Researchers at Texas Tech University are trying to determine how financial advisors feel about the effectiveness of the information insurers are required to distribute about their life insurance products.
The opinions of financial advisors are being sought through a survey conducted by Barry Mulholland, a CFP who is a teaching assistant and instructor in the Texas Tech Department of Personal Financial Planning, one of the largest such programs in the nation.
The Survey on Advisor Perceptions of Life Insurance Illustrations can be taken online and is part of Mulholland's doctoral dissertation. It is being conducted in conjunction with John Gilliam, a CFP and associate professor of Personal Financial Planning at Texas Tech.
The life insurance disclosure information is required in all states and was developed through the National Association of Life Insurance Commissioners. It is used when advisors have clients buying life insurance or when advisors are evaluating insurance that their clients already have.
"Our goal is to determine what financial advisors think about the effectiveness of the information to the consumer," Mulholland said. "We want to get a clearer understanding about how industry insiders feel about illustrations and how useful they are.
"We are grateful to everyone who has agreed to distribute the survey for us," he said.
The survey takes about 10 to 12 minutes to complete. It can be accessed at www.weeklyconnections.com/2012/06/survey.html. The survey will be open until July 15 and preliminary results should be available my mid-August.
--Karen DeMasters