Find your policy dot com

Michael,

I really thought that this conversation deserved it's own thread. Conceptually, I think that it's a great idea. I do see lots of issues with this. I'm going to beat up on you a little bit. I'm not doing it to be a jerk. Rather, I sell hundreds of policies a year, and I'd like to give you the chance to convince me that I should be referring my clients to your site. For the most part, I'll just comment on your comments.

1.Our service, if we were around 30 years ago and he signed up would be of great help to him. Now he could just go on our website and plug in his last four digits of his social security number and his birth date and find out what life insurance company has his life insurance. Also he told me that it was a policy that was paid up so he did not get any notices. He continued to inform me that when he moved he lost it. So the new address was never listed on the policy so any notices were going to the wrong address.(this happens very often to people and this is one major reason people loose track)

This doesn't quite pass the smell test with me. If his policy was paid up, he would still be getting annual notices about. I would guess that this policy actually lapsed at some point and he doesn't remember. That said, this is certainly possible. It is still a very rare occasion in which a policy owner can't find the information on their own policy. In fact, in 20 years in the business, it's never happened to one of my clients. It happens often with beneficiaries, but not with policy owners.

2.This question has be posted to me before. Do you think Google thinks of the future when they start a company. Of course they do. Our company has board members that are attorneys and all our records are kept for years to come. When I pass it will mean nothing to the structure of our company. It will continue to move forward.

I think that you are closer to your daughter's lemonade stand than Google. On your website, there is absolutely nothing mentioned about any board of directors. In fact, there isn't even any mention of your firm being incorporated. Is the firm incorporated? What is the corporate structure? If you aren't incorporated, there is no requirement that you have a board. If you die, there is no company. Let's assume that the company is incorporated. If you die, and the company isn't profitable enough, the company will still die. If you live and the company isn't profitable, the company will still die. There's no reason for anyone to believe that the company will survive if it isn't profitable

3.When a member passes away, their information will be on our service for free viewing up to one year. After that they must call the 888 number and we will assist them for a fee. This will prevent any individual from signing up, registering for one year and cancelling.

You need to explain this further. Based upon my understanding, this seems terrible. Maybe my understanding is incorrect. I pay you $25/year to register. The purpose is so that after I die, people can find out if I had life insurance. If I'm on the site, they can then call the insurance company to see if a policy was in force with them as the beneficiary. Once I die, I won't be able to pay my $25. Therefore, my membership will expire.

Won't it work as follows?: One day, a couple of years after I die, my grandson will wonder if grandpa has any life insurance. He goes on the website to find me. He won't find me because I'm no longer a member since I didn't pay my annual fee while I was dead. Why would he even think of calling you? If you were going to charge him a fee, wouldn't it seem like a scam? After all, if grandpa was on the site, according to the site, beneficiaries can get the information for free.

4. You Quoted "Aren't there better solutions than paying $25/year? For instance, how about leaving a note in one's will that says, "I have life insurance with the following companies..." or every year when the premium is paid, send a note to the beneficiaries letting them know that they are the beneficiaries, or leaving a note with one's important papers, or...."

This is a loaded question...

I understand your point. It just seems to me that the people who would register with your firm are the exact same ones who would make sure that there beneficiaries would be aware of their situation. For instance, instead of paying you $25/year wouldn't I accomplish the same thing by sending an annual e-mail to my beneficiaries that says, "I have life insurance with the following companies"?

2) "Your service costs $25 a year. What are the chances that if I die 40 years from now, your company will still exist? Heck, what are the chances that you'll exist 5 years from now? "

If this question was asked to some large life insurance companies a while back they would have said they have an A+ rating but think about it. Are they around now? No one can predict the future however, we are prepared for it.
Also, the $25 dollars a year is for that year. We are insurance on insurance. Just like the insurance company if it were to close, you were protected for those years that you paid your premiums. That is what the $25 dollars is for. Admin costs and keeping your beneficiaries informed with our Financial Focus e newletter on regular basis.

First you were comparing your company to Google and now to large life insurance companies. How many death claims have not been paid because of large (or small) life insurance companies going out of business? The answer is zero.

How are you prepared for the future? It's one thing to say it, but it is certainly another to give concrete ways in which you are prepared. If for one reason or another if you aren't profitable enough, why would you do anything other than close your business?

What sort of liability coverage does your firm carry? For example, if I start telling all of my clients, "Register with findyourpolicy. Don't worry about leaving policy details. Just make sure that your lawyer or someone else knows to check with findyourpolicy after you die." What happens if they do this and there is some glitch and the name doesn't show up? They have to sell the house, move the family, etc. because they can't get their hands on the policy information because of a glitch with your firm. If they sue you for several million is the money there to pay them? Something will go wrong at some point. How is your company going to handle this?

Anyway, this is a good start. If your idea is going to work, you need to get agents like me to think that it makes sense.

Otherwise, what you are going to have is a little side business in which you make a few thousand dollars in revenue.

If you could convince someone like me that this truly made sense, you have a business that could really have $25 million dolllar + of annual revenue. Well, not really, since there are no barriers to entry to this, someone could always do this for less money.