I have been in the insurance business for 22 years now, 14 years with Property and Casualty and the last 8 with Whole Life Insurance. During those years, I became an agencies first woman agent and recieved my AAI (Accredited Advisor of Insurance) designation.

When the P&C market started hardening up in 2000, (meaning a lot of companies cracked down on an agents performance and changed their performance contract guidelines) I was forced to leave that market and work with an General Life insurance agent that specialized in an On-site Whole Life Insurance product for companies with 50 or more employees.

His so called agency (everyone works on-site or home, so there is no office) consists of Lee, the big kahuna, Ray, who primarily has his own accounts, Paulie, who takes care of Lee's accounts, Rhonda the know-all do-all administrative manager and myself with a handful of other enrollers that present and signup the employees that qualify for the product.

When you see Lee, Ray and Paul you always see them with a binder with insurance reference letters. The companies that they sell to are governments, schools, manufacturing and hospitals. The reference letters are a big selling point when closing a deal. You don’t see them without it, it’s like their Bible or something.

Many times when presenting to a group of employees they always get the question…What’s better Whole Life Insurance, Term Life Insurance or Universal Life Insurance?

Each person’s Life Insurance needs are different, because each person is in a different stage of their life. An 18 year old, for example, that has no debt, no house, and no family might want to have enough life insurance to cover his final expenses. Which are his funeral costs. Funerals today can run from $6,000-$10,000 in the Midwest. So a Whole Life Insurance policy that is guaranteed to pay for $6-$10,000 is all he needs and will only cost him $2.00 a week.

A family man in his 30’s with a house and a lot of debt might look at his portfolio differently. He might not only want a Whole Life Insurance policy to cover his final expenses, but might want a Term Insurance policy for a larger amount to cover his debt including the mortgage. Being in his 30’s the premiums are still reasonable.

With our policy you can also get Whole Life Insurance on your spouse or children (including grandchildren and great grandchildren) , so you can get the entire family covered and have peace of mind in case something happens to one or all of them.

Universal Life is like Whole Life, but Whole Life has some additional guarantees. Make sure you discuss the guarantees with your Insurance Agent. There are many plans out there and we are always surprised on how many people do not have life insurance outside their jobs.

Your employee life insurance like Term Life insurance is for a period of time so when you leave your job or your term policy ends you will be uncovered. 9 times out of 10 you live longer than a Term Life policy. Term Life policies can be written when you are older but the cost is so much more. That’s why a Whole Life policy should be considered. Your premium is guaranteed from the time you sign up

So the 18 year old with the $2.00 a week policy will still have a $2.00 premium at age 30, 50 or 80.

When you are older the cost is more for the amount of insurance you may need. Still if you are under 70 years of age you can still qualify. If you do not have any insurance it is better to have some than none at all. You might also want to consider purchasing some Whole Life Insurance for your grandchildren. With Whole Life Insurance they can borrow from the policy for moving expenses or books for school. Also, it’s great to know they have some coverage when they begin driving or in between jobs. These policies are transferable when the children become of age. But like me…I want control of the policies, so they do not cash them in.

So, how do 3 guys and a binder of insurance reference letters answer the question? They wait until they are with the employees on a one on one basis to help them with their individual needs and then sell them a Whole Life Insurance Policy.