How often do you search for a way to get the conversation with a prospect rolling on the right track, particularly taking the discussion into retirement planning territory? You can use the phrases below and the links provided to help shape a thought-provoking conversation and encourage your clients to spend a few minutes “predicting” how long they might live and what a potentially long life could mean.

Financial professionals often look at clients solely through the eyes of an illustration. We assume what a client looks like today will continue into eternity, instead of realizing that life changes over time. One example of this has to do with clients being able to afford higher contributions to an indexed universal life insurance (IUL) policy in the future than what they can afford today.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is in the books. It may be seen as a benefit to individuals as well as some business structures. It’s best to discuss with your clients how they can take advantage of the new changes.

The selling landscape has changed. Going door to door and cold calling to sell financial products is not as effective as it once was. So what should financial professionals try to do to increase their sales?

These are the most viewed posts from the Advisors' Resource Blog this year. Take a look and see if you missed any of these great articles!

One of the most common questions I get from advisors is "How can I find more leads"? You need to first evaluate the lead generation methods you currently use and improve them, or select alternative ways to market your business.

Until 1982 no statutory rule existed that defined the characteristics of life insurance for federal tax purposes. However, in the early 1980s, Congress was motivated to act by the development of a new generation of Universal Life contracts because these new products provided significantly more cash-value build-up than was needed to support the death benefit.

As more companies do away with defined benefit pension plans, the responsibility is left on individuals to ensure that they have enough income saved for retirement. The issue is many people don’t realize the importance of developing a financial strategy now or understand what needs to be done. Help your prospects and clients with a financial strategy that will help them not outlive their savings.

Many financial professionals I speak with believe that they can grow their business if they have more prospects to see. There’s truth to this. Without prospects to see, you are unemployed. If you don't have anybody to serve, then you're out of business. Unfortunately, many of those same professionals are poor at prospecting and are struggling to get more clients. Often it comes down to lack of direction, focus, and commitment to prospecting efforts.

One of the most common risks in retirement is order of returns risk (also known as: sequence of returns risk). It is well known within the financial services industry that investing in marketable securities exposes clients to this risk. However, do your clients know that many indexed products are not immune from order of returns risk?