Ever feel like you’re putting in the work but not seeing the financial growth you expected? You’re not alone. Many reps struggle with leveraging partnerships effectively, missing out on opportunities to maximize their income. But what if you could change that? What if you could tap into a proven strategy that has helped others achieve their best financial year yet? That’s exactly what Kevin McTierran dives into in this session. He shares how the Primerica and Equitable partnership has been a game-changer, offering insights into innovative strategies and products that can elevate your business. It’s not just about the products; it’s about how you can use them to meet your clients’ needs and boost your own success. This is a must-see moment for anyone serious about taking their financial growth to the next level. Watch the video below and discover the strategies that are helping reps like you turn potential into profit.
Video Transcription:
All right, great start to the event, right? This is awesome.
New regime, new place.
Great to see a lot of familiar faces in here.
Guys.
Whoever I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet or spending any time with.
Guys, my name is Kevin McTierran and I’m here on behalf of Equitable.
Super fired up to be here.
And I’m excited to share with you guys a little bit about just, you know, where Equitable has had some success with the Primerica partnership over the years.
And more specific, typically, how 2023 was our best year because of the Primerica partnership.
Okay, yeah, we have you guys to thank for so much, and you’ll hear a little bit about that.
But, guys, you always hear that you’re in the business for yourself, but not by yourself, right? So make sure you have our contact information down.
The people that we speak to the most that take our calls, that reply to us, those are the ways that you can really get what you put into these meetings.
Right? I see a lot of people taking notes.
You guys have heard from great speakers today.
You’ve all been at tons of events where you get motivated and inspired.
You get great tactics and tools.
It’s all about what you make of it, right? So hopefully I’ll share some things that are insightful and useful for you guys.
But again, we want to hear from now, you know, you’re going to hear a little bit about the market and what’s happened over the last couple of years.
I know Jeff is coming on shortly and he’ll give you guys a little bit of an outlook, but I want to give you guys a little bit of a timeline about equitable, really, who we are and what we stand for in this business.
And we’ve been around for a long time.
For a company that’s been around for 160 years, we pride ourselves on being innovators.
We’ve always been innovators in this industry.
And here’s just a little bit of a timeline for you guys.
So back in the late 90s, we actually created the first guaranteed income benefit, right? Kind of established that living benefit space that really grew from there.
Okay? Now, moving forward from there, not sure what happened there.
I’m just going to keep it rolling.
There you go.
So back in 2010, who’s heard of structured capital strategies? So we created the first buffered annuity.
Okay? And if you guys aren’t so familiar, we’re going to talk about how that works, right? And John Witchery is going to come on after he is incredibly successful with that product.
He’s going to share his positioning, exactly how he sits down with clients in the field to share that story.
But it’s a category created about 13 years ago.
Now fast forward today.
It’s still the number one buffered annuity product in the industry.
And you could be the most newly licensed securities person in the room, or you could be a million dollar earner or anybody in between.
And we can help you write your first ticket and use that with your clients on a regular basis.
Now, as we’ve continued to innovate the product, continue to put more strategies out there, we launched the dual direction.
And recently, as of this past year, we had our best year ever since inception, 160 plus years ago.
We also had our best year with Primerica ever.
So give your guys self a hand for that.
So, a quick little summary on 2023, as far as what equitable accomplished with the Primerica partnership.
First off, we started the year getting the number one buffered annuity recognition in 2022 that we expect to follow this year.
Then were featured in barons for a couple of different product categories for some best in class annuity options.
And I show you this because last year was pretty interesting, right? We had a better year in the market than many of us expected, but there were bank closures at the beginning of the year, things that kind of get glazed over.
And I think you want to know that you have companies on the platform that are vetted out and are really credible, right? Every single partner that’s here in the room, you guys can count on that company and that partner to help you get where you need to go.
Not only do we get featured in Barron’s, but we also came out with some great research around the buffered annuity.
Okay? This is our world.
This is our space.
So we tapped the shoulder of Wade Fowl.
Google Wade’s name if you haven’t heard of him.
But he ran analyses on our segments to see what a buffered annuity could do to improve portfolio outcomes.
Right? Better chance of making a positive return, lower chance of losing money.
That’s what our clients want.
And were able to put that information out there, which has really been validating for this type of a strategy.
Now, I think, more importantly than any of that, it’s not about equitable and it’s not about our products, but it’s about all of you guys.
So last year, we helped Jeff protect his wealth, guaranteed his income, all while minimizing his tax impact and actually managing the inheritance of his father, which is a lot to manage, right? We’re able to do all that successfully, and that’s pretty common type of case that we have.
Carol was able to set up a guaranteed income for life that not only was guaranteed, but also was guaranteed to rise every single year.
I’m going to show you guys how we can create some control over your pension.
Over the years, Maria locked in her gains and added protection to her portfolio through an in service distribution.
Raise your hand if you know what an in service distribution is.
You should always be talking to people about their retirement accounts at work.
If you can offer them some more investment control, ways to lower their fees, add protection to their portfolio.
I’d hate to be the person that was going to retire in 2022 and have to retire with a lot less or work for a lot longer, but we can add that retirement insurance right now and protect that portfolio, and that’s what we did for Maria.
These are clients, you guys.
And then the last one, a lot of agents were able to submit their first annuity.
And again, whether it’s the newly licensed person or someone who just was introduced to the equitable relationship, were able to help them drop their first trade with us.
Now, those are the clients.
And as a result of those clients and what were able to do to help them, we got results for our agents.
Right.
Jeff’s agent earned his fourth diamond.
And it wasn’t just off that case.
It was of a number of different cases that we helped this agent write.
Right.
Carol’s agent was able to use that income strategy with four more clients just in the fourth quarter alone.
Right.
Interest rates went up.
She locked in pay raises for several clients.
Right.
Clients need more money in their pocket when inflation is high.
We were able to accomplish that for her.
The regional leader that works with Maria got his watch and had his best income year ever.
Guys, these are the things that I’m most proud of.
Right? It’s not the product.
It’s what you guys are trying to accomplish and how we can use our partnership and our products to help you guys get to that finish line.
Okay? Now, each of these people, whether you’re new or very experienced in the business, you’re now solidified in the securities business when you drop your first ticket.
And that’s what this is all about.
There’s some people that aren’t licensed in the room, leverage securities as a tool to give you guys leverage, to give you guys a wider range of partners and products and investment strategies to offer.
And just like Rob said, you don’t need to be the know it all, right? Kim said it too.
You have us on speed dial, right? Brains on top, not brains on tap, right.
You always hear these different phrases.
So now that we talked a little bit about what we’ve accomplished, how we’ve kind of adapted to the market and performed over the last couple years, I want to give you guys some strategies that actually fit these client needs, right? How are we able to help these clients do these things, right? First off, we did it with structured capital strategies.
That’s our accumulation program.
Okay.
So that’s going to be your way to safely bridge the gap from the wealth accumulation years to the retirement income years.
And we don’t know what’s going to happen over the next six years.
We don’t have that crystal ball.
But we do know that the market is going to do one of these four things.
Right.
It’s going to be up, down, both sideways.
We have investment strategies that can credit you positive returns regardless of the direction of the market.
Be pretty cool to make a positive return for your client even if the market was down.
Right.
So that’s something that equitable can help you guys do.
Okay, now I’m going to give you guys an idea of exactly how this works.
Okay, so this is a six year investment program called Structured Capital Strategies.
And I’m going to put it as simply as this, positioning this with just four lines.
And I know John is going to go over how he positions it as well with these lines.
So six year investment program, you’re going to make three very simple decisions with your client.
What index do you want to link your returns to, what investment options and how much downside protection would give you peace of mind.
And this is not just us.
This is your other annuity partners that have these buffered products that you can use to get a level of downside protection without sacrificing your growth.
Okay, so over the next six years, we’re going to invest in the S and P 500.
We’re going to give you up to 20% protection.
With that 20% protection, you see a 500% cap.
So let’s say over the next six years, the S and P does around what it does.
On average, 75% to 80% is the average.
Let’s say it does 80.
From today till six years later, if the market’s up 80, you make all 80%.
If somehow we did twice as much as the best six year period ever in the S and P, were over 500%.
You’re capped at 500.
That is your maximum return with any of the cap rates on any of the investment options.
You see, your cap is not your guaranteed rate.
It’s the most you can make.
All right? That’s your maximum return.
Now, a lot of uncertainty going into this year, right? There’s a lot of things happening globally.
There’s an election at the end of the year.
There’s going to be headlines creating volatility.
What happens if the market goes down? The biggest six year loss we’ve ever seen in the S and P 500 has been about 18%.
Want to make sure that this is still going.
Yeah.
So the biggest loss, 18%, 20% protection, would have erased that loss in full.
Okay, so all this added protection and from, let’s say, a CD at the bank, it’s limiting your ability to participate in the market and grow your wealth.
When nine times out of ten, the S and P 500 is up, we want to make sure clients understand how to tiptoe into the market in a safe way.
If you’re taking notes, guys, this is how I put this.
I said retirement insurance before.
This is just a safe way to grow your money.
Simple as that.
People want to make money when the market is up.
They don’t want to lose when the market is down.
And this accomplishes that goal.
Okay, lastly, what if we have the worst six year period we’ve ever seen in the SP and we’re down 22%, 20% protection, and then you only lose 2%.
You’re only on the hook for that difference.
Now, anytime I’m doing a training, I always encourage people to pair something I call the math of recovery with the rule of 72.
When you guys are teaching people how money works.
The math of recovery states that the bigger the loss in the market, the more you have to make to get back to where you started.
Right.
2022, the SP was down about 20%.
2023, we’re up about 25%.
So people just made their money back.
Okay, so think about the person approaching retirement.
Their portfolio is down 22%.
Do they have the time to make that loss back up, or do we fix our roof while the sun is shining? We add that retirement insurance now, right, while the portfolio is up.
That’s what structured capital strategies does.
Not to mention, there are zero fees, fund expenses, contract charges.
If the index is up 80% over six years, you make 80%.
Nothing is going to reduce that account value in the form of a fee or a charge.
Okay, now these are your investment choices, and I want to give you guys some tactics here with how you could actually position this.
So, three bullet points.
First one is the four lines.
How it works.
Number two, your menu of investment options, how much you stand to make, how much we could protect you, and then you back that up with historical proof.
So I just showed you guys the standard segment.
With that 20% protection, the average return over six years is about 75%.
We went back the last 42 years of six year rolling periods.
We’ll have the 2023 data pretty soon, too.
And as you can see, 444 six year rolling periods.
There was only 43 losses during that period of time.
We give you the 75% return with our caps.
They’re all higher than that.
But more importantly, is that level of protection.
That’s the peace of mind that someone can have.
So you’re telling me you have a strategy where you can have generally uncapped exposure tied to the s and P 500, right.
The magnificent seven.
Those seven companies that drew all the growth in the market this past year, access to those with no fund expense, and 20% protection that historically has never lost.
I think a client could feel some peace of mind in that.
Now, we’ve also taken it one step further, and this is something that I know John is going to talk a little bit about.
So I want to show it in a little bit of a different way than just those four lines.
But this is the dual direction segment.
Okay? This is something that we rolled out a few years ago that’s really helped us kind of drive that growth as the industry or in this buffered annuity product, where it’s the only way to make a positive return, even in the down market.
So I’m going to walk through the four lines in a different way so you guys get a different visual.
Okay, so let’s say we’re up 75% over the next six years.
Client makes all 75.
Say we’re up 130%, you make 120.
That is your cap on this investment option, as you see on the top there, right? Let’s say we’re down greater than 15%.
We’re down greater than our protection level.
Equitable is going to absorb that first 15% of the loss.
Client is only going to lose the 2% difference.
Here’s what’s most unique about this strategy.
If over the next six years, the index is down anywhere from zero to 15%, which is just about every six year loss ever, except a couple, we would turn that 15% loss into a 15% gain.
Can I go back? There you go.
So think about that six years from today.
What happens if the S and P 500 is down 8% positive? Eight.
In a traditional buffered annuity, you’re breaking even in an S and P index fund, maybe you’re down eight.
So that’s a pretty big swing if you could make 8% for a client while the market is down.
Right.
So that’s something that’s unique to this strategy that a lot of people have really gravitated headed towards.
But really, to take that one step further, again with the implementation of this, think about it.
You got clients with a retirement account at work, a mutual fund portfolio, or a managed account.
This is exactly how you should be approaching them and talking about where this strategy fits in.
It’s annuities as an asset class or a tool, right? You got a million dollar portfolio.
Most people are 60 40, 70 30 with their stock to bond exposure somewhere in that moderate growth space.
What if you took 15% of the equities, 15% of the bonds, shifted that to SES.
Now, the portfolio looks like this, and you just did three things that you see on the bottom of the screen for the client.
First, you lowered their fees by 30%.
The managed account has fund expenses.
Structured capital has zero.
You lowered the risk, because what happens if the market goes down? The portfolio may fluctuate in value.
SES is going to protect the loss.
So by lowering the fees and reducing the risk, we effectively increase what I would call risk adjusted return.
Because that 30% piece now in the annuity is 100% equities.
It’s in the S and P or the Nasdaq.
We just took your 70 30, made it an 80.
515 for 30% cheaper and less risk.
So people respond well to that.
It’s a big reason that we’ve been having so much success with the Primerica partnership is simply because of this.
It’s a protected equity asset class you add to your account.
Okay? So if this is your first time seeing this, I really encourage you guys to connect with me.
That’s why I had my phone number there.
Now, all roads lead to income at the end of the day.
And if you guys have worked with me before, you’ve seen this retirement timeline.
Our income program is called retirement cornerstone.
I just want to give you guys a few key takeaways on how you could generate a personal pension for a client that not only will make sure that they never outlive their income, but that their income could be flexible enough to adapt over a 20 to 30 year retirement.
Because people are living longer these days, right? We need to make sure we help them plan for that.
The annuities of the past are not the same as the annuities of today.
Okay.
Now here’s things that I notice about retirement income planning.
This is what I do.
Do it every single day.
Work with agents and their clients to come up with the right plan.
And here’s some things we always run into.
First off, sequence of returns, risk volatility in the market, plus inflation, making you have to take more out of the portfolio.
Right.
Tony mentioned the safe withdrawal rate, four or 5%.
You take money out of a portfolio in a down market, plus a fee, that’s going to accelerate the speed.
It can go to zero.
The annuity is going to eliminate that risk and make sure you never outlive the money.
But here’s a couple of other things that I’ve noticed.
A change in the plan could totally throw off how much income that client expects to receive.
Right? Historically, the school of thought is to be, hey, I’m 60 years old.
We’re going to wait to take money from the annuity until 65.
We’ll use the mutual funds in the meantime.
But then my daughter needs a new car.
I need to remodel my bathroom.
You guys have heard it all, but two years later, the client’s 62 and needs to take a withdrawal.
What happens to the income gets locked into a lower payout.
So we pride ourselves on not dictating our payouts based on age, and I’m going to show you what that means.
But the last thing is that whatever the dollar amount is that the client’s getting from annuity, oftentimes it’s a fixed amount, doesn’t generally rise with inflation or have the flexibility to be able to have that control.
And that’s something that we’ve adapted our strategy to as well.
So when you think about retirement planning today, you think about more than 10,000 people turning 65 every single day, retiring sooner than planned, living longer, mostly without pensions.
A pension is annuity, guys, most of you guys, I’m sure, are aware of that.
A pension isn’t annuity from a company you worked at for 30 years, retired, got a gold watch and a pension.
They barely exist anymore.
Social Security is also annuity from the government.
We pay into it our whole lives.
Now, you can buy annuity from an insurance company.
You’re just buying insurance on your income, right? So people are living longer.
They need that pension more than ever from an insurance provider because they don’t have it from their company.
But not only that, if people are living longer, don’t you think that your income needs to be flexible enough to be able to rise over time to be able to kind of adapt to changing needs.
Maybe you take less out of the annuity.
Maybe you could turn it off and get more growth.
You never know.
The situation is going to be different for every person, but that flexibility matters.
Okay, so the takeaways on the income program, 7% for all clients as long as you’re 50 or older.
Our sweet spot, if you’re taking income before you turn age 65, especially if you’re a married couple or someone with an age gap, I need to be your first call, because that’s where we stand out, and we have a pretty good fit on the income program.
Okay.
If you’re 50 or older, you get up to 20 years of 7% compound interest.
You have a 7% withdrawal rate as well.
Same rates, same cost for both single and joint.
We don’t reduce the withdrawal rates to cover joint lives.
Right.
So these are your rates.
While the account value is enforced, we don’t use age until the account value hits zero.
So not only can a client married couple aged 60 get a 7% withdrawal rate, which is going to be incredibly competitive, but you have the flexibility of taking less and reinvesting the difference, turning the income on and off, deciding when you want to take it out without it, determining what your payout is going to be.
Because we have to adapt.
Right? Life comes at you fast.
We need to make sure that our income can keep pace with those changes.
Okay.
Like I said, it’s 7% until the account value hits zero, at which case then we use age.
The older you are, if and when the account value eventually hits zero, the more you’d receive.
If you have an income situation, we just got to talk about it.
This all sinks in when you have a real person to apply the situation to or apply the product to.
We’ll run the numbers.
We’ll show you exactly how it works and how much income they can get.
Generally speaking, by time annuity hits zero, the client got what they put in and then some, hopefully, if it’s performed the way it should.
And I’ll give you guys a little secret.
You want to get into the insurance company’s pocket regardless of what the rate is, by time it does hit zero.
You want us paying you? You don’t want the client just taking out their own money every year.
Does that make sense? You want to get into the insurance company’s pockets? Okay.
But we’ve talked a lot about flexibility, people living longer, needing a rising income stream.
I just want to show you guys a quick visual these last 30 seconds.
Of how we could do that.
I know this is very busy, but just take a quick glance at this.
If you had a half a million dollar portfolio for a 64 year old and you could take 7% a year, that would be 35 grand.
6% is still the best pallet you’ll see for a 64 year old.
So what if you took six? You get $30,000 from day one.
You guarantee pay raises every single year.
Look at that green column.
We’re going to reinvest the 1% difference that you don’t take out for all 20 of those years.
It’s rare to have an income program that you could take income from day one that’s not dictated by your age and still get 20 years of compounding that fully controls those pay raises.
That client, Carol, I mentioned, this is exactly what we did for her.
She was of an age where 6% was the best payout we could find.
We were able to create a rising income program for her.
So if any of this makes sense to any of you, if any of this resonates and you want to learn more about it, we’re here to help you guys, right? Like I said, we’re in the business to help you.
Right.
We’re on speed dial to help you grow your securities business.
Right? So you don’t need to know every inch of every product, but you need to know where to find us and how we can help you.
Right.
And there’s a wide range of ways we can do that.
So if you didn’t take our contact info down at the beginning, please take it down now.
Guys, I am very confident that 2024 could be an even better year than 2023.
As successful as it was.
Sky’s the limit.
Right.
The demographic shifts are in our favor with annuity planning.
People need what you guys have.
You got to develop the confidence to share these strategies and get more familiar with it.
Right.
Even if you’re newly licensed or pursuing that license.
Look, Sky’s the limit once you get it.
So, guys, we’re here to help you guys, thanks again for the time.
I’ll be here for the rest of the day and look forward to talking with you guys again soon.
Close.
