Northwestern Mutual...

why would having sex with a radio host help anything?

 

lolz

 

as far as term insurance goes - any reason to buy Northwestern's term vs any one elses? term insurance is term insurance right?

I actually bought a whole life policy years ago from Northwestern - decided it was too expensive and looked at converting it to term - realized I could get more insurance for the premium though Great West so I just cancelled the policy at NW

 

Why NML is the best

Northwestern Mutual is the best life insurance company. It has the highest financial ratings because it has the lowest expenses, the lowest mortality rates, the best persistency (meaning it keeps its business on the books longer) and the best overall investment experience. Anything you buy from them is time-proven.

For all the buy-term and invest the difference guys: 14% of you that claim you will, will actually do it. How is that investing the difference going? Lost about 30% haven't you? Anybody who owns NML whole life has seen a 6.5% dividend paid out in a year where everyone has taken a hit.

As a Financial Representative of NML, I can tell you we don't make a 100% commission like some idiot below claims. And if it is such a bad value, then why do Bill Gates, Oprah, Bill Clinton and Steve Forbes (to name a few) own it?? Why don't they buy term and invest the difference? Here is why.

Mutual funds growing at 8% to a higher income tax payer are really worth 5-6% after tax. Whole life gains are tax free. The cash value can be accessed at any time, IRA's and qualified plans cannot (except with a penalty) Whole life is self completing in the event of a death or disablity. Quick question: who funds that "investing the difference" account if you become sick or disabled and cannot work? Also, the cash value is protected from the claims of creditors, not to mention that once a dollar is earned IT CAN NEVER GO DOWN IN VALUE.

Furthermore, I am convinced that rate of return is not the only decision that drives investing. If it was, then everyone here would dump all of their money, even their checking account, into high risk stocks. Whole life with NML gives you a return close to that of an equity, with the risk level of a fixed-income security (bond). When you look at the standard deviation of risk, it is 3 times less risky than a stock fund with almost the same return.

Having a death benefit in force after retirement is important. Buy term invest the difference guys think that you don't need it. What it enables you to do is spend more of your retirement assets knowing that when you die your surving spouse will be left with a TAX FREE benefit to replinish what you spent. I could run a scenario and show all you guys that this would enable you to spend 20% or more of your retirement assets. THINK ABOUT IT: If you are the same age as your spouse, statistically she will outlive you by 7-9 years. If you don't own life insurance in retirement, then you will have to allocate some of your retirement dollars for her to have when you are gone, so you will be owning life insurance whether you buy it or self insure.

Northwestern Mutual has higher financial ratings than the federal government, and in 137 years its dividend has NEVER been 0 or negative. Please someone argue my point... because you can't!!

--America's most admired company by Fortune, 25 years...

 

Definitely no bias in his opinion.

Recently met with a NW Mutual agent and ended up having to teach him some things. Nice guy though.

 

I can't vouch for your agent. I guess if you taught him a few things, then you should work in the industry! The one thing I have not had to do as a financial advisor is appologize for Northwestern Mutual's Permanent Insurance Products. But if you have kept up with the stock market, I have had to appologzie for even good companies like American Funds getting killed in the market. A predictable return makes life as an advisor a much easier task.

Maybe my biased opinion comes from the fact that My father has permanent life insurance through NML that rose by 7.5 percent last year, while his retirement accounts dropped by 30%. He now will be working even longer past his planned retirement date. He wishes he had more money in safe investments... and he bought that whole life before I was born -- it has nothing to do with working for the company, I have seen it first hand in my own family.

 

First off, he isn't my agent as I just had a conversation with him and I've had more training in finances than he has. Second, I wouldn't work in your crooked industry where 75% of life insurance policies sold are Whole Life policies averaging 2.7% return (based on Consumer Reports and Consumer Federation of America studies from the top 5 Insurance companies). They are rip-offs that end up making the average consumer under-insured.

If your father needed those investments in the next five years and you didn't get them out of the stock market, then it sounds like you did a pretty crappy job. If he doesn't need them in the next 5 years then he hasn't lost anything until he actually sells the darn things. For the vast majority of us, this is one of the best stock market buying times ever and you are wanting them in your supposed fixed 6.5% barely beating inflation investments. Brilliant!!!!

 

Bingo!!! They are trained on what to sell based on what is good for the company and not what is good for the consumer. Thus, 75% of life insurance policies sold are Whole Life policies and leave the consumer terribly under-insured which I have seen in my family. It's simply awful.

Furthermore, the turnover rate in this industry is atrocious. If you don't like your current agent, just wait a year and you will likely have to get another (statistically speaking of course).

 

Ironic that he uses the name of Forbes to sell his mess when a quick search on Forbes.com comes back with this article...

http://www.forbes.com/financialadvi...nagement-fan-ins-in_dt_0113insurance_inl.html

Couple neat quotes:

"Second, economic rewards cause insurance to be sold rather than for advisers to do prudent risk management. For example, there is nominal economic incentive for insurance agents to help people do prudent risk management in the case of life insurance. How many times have you heard an insurance agent tell you that you needed less coverage? "

"If you're married with children and you need insurance consider a 15-year term life insurance policy and get rid of any whole life or adjustable life that an agent sold you."

Here's another article on what to watch for with greedy insurance salesmen:

http://www.forbes.com/personalfinan...en-pf-ii-in_jl_1211financialservices_inl.html

Funny section of this article given the above claims:
"Also, while many brokers in the past promised 5% minimum floors, the recent market meltdown is forcing firms to abandon these products because they are having trouble investing well enough to maintain these promises. Many of these 5% or 3% minimum guarantees are quietly becoming maximums or ceilings on an investor's return. "

 

anybody?