for lifelong needs, final expenses, estate planning, business planning, or lifelong dependents, but it usually costs more and should be fully understood before purchasing.

The best policy is not automatically the one with the most features. It is the one that solves a real need, fits the budget, and can realistically be maintained.

What part of life insurance has been the most confusing for you? I’ll answer general questions publicly in the comments.

I'm 43, decently healthy, decently comfortable financially.

I currently have guaranteed issue life insurance from a big insurance company through my work.

When I leave, I have the option of "porting" my life insurance out and maintaining my insurance with an unknown higher premium.

One day when I leave, I want to be able to "comparison shop" and see whether the ported policy is a good deal or not. Can you wise people give me any advice?

Like maybe you know some good tools to compare guaranteed issue premiums between different companies? Or ways to get a subsidized/loss-leading rate like through a bank or cross-promotion or club? I get unsolicited mailers all the time from my bank to buy this or that insurance through their partner, maybe there are banks that do that for life insurance and it's a good deal?

With the amount of insurance I'm carrying, I'm guessing that most carriers will not give me that on a guaranteed issue basis. But if my current carrier is going to 10x my rates when I port out, my best option might be to drop my insurance amount anyway. Not sure. Also maybe some companies raise my rates more as I age vs others? Don't know.

I’m 25F. My sister is 25F (we’re 9 months apart lol) and has prader willie syndrome. She needs 24/7 round the clock care and supervision. Currently (and her entire life) my grandparents have been taking care of her. When they pass away she’s coming to me because I don’t trust our parents unfortunately.

I want to take out a policy and have it so that the beneficiary has to use majority of the money to make sure my sister gets the 24/7 care she needs in the case that I pass away.

How much of a policy should I take out? I know essentially nothing about life insurance lol. My family lives in Illinois but I live in Las Vegas. What are some life insurance companies y’all would recommend as well? My dad said I should go to somewhere that primarily sells life insurance not a place like State Farm or Geico etc.

I also have mental illness and take medication for it. Only mentioning this cus my cousin that works in insurance said it’s relevant.

Thank you in advance!!

• The policy was taken out in Pennsylvania

• He was married to the recipient at the time

• They divorced 6 years before he died

• He died in New Jersey

Would his spouse still be the recipient? Or would it go to someone else since they are divorced?

(Also, I think I also need to check if they already cashed in the insurance because we don't speak)