Had a family friend who was basically a 'businessman' or some would call him a loan shark

His sales girls would offer loans to the type of clients mentioned in this thread at a high rate of interest but would help the perspective client out by allowing them the option of paying the loan off over a longer period

Most would take up the extended payment offer and we're very thankful for it

BTW, this woman in CA who would save $40/mo with me is a Longshore(wo)man at Long Beach, makes six figures. She wants a large term policy for income replacement, because of her disabled husband, and she's in a line of work where an accidental rider makes sense. I need to figure out a compassionate, gentle way to tell her she does not a 30 yr. term. Her husband is early 50s and on dialysis. He will not live 10 more years. So she would not need to carry that much insurance for much longer than his life expectancy.

My mother sold life insurance in the poor part of town in the late 50's and early '60s. She was restricted to selling in her area by the company. Most of her customers were black. She went door to door to sell and had to go back and collected the premiums in cash. It was almost always small coins. We used to roll them up for her when she came home so she could take them to the bank. Sometimes she made up the 50 cents or so they were short if they promised to pay it the next time (so their policy did not lapse).

Once my kids were gone and my savings/investments exceeded what my wife would need if I died suddenly, I stopped buying life term insurance. The same with collision insurance on cars I did not finance I have not financed one in decades.

Some make a good case that a large policy is a clean way to transfer one's wealth to others on passing.

If you can write a check with six zeroes on it, a large single premium policy (some even earn dividends) is a fantastic way to get money out of your estate. An insurance company will only pay out to a named beneficiary, no one else. There's no squabbling about it, creditors can't touch it, and it's generally not taxable. But those aren't my people. I sold a $5k policy to a guy once who wanted five beneficiaries. Sheesh. Wasn't worth my time or paperwork. And I love the ones who say, "Nah, I'll just put money in a savings account and that will cover it." Really? You're 65 yrs old, in terrible health, dirt poor on a fixed income, meaning you'll always be dirt poor, and you're just now gonna save up $25k. Ok. That's why you're poor.

Sooo... this check with 6 zeros... does that include cents :D? Suppose one could (and did) write a check for $1M ... what's the typical payout to the beneficiary?

I don't know why I ask tho' ;)

The payout is the face amount. What a $1 million check will buy you depends on your age and health. A healthy non-smoker 63 yr old male can get around $1.9 million face amount for a one time payment of $1 million. That's a pretty fat tax-free profit for the beneficiary. Obviously, the insurance company is expecting you to live long enough for them to turn a profit. With the law of large numbers, they're gonna come out just fine.

semi related anecdote.

My recently deceased father had a 1M whole life policy, presumably he paid a huge amount into it early in life and it wasn't an objective good deal, but he hadn't had to pay into it in years. In his 60s and early 70s I had to hold to cash it out and have some fun (a few hundred K I think).

He never really needed the money and we sort of forgot about it the last decade of his life. Sure enough a week or so after his death mother got payment of 1M USD which I believe to be tax free.

Sorta hard to he happy about the unexpected payment given the scenario however.

Had a few interesting ones recently. Last week I had an hour to kill, went to door knock a lead I can't reach by phone. As I was walking up to the door, the super walked in front of me and began banging on the door and calling out the guy's name. He then used his key to gain entry, kept calling his name. He came out and, "Well, he's here, but he's gone." Dead in bed. Looks like I didn't get there in time to get him insured.

Yesterday I had a lead card with no phone number, but the guy hand wrote on it, "Hearing loss, please text me." Uh huh. It was (I thought) a gated trailer park I've been to many times. I went to look for lot 105, and a lady was sitting outside having a smoke. I showed her the lead card and she said she'd never heard of that guy. But it was lot 105. Turns out I was off by about five miles. But we got talking and I walked out of there with a nice size deal and she was so thankful.

Another one was a guy who said he had a small policy and wanted to look for a better deal and/or get more coverage. I was able to get him more coverage for less than he was already paying, he'd skip a payment and get cash back. Could. Not. Close. Him. I very patiently repeated the case, that it was exactly what he said he was looking for - more coverage, a lower payment, cash back, etc. Nope. I finally asked him why he wasn't doing this. He said, "Because I'm stupid." Yup. That's why he's poor.

I'll say this as politely as possible. Anyone who knows to avoid dealing with predatory commission generating salesmen is not stupid. In fact, quite the opposite.
This is common sense among the wealthy. Only the poor and ignorant do business with door to door salesmen.

"If your not making money while you sleep.
This is why you'll never be rich".

"They call it real property for a reason too".

W. Buffet

An item that doesn't fulfill the need by the consumer will never be cheap enough.

A commissioned salesperson doesn't get paid unless they convince someone there's actual benefit, and of course you would be too ignorant to take that advice based on whatever problem you are trying to solve.

You being so clueless about, well anything would forsake the advice, and go to someone who otherwise doesn't care.

You are a fool, plain and simple. You get ripped off buying things that don't solve your problems, because you insist on foregoing any professional consultation- IE Salesperson.

rjp

^^^Fixed it for ye....:)

PS- I actually LIKE dealing with commissioned salespeople. No-haggle pricing actually sucks, price wise.

Why? Because after they answer my questions and I understand how their product will solve my dilemma and it's what I'm looking for, then I can negotiate pricing.

Try that with some lazy, indifferent, underpaid per-hour child selling widgets in a polo shirt (like Sugar prefers).

If you are afraid of commissioned salespeople it's because you don't have a clue of what you actually want. Do your homework before you actually pull your wallet out.

rjp

Sugarwood just wants another vacation

You go to lunch when people like Sugar pull up. Send him elsewhere, he's not worth the effort to help.

rjp

My Grandfather used to tell me "There's no shame in being a salesman as long as you have belief in your product".

He also told me "There's a lot of a-holes in this world and unfortunately most of them are too ignorant to recognize that in themselves".

"Sugarwood" sounds like a gay pornstar/stripper name. [emoji51]
I keed, I keed!!![emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

I have that bozo on ignore, but as long as others quote him, I can't look away. I don't understand what is predatory (or door to door) about calling someone who handwrote their phone number on a postcard, requesting info on final expense programs and put it in the mail. Then, when they set an appt and I show up, they're free to cancel or ask me to leave at any time. And if they want to buy, they voluntarily give me all their personal and banking info. What's predatory about that? Half the time I door knock someone whose handwriting I can't read, they say, "What took you so long?" I DK'ed one on Tues. whose phone number was perfectly clear, but didn't work. She invited me right in and said her number won't work if the caller isn't in her address book. I couldn't help her, but her daughter was very excited I had come over, was dying to talk with someone about life insurance, got her an instant approval on my iPad, she paid by card right there and thanked me profusely. I sleep just fine at night.