escape the commodity trap work with a certified iul professional in this educational episode um I'll talk about what a certified ilul professional is and why it is so imperative for you to work with one and escape the commodity trap have a unique experience get educated but more than that create a meaningful transformation for yourself so I'm Doug Andrew and uh I've been helping people optimize assets and minimize taxes now for five decades as a financial strategist and retirement planning specialist and uh I've trained over 5,000 financial advisers on how to help their clients create a meaningful transformation in their lives now I am constantly surprised that how many financial advisers are still in a Comm it trap with their clients and I just go oh my Heavens when are they going to learn so if you're watching this episode uh I'm going to show you how to escape from the trap if you're a member of the general public if you're an adviser I'm going to show you how you can create a meaningful transformation for your clients and escape the commodity trap and I'm going to explain what I'm talking about by using an example from a book called The Experience economy by James Gilmore and Joseph Pine okay uh the the book talks about how most people will generally pay far more for something they perceive has a higher value now that sounds like a a no-brainer right and in the book they use the example of coffee so I'm not a coffee drinker and if you're not you'll understand this but basically at the time they wrote the book they said coffee in its pure commodity form uh coffee beans uh a cup of coffee is worth about 2 cents a cup now when those coffee beans are made into coffee grounds and packaged and you buy them at the store and then you take them home and make a cup of coffee it's actually costing you at least 10 times that maybe 25 cents a cup uh that's a unique product a cup of coffee instead of some coffee beans okay so far so good now when that cup of coffee enters the convenience sector in a restaurant or a 7-Eleven uh people will pay double or quadruple for that cup of coffee okay now let's just stop there for a moment if you're not connecting the dots um if we're talking about maximizing your rate of return and liquidity and safety and all that my favorite Financial vehicle is a property structured Max funded index universal life which is an insurance contract an insurance policy but it's being used for living benefits not for death benefit that requires that people understand it they have to be educated now if if all you want is some life insurance to to cover you in the event of an untimely death you can buy some term insurance from you know one of thousands of insurance agents out there that's a commodity uh you're you're trying to get the X amount of life insurance for the least premium and it it's a commodity Market okay now if if you're talking about index universal life that is primarily used for living benefits uh as an alternative to IRAs of 401ks or working capital for business or better plan than a 529 plan for your for your kids college savings or your grandkids now it's a unique product now if you go to an agent who sells iul that's just one rung up on the ladder uh that's a unique product but that doesn't mean they know what they're doing uh if you go to an agent and they spend time to educate you okay uh now you're you're getting there but maybe they provide really good service they return phone calls they say please and thank you they're on time they finish what they start those are called the refer ability factors that's as high as most uh professionals ever get so uh that is uh like buying coffee at a restaurant or 71 now Starbucks became famous why because they provided a unique experience for their customers the internet cafe the stopover between the home and the office and it doesn't matter if you go to a Starbucks and then go to an airport and stop at a Starbucks kiosk people wait in line for 15 or 20 minutes and then shut out $4 or5 for 15 cents worth of liquid and walk down the airport terminal proud they paid five bucks for 15 cents worth of liquid because they have this logo of Starbucks on their cup because they relate the unique experience even to a kiosk does that make sense if you're not understanding what what I'm talking about let's let's use Disneyland okay uh people go to Disneyland and um uh without batting an eye they shell out $4 for a 20 o bottle of water they could have gotten at Costco for 20 cents why are they willing to Shell out $4 at Disneyland because they're having a unique experience okay this is what we call a meaningful transformation Monopoly this is a good kind of Monopoly we all Grant monopolies to certain people our hairdresser our physical therapist a manicurist or whatever because it's more than just uh that I I pass over a hundred dentists going to my dentist because my dentist provides things for me that the other 100 dentist I pass do not provide to the level that I consider my dentist does okay and it's not only unique experience uh it's a meaningful transformation and that's the the level that people value even higher but before I move on to that level um a movie theater has a a monopoly on you if you're wanting to see the last you know Harry Potter film or Avengers film or or uh whatever it is um uh that you want to go see without batting an eye you shell out $6 for 15 cents worth of popcorn because they have a monopoly on you okay you'll you'll sell out five bucks for for 20 cents worth of licorice that's what I mean by a meaningful transformation Monopoly because you're having a unique experience at the movie theater okay so far so good well there's one level that people value even more than a unique experience and that's a meaningful transformation when you experience a meaningful transformation in your life uh then price goes out the window you will you uh most of my clients have always asked Doug are you earning enough compensation for what transformation you've created for us and our family uh they weren't worried about well golly how much is your cost or what are your fees or whatever it was always about are you earning enough money to be compensated uh because they want to make because of the meaningful transformation that they could only get uh what I was offering from me because in their mind they could see that I was set apart from a a thousand other financial advisers that didn't provide a meaningful transformation it was just a transaction see people don't want just transactions they want a transformation not a transaction if all you're want is a transaction here's the difference here okay uh if you're providing a meaningful transformation uh if you're an advisor you will have the highest compensation with the least competition it's not just monetary you'll have a tremendous amount of satisfaction but see you may know if you're just selling a commodity or people think oh you're they're an insurance agent if the first thing out of their mouth is I know Jim I know Mary uh they sell insurance uh they're viewing you at the commodity level okay because they can get insurance from any insurance agent uh but uh see if there's an alternative source of Supply if they can get it from any insurance agent or they can become fully informed okay uh about insurance without you they can learn about ilul without you uh they could just learn about it on the internet why do they need you okay and so you're in a commodity trap if you're an advisor that way and if you're a consumer I if this is what you're looking for you don't need I someone who is going to be able to provide a meaningful transformation because you could get an ilul policy from from any ilul agent but that's only like one rung up on the ladder you don't know that it's being structured correctly in funded property you're not working with a certified I professional who will make the difference in the rate of return where you can earn an average of 11 and Net 10 instead of earning eight and only netting two or three this is huge okay and I explain it in other episodes so um providing a meaningful transformation is the difference between offering what people maybe think they want which basically involves maybe selling features or benefits versus offering what people really want what do people really want they want to arrive at the land of peace and abundance they want Financial Freedom they don't want to outlive their money they want to be immune from the negative impact of taxes inflation and Market volatility and so forth they want they want that every million dollars can generate a 100,000 a year of tax-free income but they don't know a property structured Max funded index universal life is the dream solution to accomplish that until they get educated and once they get educated they can tell which advisors know how to do this correctly and which ones don't it's explained in my books okay uh they can tell by asking a few questions if the advisor understands what they're doing and so I learned a long time ago that if you if you make decisions logic Al okay if you're an advisor and all you're doing is saying come on this is a logical decision you're missing out on half of the opportunities out there but if you're a consumer out there a member of the general public and all you do is make your decision based on logic um you'll be secure but you're missing the boat uh if you combine logic with emotion to where you finally understand and get it you don't look at what it is it's life insurance you look at what it does okay that it uh is the dream solution to a myriad of financial goals now you're learning by stories and examples emotionally in addition to logically is how you're making your decisions and if you as an advisor are incorporating both left brain and right brain Concepts now you're arriving there so uh the certified iul professionals not only have to pass a very rigorous 100 question exam not with a 70% score not with an 80 not with a 90 they have to pass it with 100% before they are given a certificate to be certified 70% is not good enough either it's 80 or 90 they must know 100% what the answers are and if you want to be directed to somebody that's certified I can show you how to do that there's there's a handful in the country uh and we train them but they will help you understand things logically and emotionally uh and what I've done in my most recent bestselling book we're in our ninth printing of this this is playing off of our warehouse shelves uh we send out about 500 of these a week now it retails on Amazon for 20 bucks and if you do that thank you but I'll gift you a copy okay uh I'll I'll gift you a copy free you simply go to laser fund.com or click on the link below you you contribute a nominal amount towards the shipping and handling I require some skin in the game uh and uh I'll cover the rest of that cost and I'll pay for the book and then I fire out a hard copy to you this is why I want you to have a copy of this book because this side of the book The White side is for The Logical thinker and decision maker it's all the charts and graphs and explanations where you can make a logical decision but if you want to learn uh emotionally how it works okay and what it works you flip it over to this side and uh this is about 100 Pages 12 chapters with 62 actual client stories where you can see how it works in real life left brain right brain logic emotion okay and uh that is uh the way I would recommend you make your decisions and I recommend you talk to an ilul certified professional because they will help you understand both ways both logically and emotionally how it works and when you do that then you'll be able to explain it to those that you love that you care about and you'll be able to share stories in addition to logic and charts and graphs so that nobody is left out is this making sense so uh if you want to uh be introduced again go to laser fund.com click on the link below uh claim your free copy of the book and then as you go in there you'll have a chance to schedule an appointment uh with an ilul certified professional when you do that for no cost no obligation you can talk to somebody who's certified to help you see how it is done correctly and funded properly to create that meaningful transformation for you [Music]
