
Greenshield Financial
DBA Greenshield Insurance Solutions in select states

Information and FAQs
Greenshield Financial Help Center
If you are looking for some answers regarding one of our services, please see if we’ve answered your question below. If you can’t find what you are looking for, please get in touch and we’ll do our best to help.
Frequently asked questions
During your appointment please have something to write with and to write on. If there is more than one person that will be making the decision regarding the insurance, or more than one person that is looking for coverage please have them attend the meeting as well.
Your appointment will proceed more quickly if you have your driver's license, details about your current financial situation (income, assets, liabilities, expenses, life insurance policies, investment/ retirement accounts), information about your beneficiaries, and any questions you may have for your agent. While not required, this information will help our agents tailor make a plan that fits your needs, goals, and budget.
You can expect an agent to reach out to you via phone. Our agents will normally introduce themselves, go over your needs, and then find options that you qualify for based on an assessment of your health and finances. If you prefer, our agents may also meet you over zoom to more easily share information as well as to provide a face to face experience.
Your agent is contracted with a large number of different insurance and financial companies. During your appointment your agent will be comparing your goals and needs with all of these companies to find the best rates and plans to accomplish your goals. There are many considerations such as amounts of coverage, health status, budget, etc which can impact the availability of each individual carrier or plan. Our agents don't pick a plan and then fit you to it, the systems we use don't even make a product or company recommendation until after we have entered in all of our clients goals and information.
Of course, as we are a brokerage that works with many carriers instead of just one carrier like most agents we can evaluate your current policy against the entire market to insure you have the best coverage possible. While it is possible your current policy is the best available it is also very likely that one of our agents will be able to find something that will fit your current needs better than your previous policy.
There is a potential, especially if you have had recent health complications that you would be able to sell your current insurance policy. Instead of selling your policy you may also be able to apply the cash value inside of your current policy to a new policy to save you money. Please get in touch with one of our agents to go over details.
Unlike most agents, our agents do not work for a single company, every agent here is a broker dedicated to searching through as many companies as possible to find you the best insurance possible. Your actual policy will come from one of the many companies we work with such as Aetna, Mutual of Omaha, AIG, etc and have the full backing and security of the policy's issuing carrier.
Coverage is often effected by the health of the individual. Obviously someone who is 75 years old with stage 4 cancer is going to have a more limited selection of life insurance products than a healthy 20 year old. Even in products that do not take into account the health of the individual it can be important. Some of our indexed investment products such as annuities may have riders that increase the insured's retirement income if they were to need nursing care etc. We believe that these considerations are important when building a plan for our clients.
Financial information can help our agents find plans that are more suitable for your situation. Someone who has a lot of assets will have different life insurance needs than someone who doesn't. For example a person with a large amount of money inside a savings account may be better served by placing that same money into a combination policy that allows them to keep access to that money while simultaneously using the interest to pay for a permanent life insurance policy as well as having that same policy return a higher percentage than their savings account was. Without disclosing that information or the client specifically knowing that a policy like that was an option that person could have been forced to spend hundreds of dollars a month on an insurance policy with less benefits. Our experts are trying to help you, the prices of products do not change based on information you disclose, those prices are set by the insurance carriers for everyone.

Basic Information
Accidental death insurance covers one of the most common risks you’ll face. Accidental death is most easily understood as death from a non-medical cause such as a car accident, fall, or drowning. It can exist as a standalone policy or be added as a rider to other insurance.
These policies may have increased payouts depending on the type of accident. Types that pay at increased rates are deaths involving a vehicle and deaths while riding a common carrier. A common carrier death would be an accidental death caused during a ride in a vehicle that you paid to enter such as a taxi, airplane, cruise ship, train, or rideshare. Many accidental death policies also cover dismemberments. Examples are accidents that cause a loss of vision, hearing, speech, paralysis, or the loss of a limb.
Policies generally pay out if death occurs within one calendar year of the accident; For example if you were in a car accident which caused you to be hospitalized for 10 months prior to your passing the policy would still pay out.
As always this is general information and your specific policy features will be found in the packet sent to you after you complete an application. If you're interested in an accidental death policy or any other type of insurance product please reach out to one of the agents on our team using the links provided. We are happy to design a plan to accomplish your unique
goals
Term life insurance, also called pure insurance, is the simplest type of insurance. During a set period of time, such as 20 years, it guarantees payment of a specific benefit. Normally the amount of coverage and the amount you pay is locked in and level during the term. After the term is complete the price will normally increase with your increasing age. A term policy does not build cash value but is likely to have additional riders, called living benefits. The benefits cover events such as chronic, critical, and terminal illness, as well as critical injury. It may also pay extra in the case of accidental death. Certain term policies are issued with a rider that returns all or a percentage of premiums paid at the end of the term.
As always this is general information and your specific policy features will be found in the packet sent to you after you complete an application. If you're interested in a term life policy or any other type of insurance product please reach out to one of the agents on our team using the links provided. We are happy to design a plan to accomplish your unique
goals.
Whole life insurance is permanent coverage that has a level premium and a level death benefit. This means that no matter what health conditions you develop or how old you get you will never pay more or receive less because the values are locked in forever. Whole life insurance generally covers all causes of death, normally with the only exceptions being for acts of war and suicides within the first two years of policy inception.
Whole life insurance builds cash value while maintaining a death benefit. Cash value is built when more money goes into the policy than it would cost to provide insurance at your current age and health. The insurance company guarantees a fixed return on this value that provides lower premiums later in life, can be borrowed against, used to make up missed premiums, and helps prevent policy cancellation.
Whole life insurance may have additional riders, called living benefits, which cover events such as chronic, critical, and terminal illness, as well as critical injury. It may also pay extra in the case of accidental death. Some types of whole life insurance pay dividends. Dividends can usually be taken as cash, invested, or applied to the policy in different ways. The applied value may increase coverage or decrease the amount or length of time that you pay for the policy. Whole life insurance has a maturation age. If you haven't died by the maturation age, for example 100 years old, the policy pays out as if you had passed away. Death benefits and living benefits are generally paid out tax-free to the beneficiary or insured if they are still alive
As always this is general information and your specific policy features will be found in the packet sent to you after you complete an application. If you're interested in a whole life policy or any other type of insurance product please reach out to one of the agents on our team using the links provided. We are happy to design a plan to accomplish your unique
goals.
Universal life policies are a form of permanent life insurance that build cash value while maintaining a death benefit. Cash value is built when more money goes into the policy than it would cost to provide insurance at your current age and health. The cash value inside a policy accumulates interest by tracking an index such as the S&P 500. You also usually have the option of putting some or all of the cash value in a fixed rate account to generate a guaranteed return. There are multiple kinds of universal life policies, we’ll be covering the most popular type, an indexed universal life policy or I-U-L.
Indexed Universal Life policies offer greater control of your cash value. The designer of an IUL is able to allocate the premiums toward providing a higher death benefit or increasing the cash value over time. Higher cash values can provide many benefits such as: a lower cost of insurance later in life, an emergency fund, coverage for missed premiums, or a retirement income. While harder to qualify for than whole life insurance, the increased average growth within these policies cause them to grow faster and cost less on average.
IULs may also have riders covering chronic, critical, and terminal illness, as well as critical injury, Alzheimer's, confined care, and lifetime income benefit riders. This means that most IULs may pay out while the insured is still alive. They also have a built in protection called a floor provision which protects you from losing money due to a market downturn.
Indexed universal life policies can be used to accomplish many goals. They have the potential to provide life insurance forever, even if you stop paying. In addition, IULs may also provide retirement income, asset protection, as well as a means to transfer wealth across multiple generations without incurring tax liabilities such as income, capital gains, and estate taxes.
As always this is general information and your specific policy features will be found in the packet sent to you after you complete an application. If you're interested in an indexed universal life policy or any other type of insurance product please reach out to one of the agents on our team using the links provided. We are happy to design a plan to accomplish your unique goals
If you, like most people, have concerns about your financial future, you may be interested to learn how an annuity could provide a permanent and guaranteed retirement. Similar to a pension, annuities are vehicles used to safely grow your investments and provide income later in life. There are multiple ways to structure an annuity – we’ll be covering the most popular type: a Fixed Indexed annuity or F-I-A.

The greatest feature of an F-I-A is its floor provision which allows you to participate in market growth without participating in market losses. Each time an index grows you gain value, but if the index decreases, the value inside the annuity is protected.
As an example, outside of an annuity, if the market were to drop by 50 percent, a 50 percent gain wouldn't undo your loss; you'd actually need to wait for a 100 percent gain to get back to your original position. This could make you feel the need to postpone your retirement until the market rebounds, however, thanks to the protections in an F-I-A, market downturns won't force you to delay your plans.
Annuities are typically credited on a yearly basis which increases their stability and eliminates the daily fluctuations you would see in other investment products. Therefore funds inside an annuity resemble upward stairs instead of the up and down line graph you’re probably familiar with from stocks or other retirement accounts. They also encourage diversification allowing periodic re-distribution of funds to whichever strategies you believe will perform best. In addition, growth inside an annuity is tax deferred, meaning that all else remaining equal, it will grow faster than a taxed investment by avoiding capital gains and income tax.
Many annuities will match a percentage of the money you put in, similar to how an employer would match some of your investments into a 401k. Annuities can also offer additional benefits called riders. These are normally optional and may add costs. The lifetime income rider is a popular example. It provides an income for you, or you and a spouse, that will never decrease and that you can never outlive no matter how your investment performs. Another common rider would temporarily double your income if you required nursing care. Also, for those concerned about access to their funds, riders may allow for increased withdrawals or penalty free contract termination.
In exchange for all the benefits we’ve discussed and low to no fees, an annuity has one major consideration: its surrender period. During the surrender period, which usually lasts from 3 to 10 years, if you exceed the withdrawal limit, usually 10%, the excess is assessed a fee.
As always this is general information and your specific policy features will be found in the packet sent to you after you complete an application. If you're interested in an annuity or any other type of insurance product please reach out to one of the agents on our team using the links provided. We are happy to design a plan to accomplish your unique goals.
A viatical settlement is a where a person, usually with a life-threatening illness, sells their existing life insurance policy to a third-party company for a lump sum cash payment. This allows the policyholder to access a portion of their life insurance benefits to cover medical expenses, long-term care, or other financial needs while they are still alive. The buyer of the policy assumes the responsibility for paying the premiums and receives the full benefit when the original policyholder passes away.
Return of Premium in an insurance policy is where on cancellation all or a percentage of all the premiums paid are returned tax free on cancellation. For example if you cancelled a policy with 100% ROP for which you were paying $1000/yr after 30 years you would receive $30,000 tax free assuming your beneficiaries didn't claim the policy before cancellation. For availability and specific policy details please ask your agent.

Product Uses
An indexed annuity has a floor provision which allows you to participate in market growth without participating in market losses. Each time an index grows you gain value, but if the index decreases, the value inside the annuity is protected.
As an example, outside of an annuity, if the market were to drop by 50 percent, a 50 percent gain wouldn't undo your loss; you'd actually need to wait for a 100 percent gain to get back to your original position. This could make you feel the need to postpone your retirement until the market rebounds, however, thanks to the protections in an F-I-A, market downturns won't force you to delay your plans.
The infinite banking concept (IBC) is a cash flow management system that uses the cash value of a life insurance policy instead of a traditional bank account. The concept involves purchasing a life insurance policy and then overfunding it with premium payments. A large portion of each premium payment goes towards the policy's cash value, which compounds tax-free over time. The policyholder can then borrow against the cash value, or make withdrawals, to pay for expenses or investments without relying on traditional lenders or savings accounts. Because loans taken against the policy are tax free there can be huge benefits in retirement and business planning using these types of policy designs.
Life insurance based retirements are often tax free. This means that they can be used to eliminate the portion of your retirement that is hitting the highest marginal tax rates. The same money that is helping you retire can also be used to ensure that you are permanently protected from Illness, injury, death etc.
Cash Value life insurance can be used to transfer assets through multiple generations with a single policy. For example a grandparent can place a cash value life insurance policy on a child while still using it for their own retirement. Then when the child passes the child would become the new owner of the life insurance policy, acquiring the full cash value of the policy. The child then would be able to assign the beneficiary to a 3rd generation and pass the death benefit to them tax free in most situations.
Certain types of life insurance build a cash value. This value can be used in emergencies for tax free loans for whatever needs you have. These loans can even be used as a permanent retirement income. The cash value can generate a return on the money in the account which is usually much higher than a normal saving account's return.
Life insurance benefits are generally tax free and avoid probate. They can also be used to transfer assets through multiple generations with a single policy. For example a grandparent can place a cash value life insurance policy on a child while still using it for their own retirement. Then when the child passes the child would become the new owner of the life insurance policy, acquiring the full cash value of the policy. The child then would be able to assign the beneficiary to a 3rd generation and pass the death benefit to them tax free in most situations.
