Protecting My Family
Select a product to see how Monarch can help.
LIFE Insurance
The Top Questions People Ask Us
If no one depends on you, maybe not. If you have kids, a spouse, a business, a mortgage or other debt, or want to leave an inheritance for someone or a cause you care about, you probably do.
A rule of thumb for the amount you need: your annual, before-tax income times 8 to 10 (or times the number of years left until you retire, if less than that).
That will give you a good idea, but many factors can push these numbers up or down: your age, ages of family members, insurance you may get from your employer – and of course, how much you want things to continue without you. We can help you figure out the right amount.
People are living longer, and technology is driving expenses down and competition up. This means insurance prices have generally gone down. Chances are your current plan could use a checkup. We can run the numbers for you.
Your policy’s value or death benefit may be tied to the stock market (and we all know how that’s been going). We can tell you if your policy is on track to provide the benefit you’ve been counting on.
Insurance 360
Whether you are evaluating existing coverage or seeking new insurance, Monarch Financial uses a unique five-step process called Life Assurance 360™ to make certain that your policy fits your current needs and continues to serve its intended purpose for the duration of the policy.
By taking a comprehensive, 360° approach to designing, implementing and managing life insurance, we believe that the outcome produced for our clients is better than when each of these steps is addressed in isolation…that the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts.
In this step, we use our proprietary Life Assurance Design Questionnaire to educate you about your life insurance options while gathering information about your goals, preferences, and risk tolerance. Additionally, our one-page Pre-Underwriting Questionnaire helps paint a high-level picture of how your medical history may factor into the overall plan design.
Prior to submitting an application, our experienced underwriting team gathers and reviews your medical information and begins clarifying all missing or incomplete details with your physicians to present your case to the carrier(s) in the most favorable light possible. For larger, more complex cases where privacy and confidentiality are paramount, our staff underwriters and licensed physician conduct a private medical evaluation to fully assess your medical risk while protecting your identity from the Medical Information Base (MIB).
After the initial fact finding process and underwriting assessment are complete, our underwriting and marketing teams develop product recommendations based on your goals, risk tolerance, and preferences regarding the five areas of product design: safety, flexibility, equity, certainty, and premium.
After product recommendations are developed, we create meaningful analyses of each plan and present the recommendations in a cogent format that empowers you to make informed decisions.
After you make your choice from among the recommended plans, we initiate an on-going process that monitors and measures the performance of your plan to ensure that your benefits remain on track for the life of the policy. We regularly review the plan’s performance with you using a concise, yet thorough, policy review document.
DISABILITY Insurance
The Top Questions People Ask Us
If you or your family would not miss your paycheck and could afford to care for you while you recovered, then perhaps not.
If you have rent, mortgage, food, utilities, childcare, and other bills that wouldn’t be covered if your pay stopped, then you probably do.
You need enough to cover those bills, minus the amount of any disability insurance your employer provides and any other income or savings you’re willing to use up. We usually recommended getting coverage that equals 60-65% of your before-tax income.
Once they determine that you are disabled, the insurance company pays you directly each month. You can use the money as you wish.
This depends on your policy! Some pay if you are unable to work in your specific occupation. Some pay only if you are unable to work any job. Either way, you typically need to be disabled for 30-90 days before collecting benefits. We can review your work benefits and make sure your coverage matches your needs.
Social Security has a much stricter definition of disability than most insurance policies. You condition must be severe, terminal, or expected to last at least a year, and you must be unable to perform any work at all. Social Security is an important societal safety net, but it doesn’t provide enough protection for many Americans.
Any disability insurance benefits from policies for which you pay the premium are tax-free to you. Any disability insurance benefits from policies for which your employer paid the premium (and didn’t add the premium to your W2 or K-1 income) are taxable to you.
Disability Insurance
Disability insurance pays benefits when the insured is unable to earn a living due to sickness or injury. Like all insurances, disability income insurance is designed to protect against financial disaster.
Most disability policies pay a benefit that replaces some part of the insureds earned income when they are unable to work. The chances of being disabled for longer than three months are far greater than the chances of premature death.
Life expectancy is greater today, because medicine has made many illnesses and injuries less life threatening. This is good news, but it does increase the need to protect your income with disability insurance.
LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE
The Top Questions People Ask Us
Few things can drain retirement savings more quickly than the cost of long-term care. Whether it’s full-time residential nursing care or just help with daily tasks, cost of care is high and rising. LTC insurance can help make sure adult children aren’t saddled with these expenses, and a healthy spouse doesn’t find themselves in financial straits.
Coverage may include adult day care, in-home care (help with bathing, dressing, etc., also known as activities of daily living), physical therapy, and nursing home care in case of an illness, injury, or disability.
Medicare does not cover custodial care (help with activities of daily living) if that is all you need.
Medicare covers the first 20 days of skilled nursing care and part of the next 80 days (you will
pay coinsurance of $176 per day for days 21-100). You will need to have been hospitalized in-patient for three days and need the skilled nursing care in relation to that hospital stay. You are responsible for all costs after 100 days.
In most states, Medicaid may cover some costs of care for those with a very low net worth.
LONG-TERM CARE
Long-term care insurance (LTCI) is a contractual arrangement that pays a selected dollar amount per day for a selected period of time for skilled, intermediate or custodial care in nursing homes and/or home health care.
Because Medicare and other forms of health insurance do not pay for custodial care, many residents of nursing homes have only three alternatives for paying their nursing home bills: their own assets, Medicaid and long-term care insurance.
Long-term care refers to a range of medical and personal services that provide ongoing care for people with chronic disabilities who have lost the ability to live independently.
The risk of contracting a debilitating illness (and the resulting medical bill) is usually one type of risk best assigned to an insurance company through the purchase of a long-term care insurance policy, a life insurance policy with a long-term care rider, or a hybrid life and long-term care insurance policy.
Life Settlements
The Top Questions People Ask Us
A life settlement is the sale of an existing life policy to a third party. Proceeds are less than the death benefit but more than the cash surrender value. It can be an option for those who no longer need or want their life insurance policy or require funds for other needs.
You should consider tax consequences, your future ability to buy life insurance, the length of time needed to settle, and the costs – among other factors – before agreeing to a life settlement. It can get complicated. We can guide you through the process.
Universal Life, Guaranteed Universal Life, Survivorship Universal Life, Variable Universal Life, Convertible Term, and sometimes Whole Life.
Not necessarily. If your term policy is nearing the end of the term period, you may be thinking you should just let it expire. However, you may be able to sell it and use the proceeds for other needs, letting the buyer collect the death benefit.
Life Settlements
Our Life Settlement Advocacy Program™ minimizes the risks associated with conducting a life settlement by treating a life settlement as a security transaction. Accordingly, our strategic back-office partner, Valmark Financial Group, has developed a unique compliance-oriented marketing system called The Life Settlement Advocacy Program™ to guide us through a life settlement transaction and ultimately provide the highest level of value for a client’s life insurance policy.
Navigating Policy Pricing
What many people don’t realize is that the single greatest impact on the price of a life insurance policy is professional management of the medical underwriting process. Using our knowledge of how carrier underwriters, medical directors, and actuaries make decisions, we proactively position your life insurance application it its most favorable light.
We accomplish this through a proprietary informal underwriting process where we complete 90% of the underwriting BEFORE an application is submitted to an insurance company. This preliminary process enables us to pre-qualify underwriting offers from insurance companies, while protecting your Personal Health Information from the Medical Information Bureau so that your insurability remains unharmed.
As a result, we are able to deliver the best possible underwriting offers to our clients. Once received, the top offers from various companies are analyzed by our team. We match the best underwriting results to the appropriate product and optimized solution. We then discuss all of this information with you so that you can make an informed decision.
Before submitting an application, we collect all of the evidence required to render an underwriting decision so we can ensure your information is accurate. Any gaps can be clarified with your physicians before any evidence is submitted to the insurers. Also, contextual information can be added to help insurance company underwriters understand the big picture – why you are seeking insurance coverage, what you are doing to address any health issues, etc.
Most surprises in an underwriting evaluation come from the medical exam and lab work in connection with the life insurance application. Our confidential, private evaluation allows our team to review your exam and laboratory results prior to them being submitted to a carrier. These results, combined with a HIPAA-compliant confidential review of your medical records, allows us to assess your life insurance risk, address any abnormalities which may be present in the exam or lab results, and determine which carriers will have the most favorable evaluation of the application. By proactively providing the home office underwriter with a clarified and coordinated presentation of your medical information, we remove as many surprises as possible and can usually help positively affect the evaluation of your risk.
Next, we submit your case to multiple insurance carriers using a carefully-structured methodology. This is where Underwriting Advocacy can be especially impactful in addressing the complexities of coordinating large amounts of coverage with multiple carriers. Each carrier has a limited amount of risk it is willing to accept on a particular life. One large case submitted inappropriately to too many carriers at once, can flood the market. This can essentially block you from gaining access to higher amounts of coverage.
MEDICAL EXAMS: Although several companies may be selected at the beginning of the underwriting process, the Underwriting Advocacy process enables you to use one medical exam for all companies, avoiding the inconvenience of unnecessary or duplicate tests. The medical information can be shared with all companies in a format designed to present your case in its most favorable light.
UNDERWRITING INTERVIEWS: During the home office underwriting evaluation process, we conduct phone conferences, as needed, between your physicians and carrier underwriters so that the proper information and positioning is provided to obtain the most favorable offers possible.
After underwriting offers have been received, we consult with you and your advisors to select the best products and offers from the most appropriate insurance company or companies.
Key to the success of this proactive approach is implementation by an experienced underwriting team made available through our relationship with the ValMark Companies. Our consulting team includes several former insurance company Underwriting Vice Presidents and Medical Directors, a licensed physician, and a senior staff of case management, business processing and policy service specialists. Together, they confidentially represent, clarify and coordinate the details of your application with multiple insurance companies throughout the underwriting process.
View Our Case Studies
A NON-TOBACCO CIGARETTE USER?
SITUATION: A 59-year-old male was applying for $10 million of coverage and admitted to “social” cigarette use. At face value, this automatically results in Smoker rates across the board – you smoke cigarettes, you’re a smoker. We knew, however, that one carrier could potentially offer some forgiveness provided we met a number of different caveats.
APPROACH: We worked to quantify his use, scoured his medical records for any contradictory statements (in regards to tobacco), and proved that his use was, indeed, “social” via a negative nicotine screen. Although we were technically a few uses over their typical threshold, we were able to leverage our strong carrier relationship to secure an exception.
RESULT: $10 million of coverage at Preferred NON-Tobacco rates.
STRATEGIC APPROACH TO MULTIPLE COMPANIES
SITUATION: A couple in their early 60’s with a net worth in excess of $100 million needed $50 million of coverage at a more efficient price. They had $30 million in force.
APPROACH: Coordinating the applications for coverage with multiple companies was essential in this case in order to avoid reinsurance limits and diversify coverage. The Valmark Underwriters first used a unique, private inquiry process to secure initial offers from the companies. Secondly, they coordinated three applications in phases to avoid exceeding carrier capacity limits. Lastly, they arranged to have the clients examined only once for all three applications.
RESULT: $50 million of joint coverage at Preferred rates which increased the overall efficiency of the couple’s insurance profile.
RELATIONSHIPS ARE EVERYTHING
SITUATION: A 64-year-old female was applying for $5 million of coverage. Her cardiac history was notable because of an abnormal echocardiogram and holter monitor. Insurance underwriters viewed this history in a particularly unfavorable light because she had not had any cardiac follow-up showing stability in several years.
APPROACH: Our product design was very intricate and the plan only worked with a product from one carrier. Upon review, she was approved at Table 4, which, given her premium tolerance, was not viable. We shopped the file to two other companies who we knew to be aggressive with cardiac risks, and they quoted Standard rates.
RESULT: Once we received this feedback, we were able to pivot back to our carrier of choice and leverage our original Table 4 quote to Standard rates based on our strong relationship and the carrier’s desire to find a creative solution for a good business partner of theirs.
*These are hypothetical examples for illustrative purposes only. The experiences of these clients may not be representative of the experience of all clients and is not indicative of future results.
Application Fulfillment
ValMark Concierge Services simplifies the life insurance application process by providing a confidential and highly personalized service to help coordinate the client’s application paperwork and necessary medical requirements. These services are offered exclusively to the clients of ValMark Member Offices and their allied professionals.
These private insurance services are made possible by:
- Proven methodology and technology
- A dedicated team of experienced insurance operations specialists
- Strong relationships with the industry’s leading insurance carriers
- Over 50 years of experience providing private, sophisticated services to valued clients of ValMark insurance professionals.
Policy Management
Through our relationship with the ValMark Companies, we have access to The Policy Management Company which provides policy monitoring and management services for our clients’ in-force life insurance policies.
This is accomplished through an effective combination of technology, a dedicated team of policy management professionals and a process developed from ValMark’s 50+ years of experience with sophisticated life insurance policies.
Together, they form a durable bridge connecting your expectations of promised policy benefits with actual results. Our goal is to give you the assurance of ongoing policy performance, as it was designed, while creating what we believe is a superior insurance experience. Potential advantages to both policy holders and trustees include:
- Assurance of ongoing policy performance, as it was designed
- Access to all policy information in one centralized location
- Assurance that your insurance needs continue to be met
- Automated trust administration and documented policy performance
- Assurance of ongoing service by a trusted third party
View Our Case Studies
Guaranteed products need to be continually monitored and managed. The slightest deviation from the policy plan can cause a guarantee to go off track.
SITUATION: A 50-year-old entrepreneur purchased a $2 million Guaranteed Universal Life policy with an annual premium of $50,000 and a lifetime guarantee.
CHALLENGE: In Year 2, the premium was two weeks overdue and the entrepreneur received a termination notice from the carrier giving him the option to pay $50,000 and receive a one-year guarantee or pay $145,000 for a lifetime guarantee.
Upon investigation, the advisor learned that the late payment had automatically caused a rate change that would have cost the entrepreneur $95,000 to reinstate the lifetime guarantee.
RESOLUTION: The Policy Management Company was called in and was able to leverage its relationship with the carrier to reinstate the lifetime guarantee without additional premium. Of note, had the policy been originally supervised by The Policy Management Company, this situation could have been avoided due to proactive services such as premium alerts and advance.
Over time, sustained low interest rates can significantly affect the performance and guarantees of many different types of insurance policies.
SITUATION: A recently-retired, 65-year-old corporate executive purchased a $3 million Universal Life policy for a single premium payment of $850,000. The original policy was projected to sustain the death benefit to age 100 based on the current interest rate.
The client, who is now 85 years old, was notified that his policy is projected to lapse at age 89 due to the sustained low interest rate.
CHALLENGE: The carrier gave the client the choice of paying an annual premium of $129,079 to extend coverage to age 95, or $173,338 per year to extend coverage to age 100.
RESOLUTION: This particular product design has the greatest risk of lapsing early due to the current low interest rate environment. If the policy would have been monitored more closely over the years, early intervention could have significantly reduced the amount of premium required to maintain coverage until age 100.
*These are hypothetical examples for illustrative purposes only. The experiences of these clients may not be representative of the experience of all clients and is not indicative of future results.