Life insurance isn’t the kind of topic most people wake up eager to explore. It’s complicated, filled with jargon, and often wrapped in layers of salesmanship that can leave people more confused than confident.
Over the years, I’ve seen that confusion firsthand, clients trying to make sense of conflicting recommendations, illustrations that seem too good to be true, and policies that don’t quite line up with what they thought they were buying. Somewhere along the way, the process shifted from understanding needs to fitting products.
Years ago, I built a Decision Tree to help people think through which type of life insurance might best fit their goals. I never shared it publicly, until now.
You can explore it here:
👉 Decision Tree for Life Insurance
I’d love to hear what you think. Try it, play around, and share your feedback.
Why I Built It
Too often in our industry, the product leads the process rather than the need.
That happens when an agent represents only one carrier or isn’t licensed to sell the full spectrum of life insurance products.
The result? Consumers are steered toward what’s available, not necessarily what’s appropriate.
This Decision Tree flips that around.
It’s a conversation starter, not a sales tool. It’s designed to help people understand the landscape before they sit down with a professional, empowering them to corroborate recommendations and ask sharper questions.
A Better Way to Ask “Why This Policy?”
The tool won’t tell you what to buy.
But it might help you ask why you’re being shown a specific product.
For example:
- If your answers point toward a flexible, market‑minded structure with unlimited upside, and someone shows you an IUL, it’s worth pausing.
- Conversely, if downside risk keeps you up at night, and you prefer stability with some caps on returns, but you’re steered toward a VUL, that might raise an eyebrow.
The best fit depends on your goals, comfort with risk, and time horizon, not on what happens to be in a salesperson’s briefcase.
The Goal: Empower, Not Replace
Let’s be clear, this isn’t a substitute for personalized advice from a licensed insurance professional.
It’s a starting point, a way to translate complex product differences into practical decision paths.
My goal is simply this:
To help policy owners ask better questions and make more informed choices, especially when what they’re being told doesn’t match what the underlying logic suggests.
Try It Yourself
👉 Explore the Life Insurance Decision Tree
Then ask yourself:
Does it lead to the product you expected?
Because when it comes to life insurance, the conversation shouldn’t start with someone else’s inventory.
It should start with your needs.
