Why Financial Planners should sell Health Insurance

Kelly is a certified financial planner with over 20 years of experience. He was open-minded and expanded his offerings to include health and Medicare after seeing so many of his clients navigating that space alone. Since joining Compass, Kelly has been able to help so many people in multiple states with health, Medicare, and group health solutions.

Arthur Barlow: Kelly you’re a certified financial planner of over 20 years. There are a lot of advisors watching today in that same boat. Yet, you had an open mind to want to take on other lines of business that some might view as a little lesser than financial planning such as health insurance.

Where were you prior to joining Compass?

Kelly: I spent 17 years at Fidelity Investments… I came across a lot of situations with my clients who would come to me and want to redeem money out of their retirement accounts. It was basically because they didn’t get any health insurance or didn’t have Medicare.

 We were trained on these issues and knew about them. It’s just we couldn’t do anything about it. We couldn’t enroll a client into a Medicare supplement plan or anything else like that. It was really frustrating to see things happen and know that there is the possibility of a client falling into that trap and not being able to help them.

AB: Wow. So, Having the openness to see that your clients needed that help and that you were open to taking on these other verticals, and adding to your overall business model. So that you could really help them out not just with financial planning but with things like health insurance and Medicare.

Give us a brief overview of where you’re at today in your insurance career and some of the things you’ve accomplished that you’re proud of.

K: One thing I’m really proud of is I can actually help clients on their own terms now. If they come to me and want a full comprehensive plan, I can walk them through what they need to do with health insurance or Medicare. I can show them the plans they can utilize and enroll them in those plans.

At Fidelity, I couldn’t do that. I knew there was a trap they could fall into but I couldn’t help them. It’s refreshing to have that and be able to help clients with that.

AB: Would you say that an advisor can successfully do financial planning and also health at the highest level and know you’re doing the right thing for the client every time?

K: I think that you can in most cases anywhere you work. But the thing that is unique about Compass that I really like is that I’m able to actually help a client not only see what they need to do, but help them do it.

The difference between now and when I worked at other places is that I was able to tell them what they needed to do, but I wasn’t able to help them do what they needed to do. To be able to implement a plan, I think, is huge.

AB: Yeah, so you’re not just sending them off. You’re actually able to now know, OK I see the need that you have and rather than tell you how to take care of that need and what the solution is, I can be that resource for you in getting this solved and helping you out with that rather it’s health or Medicare.

Kelly, you’ve built up this clientele and you’re doing a lot with group as well. Tell our advisors that are watching some things they’d like to hear about how you do it and what you would recommend to them.

K: I think the biggest thing that motivated me to do what I’ve done so far is that I wanted to be able to help small businesses and individuals. A struggle a lot of small businesses face is how do they help with health insurance? 401ks? How do they find good employees? It’s a niche the bigger players don’t go after that hard.

When I was at Fidelity, it was as long as you want what we have we can help you. If we don’t have what you want then we really can’t help you. It’s so easy to find the solutions at a reasonable cost and do what’s in the client’s best interest instead of what's in the company’s best interest.

I think Compass does a really good job and I like what we’ve been able to do at Compass so far.

AB: As an advisor, it’s like taking the handcuffs off. You’re free to go out and look out for the client’s best interest and look out for them every single time. Talk about some of the things that Compass has done to support you in your success.

K: The biggest thing is the technology. It’s funny, I tried to do this on my own. I worked with other general agents who said they could help me with it. When Compass first contacted me, I thought this is intriguing but no one could do this, so I deleted the email. When it came across again, I thought if they could do this it would be really awesome.

When I talked to [Compass] it was like, no way you can do this!? It’s incredible, I write health insurance policies not only in Utah but PA, NM, WA, and I know what’s going on in those markets.

AB: With a tool like the Compass Presentation Navigator with a couple of clicks you can see all of the exact benefit details. So without being someone local in that market you can still become an expert quickly and help out your client in the best way.

If you’re a certified financial planner who is looking to expand your overall verticals, helping your clients, and being a resource for them, you can really benefit from the things that Compass can offer you.

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