Update News for April 2010

Here is a quick run-down on what you will find in this bulletin:

• • No Lapse UL Monthly Premiums

     

     

  • New Update Download Software

     

     

  • Get Web Quotes for FREE for 4 Months

     

     

  • ANOTHER PRICE CUT! – Quote Sites FOR SALE

     

     

  • On-Line PDA Software

     

     

  • What’s Next?

     

     

These topics will be dealt with in more detail throughout this bulletin.

No Lapse UL Monthly PremiumsAs most subscribers no doubt know, our ability to quote modal premiums for no lapse UL products is greatly hampered by the large number of companies that do not use a traditional modal factor to compute the premium.

For example, most companies (for term products) will have a monthly factor such as .09 or .0875. If the annual premium is $1,000, and the modal factor is .09, then the monthly premium is $90 per month. If the modal factor is .0875 and the annual premium is $1,000, the monthly premium would be $87.50.

If the monthly premium is $90 (.09), multiple the monthly premium times 12. This demonstrates that the client is paying $90 X 12 = $1,080 for their insurance. By contrast, if they paid it annually it’s $1,000. $1,080 is 8% more than the annual premium of $1,000. In today’s interest market, 8% is quite high but it’s not really 8%. You have to remember that the principal cost of the annual premium for the policy, when paying it monthly, is really like the declining balance of a loan. This means that the effective interest rate is more like 16% which is a hefty chunk.

Here’s another “rule of thumb” example of interest rates and relative payments on declining balance loans:

Suppose that you are thinking about financing a car purchase of $20,000, at 8%, over 5 years. What is the monthly payment?

First, you will be paying 8% of $20,000 over 5 years. 8% times 5 is 40%. However, the principal amount of the loan is a declining balance meaning the balance you owe (of the original $20,000) keeps getting smaller. Remember, your payment is paying interest and a portion of the principal. So take 1/2 of 40% which is 20%. 20% of $20,000 is $4,000. Now add together the $20,000 and $4,000 for a total of $24,000. Divide this by 60 payments to get a monthly payment of $400.

Let’s compare the “rule of thumb” calculation with a more precise calculation such as the loan calculator at cars.com:

cars.com – Auto Loan CalculatorAccording to that calculator, the monthly payment is $405.52. So the rule of thumb calculation of $400 gets us pretty close.

Back to insurance premiums. A factor of .0875 on a $1,000 premium produces a payment of $87.50. $87.50 times 12 is $1,050 which is 5% more than the annual premium of $1,000. Double the 5 to 10 and you can assume the effective rate of interest for a .0875 factor is about 10%.

Let’s check this with the loan calculator at cars.com. The principal is $1,000 and the 12 payments are $87.50 each. Playing with different interest rates shows the effective rate of interest is just over 9%. Again, 10% is pretty close using the rule of thumb. Needless to say, even with only .0875, consumers can save a bunch by paying annually.

Unfortunately most UL products do not have a simple modal conversion factor. If you were to look at it more closely, as we have done, then you would realize that the effective modal factor actually varies depending upon the age, class and amount of insurance. At some ages the factor is much, much higher. We have seen some examples where the factor was in the mid .08 range (.083333 is no interest at all), and some where factors get as high as the mid .09 range – all within the same product.

At this point it is also worth noting that some no lapse UL monthly factors are as low as divide by 12 (.0833333). In cases such as that, where interest rates are VERY low or nil, the client would be further ahead paying monthly than paying annual simply because they retain the use of the balance of the annual premium, interest free.

When we originally designed Compulife the assumption was that all modal premiums were generated from factors, which was the case. And it only makes sense to use factors, because if an agent wants to MANUALLY calculate a monthly premium, it is easier to remember and use something like multiply by .09.

Unfortunately this new crop of no lapse UL products do not have simple factors. To replicate the monthly premiums we would need to rely upon monthly premium rates per thousand. To date we have not had the ability to story monthly premiums per thousand and so in such cases we do not quote ANY monthly premiums. That is why, when you run no lapse UL quotes, no monthly premiums are available.

However, when Genworth rolled out their new term/UL product we modified our policy of not quoting monthly premiums where there was no simple factor. The company had expressed their concern to us that not being able to quote a monthly premium would leave their product at a disadvantage compared to tradition term plans in our software.

To accommodate the situation we analyzed Genworth’s annual and monthly rates to identify the “worst case scenario” factors. As this changed dramatically at older ages, we actually divided the products into two groups based upon age. We have one product entry for younger ages, and another product entry for older ages. Despite this, and in many examples, the monthly premiums that we are quoting are significantly higher.

Even though we explained all this in previous bulletins, subscribers have been routinely complaining that the monthly premiums for Genworth are wrong. And it is true, in many examples our method of using worst case scenario factors gives monthly premiums much higher than what the company is offering. Unfortunately the immediate remedy is to remove monthly premiums altogether as there is no immediate remedy for the problem.

To address the issue, and to deal with the whole inability to quote no lapse UL monthly premium problem, we are working on a program change to fix the problem. The “fix” is significant as we will need to begin storing monthly rates per thousand in addition to annual rates per thousand. This effort is coming along well and we hope to be able to release it sometime in April. We have completed the data entry aspect of the project which allows us to create and story monthly premiums in data files. The next step is to update GOWIN.EXE to access the new monthly data files.

Therefore, effective with the first midmonth April update of Compulife, we will be altering the Genworth no lapse UL term products and REMOVING the ability to quote monthly premiums as we have been doing. The Genworth term/UL products will ONLY be quoting annual premiums.

We hope, as soon after as possible, to introduce the new system for quoting the monthly premiums from the new monthly premium rate files. This will not be an immediate transition. For example, those with internet engines will need to have those updated once the new system is completed and thoroughly field tested. We will also have to update the PDA software.

The new version of the new GOWIN.EXE program is currently being tested and we are working out the bugs as of the writing of this bulletin. When we release that version, we will also be releasing the new downloading function for updates.

New Update Download SoftwareTwo months ago we told you that we encountered a bug in our software when someone was using the Windows 7 voice recognition software. We narrowed the bug down to a conflict with the routines that we use for downloading updates from the Internet.

To address this issue we told you that we have decided that we will replace the download mechanism in our software with a newer system that is external to the GOWIN.EXE program file.

The new download system is contained in a new program that we have called:

CQSDOWN.EXEWe have been providing that new program in our midmonth updates and it is provided again in this monthly update. However, we have not yet replaced the GOWIN.EXE file with the new GOWIN.EXE that talks to CQSDOWN.EXE. CQSDOWN.EXE will not be used unless YOU run it manually and it can be run manually and separately from GOWIN.EXE.

We don’t know how many have tested this yet, but we suspect that most have not. Therefore, we will not be providing the new GOWIN.EXE file until early in April.

The question we have been asking is whether or not this new program will work as well as the old routines that we were previously using. It has been testing fine on our computers and we are quite confident it will run fine on your computer, but we won’t know for certain until we try it on all those computers out there.

We actually think the new CQSDOWN.EXE may solve downloading problems that a few subscribers were having. Up until now some subscribers were unable to run our existing automatic updates. Those subscribers were having to do the updates by downloading manually. Once again, we won’t know if the new system solves that problem until subscribers run the new CQSDOWN.EXE program. That is why we have encouraged subscribers to launch and run the CQSDOWN.EXE file and test it. Here is how you can easily test the new program by running CQSDOWN.EXE:

• • Go to “

My Computer

• • ” or “

Computer

• • “. Double click on that.

 

• • On the next screen find your

C: drive

• •  and double click on that.

 

• • Find the

COMPLIFE

• •  folder on your list of folders, double click on that.

 

• • Look through the list of Compulife files and find

CQSDOWN.EXE

• • . Double click on CQSDOWN.EXE.

 

• • On the CQSdown window, click on the “

Get Monthly Update

• • ” button.

The program should say:

 

• • • • • “Newer monthly update file(s) are not available.

 

• • • • • Do you want to download anyway?

 

• • • • • No is recommended.”

If you got the above message, you are done. You will have just confirmed that the new download program is working.

You can go ahead and say “No”. The GOWIN.EXE file will automatically start up.

If you get a different message we would like to hear from you ASAP. Give us a call at (800) 798-3488. You can also email us at:

service@compulife.comOf course this assumes subscribers have read about any of this, and most won’t have read about it.

So the plan is that we will replace the old GOWIN.EXE with the new GOWIN.EXE, in one of our midmonth updates in April. The NEXT update after that, the new GOWIN.EXE will call the new CQSDOWN.EXE. If there is a problem, you will discover the problem then (unless you have manually tested the new program).

As backup, and to ensure minimal interruption in the event of a problem, we will also providing the old GOWIN.EXE in the same midmonth update we provide the new GOWIN.EXE. The old file will be installed to your computer and called OLDGOWIN.EXE. If you do have a problem with the new system, you will be able to call us and we will show you how to make an icon for the OLDGOWIN.EXE file.

Get Web Quotes for FREE for 4 MonthsIf you are a current subscriber to Compulife, and have never before had our web quotes on your web site, you can have the option for 4 months for FREE – with no obligation to purchase the service at the end of 4 months. This is a standing offer.

To date OVER 200 Compulife subscribers have acted on this offer and have added our quote system to their web sites.

I detect that some subscribers are overly cautious about this add on, concerned that people will visit their web sites, gain important information, and not buy insurance from the same agent (you) who provided the information. That thinking is too narrow. Why do retail stores have window displays? Aren’t they worried that someone will walk by, see something they like, and go somewhere else to buy it? But retailers have learned that they need window displays so that those walking (surfing) by know what it is they are offering. If the window shopping (browsing) consumer has no idea what you can provide, there is ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE they will come in and buy. The retail folks have learned that you can’t sell to everyone, but you need to let everyone know what you have for sale. That’s exactly what our online life quote system can do for your web site. Remember, most visitors to your site will not be clients or qualified prospects, they will be stone cold potential prospects. You need to give them SOMETHING that would make them want to stop and consider you.

To obtain your 4 months of free quotes for your web site, complete the application here:

Application for Web QuotesFirst time trial users of Compulife, who qualify for 4 free months of service, can also add quotes to their web site for FREE for 4 months.

Don’t have a web site yet? We can give you a quoting site for only $50 more per year.

Don’t have a domain name yet? We have a great list of available domain names that are pre-registered and ready to go. Read on!

PRICE CUT! – Quote Sites FOR SALETwo months ago we told you about the slate of domain names that we pre-registered, and that we are offering for sale to our subscribers. A number of the best one’s have been picked through and purchased. We are AGAIN DROPPING the price on the remaining domain names.

The new price is $99 $79 $69 – down $10 from last month. Will we drop the price again? Yes, we suspect that by the beginning of June the price for the remaining domain names will drop again. We will probably cut the price dramatically by the summer and by Christmas will be practically giving them away. The point is that we will keep dropping prices until our current inventory is sold out.

The problem is that if you wait you may lose a great domain name to someone else. More than one of the sold domain names were requested by another subscriber after they had just been sold to another subscriber who beat the second person to the punch. You snooze, you lose.

And if the latest price cut doesn’t suit you, and instead of waiting around for another domain name price drop, feel free to MAKE US AN OFFER on any remaining domain name(s) that you want. If it is a reasonable offer we are likely to take it.

These domain names and quote sites are FOR SALE to Compulife subscribers ($99 $79 $69 for the name if owned by Compulife), on a first come, first serve basis:

erterm.com	emergency assistance for term buyers
termmd.com	SOLD
drterm.com	SOLD
byterm.com	the short way to buying term life insurance
doterm.com	the place to do term comparisons
idterm.com	SOLD
mcterm.com	the place for low cost term
mclife.com	godaddy.com is selling this domain name for $2,581.00
piterm.com	investigate the best deals on term
911term.com	SOLD
term411.com	SOLD
term800.com	SOLD
termmap.com	find your best route to buying term
webterm.com	godaddy.com is selling this domain name for $4,388.00
termgps.com	a step by step route to buying term
termvip.com	SOLD
lifevip.com	godaddy.com is selling this domain name for $3,588.00
termwiz.com	SOLD
termkey.com	SOLD
termdig.com	let us uncover your best term insurance deal
termltd.com	an organized way to get the lowest cost term
termgal.com	if you are a lady selling term, this domain is self explanatory
ciaterm.com	providing intelligence to locate the best term policy
lifecia.com	providing intelligence to locate the best term policy
termzip.com	SOLD
zapterm.com	Instant term life quotes
termprice.com	godaddy.com is selling this domain name for $500.00
fbiterm.com	we always get you the best term policy
fbilife.com	we always get you the best term policy
termcop.com	walking the beat to find you the best term
termgun.com	targeting the best term products available
termhunt.com	SOLD
termace.com	SOLD
lifeace.com	godaddy.com is selling this domain name for $2,888.00
termbag.com	with us, the best term deals are in the bag
rapidterm.com	godaddy.com is selling this domain name for $1,200.00
termbug.com	we crawl the web for the best deals on term insurance
termcow.com	milking the term market to get you the best deal
termdad.com	when it comes to term insurance, who’s your daddy?
termdoc.com	SOLD
termelf.com	see how fast we can put together a golden term deal for you
termfix.com	if your looking for a great deal, the fix is in at termfix.com
termfox.com	SOLD
termgap.com	filling the life insurance gap
termhog.com	more companies and more products at termhog
termhut.com	all the best term products under one roof
hutinsurance.com	all the best insurance products under one roof
termjar.com	all the best term products in one spot
insurancejar.com	all the best term products in one spot
jarinsurance.com	all the best term products in one spot
termjoy.com	where you see how little term insurance costs
termjug.com	all the best term products in one spot
lifejug.com	all the best term products in one spot
insurancejug.com	all the best term products in one spot
termkeg.com	all the best term products in one spot
insurancekeg.com	all the best term products in one spot
termkid.com	so simple to use, a kid can do it
termkit.com	everything you need to find the best term products
termnut.com	we go crazy finding you the best term products
ourterm.com	Our term products are the best, check it out
termowl.com	keeping a sharp eye out for the best term products
termpop.com	Instant term insurance quotes
termpot.com	all the best term products in one spot
termsky.com	when it come to finding term insurance, the termsky.com is the limit
termtip.com	have we got a hot term deal for you
tryterm.com	think you can’t afford life insurance, tryterm.com can help
upsterm.com	we deliver great term deals
termvac.com	suck up a great deal on term insurance here
insurancevac.com	suck up a great deal on term insurance here
lifevac.com	suck up a great deal on term insurance here
termcut.com	paying too much for life insurance, termcut.com can lower you costs
tisterm.com	tis no better place for a term bargain
wowterm.com	when you see how low term insurance cost are, you’ll say wowterm
lifewow.com	when you see how low life insurance cost are, you’ll say wowterm
termtap.com	our site can let you tap into the best term deals in the market
insurancetap.com	our site can let you tap into the best insurance deals in the market
termsnap.com	SOLD
termsos.com	SOLD
sosterm.com	SOLD
termceo.com	get the same low term costs top businessmen receive
insuranceceo.com	get the same low term costs top businessmen receive
ceoterm.com	get the same low term costs top businessmen receive
termphd.com	let our highly qualified site find you the best term deals
phdterm.com	let our highly qualified site find you the best term deals
termmba.com	let our highly qualified site find you the best term deals
insurancemba.com	let our highly qualified site find you the best term deals
mbaterm.com	let our highly qualified site find you the best term deals
007term.com	licensed to get you a killer of a deal on term life insurance
term007.com	licensed to get you a killer of a deal on term life insurance
termrus.com	we r the best place for term insurance
laserterm.com	SOLD
termtrack.com	helping you track down the best deals on term insurance

The pre-registered, ready to go quote sites are available to Compulife subscribers for a one time fee of $99 $79 $69 (for the domain name) plus an annual renewal fee of $149 **.

** NOTE: Only $50 of the annual fee is payable immediately. The $99 fee does not begin until the end of 4 months, as per the 4 month free web site quoting offer that Compulife is making to all subscribers and potential subscribers. Keep reading.

For more information about the domain names that we have for sale, and the web sites that are ready to go, click on:

www.compulife.com/domainOn-Line PDA SoftwareWe are yet AGAIN delayed on this project, do to the month premium change we are making for no lapse UL products. Our apologies for this taking so long, and hope you understand we are trying to devote out attention to the issues most needed.

The system we are building to track PDA use of our new online PDA service is more involved and has taken longer than we originally anticipated. Such is life in the software business when you are breaking new ground.

For that reason we have taken a baby step forward and implemented the “look and feel” of the new service at:

www.term4sale.com/blackberryOnce the new online PDA service is available, where you will be able to select the companies you want to quote, an enrollment form will replace the quoting service at:

term4sale.com/blackberryOnce you completed the enrollment form, a personalized version will be created for you and you will have your own Administration Panel that lets you include only those companies that you want to quote. Those of you who are now trying Compulife’s new web quotes for your web site will have already seen the new administration panel. The one for the PDA version of the software is exactly the same.

Unlike the new web quoting option that you can buy for $99 per year, the new PDA quoting service that we are rolling out will be FREE but it will be for your personal use only. Your web address, for your PDA online quote system, must be kept confidential and it must not be used by others or made available on your web site. That’s why we are implementing features to track who is using your PDA quote system. Remember, this is the FREE version for YOUR PDA only. We will be able to monitor the specific PDA’s visiting your PDA quote site, and if more than the allocated number are doing so, the software will notify Compulife and we will shut down your PDA quote site.

If you want a PDA quote site that others can use, we can set that up for you for only $99 per year and we can do that now. And keep reading, you can get the first 4 months of the public PDA version for FREE. Once a public site has been set up for you, you can give the address to anyone that you want.

What’s Next?Once our work on the web engines and PDA/Phone software is complete, we will be turning our attention to some important maintenance work that is needed to the data entry systems. Those programs have not been updated for quite some time, and some need to be converted to take advantage of the newer programming compilers that we have been using for the Windows software that we already distribute to you. Our goal is to make it easier to program future software, which will ensure that we can roll out changes and improvements more efficiently.

Further, having reviewed where we are heading over the next few years, and the changes that we would like to be able to make in the future, we have decided to stop and do a much more extensive overhaul than simply changing our data entry software. We have determine that we would also like to implement a better data storage structure that will make maintenance easier on both a data entry basis, as well as a programming basis.

To achieve our goals in this regard, we will be spending a fair bit of time reviewing our new data storage needs, and then building conversion software that will convert our existing data files into our new data file structure. Once we have done that, we will then introducing new comparison software that does exactly what it does now, but which derives its results from the new data structure. In other words, you will end up with a new program that does exactly what the old program did/does.

Once this first stage is completed, we will have both old program and old data, with new program and new data. Moving forward we will use the old data entry systems to maintain the old version, then converting old data to the new data forms for general distribution.

The next stage is to create the new data entry systems that talk to the new data format. Once we are satisfied that the new data entry system give us everything that we have now, we will then switch to the new data structure alone. We will only do this once we have thoroughly tested the new software to ensure it gives us no problems in maintaining the date. This may take several months. As far as the part you use, by the time we make that transition, you will have been using the new software for several months.

The point of sharing this with you is that the process will be quite lengthy and so from this spring throughout most of 2010, you will not be seeing many changes and improvements to the software that you use, even though the underlying foundation will be going through a massive change. Once the foundation has been reconstructed, and all the tools to work on the foundation have been built, the program will be in a position to make some substantial moves forward.

Think of it as transplant surgery, where you need to keep the patient alive and well, at the same time as you are swapping out the organs.