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Life insurance education video

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blackoutnyc

Junior Member
I couldn't reply to the previous post so I had to start a new post.

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What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey residence but New York City is my office

I would like to create a bunch to short videos explaining life insurance concepts. (what is life insurance, how does it work, who should buy it, different types of life insurance, who should buy term, how much to buy etc.....) I will not cover any specific company's product. I will just talk in general terms.

The business income will come from lead generation. People watching this videos would be someone interested learning life insurance, probably wanting to buy life insurance. I can put a text box on the website saying put your, name, email and zipcode and an agent in your neighborhood will contact you help you with your financial needs. For each submission, it will directly go to the agent covering that location. The lead generation payment will directly come from the agent, regardless of the next steps with the lead.

I would like to know
1. Can I do this without having an insurance or security license (as I will talk about VUL as well)
2. What disclaimer i need to put in the video or my website to exempt me from being used for inappropriate financial advice.
3. What is the best way corporation structure? S corp, I am doing this by myself now, and perhaps with a couple of minor partners later on.
4. Where should i incorporate? New Jersey (residence) or New York (office)
5. I also work at a life insurance company, but not in marketing or sales. Do i need to inform my manager if I am not using any company specific info, rather all my video is based on generic public info from internet.
6. any other suggestion or helpful tips are greatly appreciated.


Thanks
 


quincy

Senior Member
I couldn't reply to the previous post so I had to start a new post.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey residence but New York City is my office

I would like to create a bunch to short videos explaining life insurance concepts. (what is life insurance, how does it work, who should buy it, different types of life insurance, who should buy term, how much to buy etc.....) I will not cover any specific company's product. I will just talk in general terms.

The business income will come from lead generation. People watching this videos would be someone interested learning life insurance, probably wanting to buy life insurance. I can put a text box on the website saying put your, name, email and zipcode and an agent in your neighborhood will contact you help you with your financial needs. For each submission, it will directly go to the agent covering that location. The lead generation payment will directly come from the agent, regardless of the next steps with the lead.

I would like to know
1. Can I do this without having an insurance or security license (as I will talk about VUL as well)
2. What disclaimer i need to put in the video or my website to exempt me from being used for inappropriate financial advice.
3. What is the best way corporation structure? S corp, I am doing this by myself now, and perhaps with a couple of minor partners later on.
4. Where should i incorporate? New Jersey (residence) or New York (office)
5. I also work at a life insurance company, but not in marketing or sales. Do i need to inform my manager if I am not using any company specific info, rather all my video is based on generic public info from internet.
6. any other suggestion or helpful tips are greatly appreciated.


Thanks
Please try again to respond to the other thread you started, as replies to your questions were already posted that addressed most of your questions.

edit:
Never mind. I see that you deleted the other thread that had responses to it from both me and adjusterjack.

I hope you took what was posted and learned from it. Thread deletions are really frowned upon on this forum.

Here is one link that was provided in your other thread: http://www.dfs.ny.gov/insurance/ogco2008/rg080112.htm

I suggest you sit down with an attorney in your area to go over all that was mentioned in your last thread that we felt needed attention.
 
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blackoutnyc

Junior Member
Please try again to respond to the other thread you started, as replies to your questions were already posted that addressed most of your questions.

edit:
Never mind. I see that you deleted the other thread that had responses to it from both me and adjusterjack. I hope you took what was posted and learned from it. Thread deletions are really frowned upon on this forum.
I responded that thread three times, but the response was never posted for some reason. I thought maybe the administrator needs to approve that. So I waited for a day but still nothing happened. That was why i wrote at the top of the post saying why I had to write a new post.
 

quincy

Senior Member
I responded that thread three times, but the response was never posted for some reason. I thought maybe the administrator needs to approve that. So I waited for a day but still nothing happened. That was why i wrote at the top of the post saying why I had to write a new post.
You also deleted the thread that had responses to your questions.
 

blackoutnyc

Junior Member
You also deleted the thread that had responses to your questions.
Yes, because most of the response is about mentioning the state and give more specifics on how to create lead generation. I saved the response myself, but figure I delete it, after the more comprehensive thread, to avoid duplication.
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
. I can put a text box on the website saying put your, name, email and zipcode and an agent in your neighborhood will contact you help you with your financial needs.
Yes, that's what I asked you about in your other post and now that I see your response I believe that you will have to examine the life insurance licensing laws of every state (since you are doing this online) to determine if you are soliciting for the sale of life insurance and getting a commission for doing so.

You might not call it a commission and you can spin it any way you want but if any particular state "defines" the money you get from the agent as a commission then you will need a life insurance agent's license in that state the minute somebody from that state puts that information in the box and you relay it to the agent in exchange for a fee.

If you want to avoid that kind of hassle I suggest that you NOT ask for a viewers information, just make your videos and sell ad space to life agents and you won't run afoul of any licensing laws.

I hold Arizona licenses in Adjusting, Life/health, and Property/Casualty. In my last job as a claim rep I had to have an adjuster's license in 17 other states to even handle one claim in those states. I even had a California license because my company did business there even though I handled no claims ever in California.

I point that out to illustrate how sticky many states are on their licensing requirement and, if you get caught, you can face some serious fines.

OK, that took care of Question 1 about licensing.

Moving on to the others:

2. What disclaimer i need to put in the video or my website to exempt me from being used for inappropriate financial advice.
I think you mean "sued."

There is NOTHING that you can put on your website that will "exempt" you from being sued. A disclaimer might give you a defense, might not. But nothing prevents the lawsuit from being served on you.

3. What is the best way corporation structure? S corp, I am doing this by myself now, and perhaps with a couple of minor partners later on.
There is no "best" corporation structure. There is only what works for you. For appropriate advice on that you need to sit down with a lawyer who can carefully examine all aspects of your business and properly advise you.

4. Where should i incorporate? New Jersey (residence) or New York (office)
Again, whatever works best for you after examining the laws of both states.

5. I also work at a life insurance company, but not in marketing or sales. Do i need to inform my manager if I am not using any company specific info, rather all my video is based on generic public info from internet.
That's up to you. You are employed at will (I assume no bona fide employment contract) and can be fired for any reason not prohibited by law or for no reason.

You know your employers better than we do. Will they be ticked off enough to fire you if you don't tell them and they find out? Or do you not tell them since they might say no? When it comes to employment it is not better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission because lack of forgiveness can come with termination of employment.

Up to you.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Yes, because most of the response is about mentioning the state and give more specifics on how to create lead generation. I saved the response myself, but figure I delete it, after the more comprehensive thread, to avoid duplication.
Duplication would have been better than deletion.

Quick answers provided once before:

Nothing can prevent someone from suing you over what you publish. You will want liability insurance and you would be smart to have the content of any video personally reviewed (and edited) by a publishing law professional.

Disclaimers can work to mitigate damages in the event of a lawsuit but will not save you from a lawsuit.

Information gathered from the internet is only "public" in the sense that it can be accessed by the public. Most if not all of what you run across online will be rights-protected. In other words, you cannot take what you find online as content for your videos, without express permission from the holder of the rights (copyrights, trademark rights). To do so can get you sued for infringement.

Where you incorporate or what sort of corporation you should form should be discussed with a business professional in your area. To determine the best type of corporation for your wants and needs, you will need to disclose personal information. You cannot do that on this forum.

Whether you need to inform your manager that you are creating insurance videos is something you must decide on your own. Your manager might not want to be "surprised" by the publication of the videos. The videos could be seen as connected to the life insurance company you work for and this can create problems for you. The videos might violate the terms of your employment and this can create problems for you. The videos you create could wind up having rights held by your employer and not you, and this can create problems for you.

There is a lot to consider and a lot of potential problems that need to be addressed and handled prior to thoughts of creating your videos. Again, a personal review, probably best done by an attorney in your area, is recommended. Good luck (and feel lucky that the information provided earlier has been repeated for your benefit - this is rarely done).
 
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blackoutnyc

Junior Member
Duplication would have been better than deletion.

Quick answers provided once before:

Nothing can prevent someone from suing you over what you publish. You will want liability insurance and you would be smart to have the content of any video personally reviewed (and edited) by a publishing law professional.

Disclaimers can work to mitigate damages in the event of a lawsuit but will not save you from a lawsuit.

Information gathered from the internet is only "public" in the sense that it can be accessed by the public. Most if not all of what you run across online will be rights-protected. In other words, you cannot take what you find online as content for your videos. To do so can get you sued for infringement.

Where you incorporate or what sort of corporation you should form should be discussed with a business professional in your area. To determine the best type of corporation for your wants and needs, you will need to disclose personal information. You cannot do that on this forum.

Whether you need to inform your manager that you are creating insurance videos is something you must decide on your own. Your manager might not want to be "surprised" by the publication of the videos. The videos could be seen as connected to the life insurance company you work for and this can create problems for you. The videos might violate the terms of your employment and this can create problems for you. The videos you create could wind up having rights held by your employer and not you, and this can create problems for you.

There is a lot to consider and a lot of potential problems that need to be addressed and handled prior to thoughts of creating your videos. Again, a personal review, probably best done by an attorney in your area, is recommended. Good luck (and feel lucky that the information provided earlier has been repeated for your benefit - this is rarely done).
Thanks you so so much! Really appreciate the time you spent on this.
 

blackoutnyc

Junior Member
Yes, that's what I asked you about in your other post and now that I see your response I believe that you will have to examine the life insurance licensing laws of every state (since you are doing this online) to determine if you are soliciting for the sale of life insurance and getting a commission for doing so.

You might not call it a commission and you can spin it any way you want but if any particular state "defines" the money you get from the agent as a commission then you will need a life insurance agent's license in that state the minute somebody from that state puts that information in the box and you relay it to the agent in exchange for a fee.

If you want to avoid that kind of hassle I suggest that you NOT ask for a viewers information, just make your videos and sell ad space to life agents and you won't run afoul of any licensing laws.

I hold Arizona licenses in Adjusting, Life/health, and Property/Casualty. In my last job as a claim rep I had to have an adjuster's license in 17 other states to even handle one claim in those states. I even had a California license because my company did business there even though I handled no claims ever in California.

I point that out to illustrate how sticky many states are on their licensing requirement and, if you get caught, you can face some serious fines.

OK, that took care of Question 1 about licensing.

Moving on to the others:



I think you mean "sued."

There is NOTHING that you can put on your website that will "exempt" you from being sued. A disclaimer might give you a defense, might not. But nothing prevents the lawsuit from being served on you.



There is no "best" corporation structure. There is only what works for you. For appropriate advice on that you need to sit down with a lawyer who can carefully examine all aspects of your business and properly advise you.



Again, whatever works best for you after examining the laws of both states.



That's up to you. You are employed at will (I assume no bona fide employment contract) and can be fired for any reason not prohibited by law or for no reason.

You know your employers better than we do. Will they be ticked off enough to fire you if you don't tell them and they find out? Or do you not tell them since they might say no? When it comes to employment it is not better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission because lack of forgiveness can come with termination of employment.

Up to you.
Thank you very much, particularly on the point related to advertisement!
 

quincy

Senior Member
Thanks you so so much! Really appreciate the time you spent on this.
You're welcome, blackoutnyc. Thank you for the thanks.

I hope you take our advice to seek out professionals in your area, who can go over with you all of the licensing requirements and the legal risks that come with your proposed plan to create and publish insurance videos.

Good luck.
 

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