Needs vs. Wants

Turn the Life Insurance Conversation From “What Do I Need?” to “What Do I Want to Have Happen?”

The Needs vs. Wants presentation helps shift the life insurance conversation away from simply calculating a minimum amount of coverage and toward a more meaningful question:

What do you want to have happen for your family if you're no longer here?

This presentation works especially well immediately following the 10-Minute Lesson on Life Insurance, creating a powerful one-two punch for helping clients think differently about the purpose of life insurance.

Finding the Presentation

There are two versions available in Circle of Wealth®:

• Needs vs. Wants — the full presentation
• Needs vs. Wants 101 — the beginner version demonstrated in this Tech Tip

You can find the presentation by searching “Needs” or browsing the Presentation Storyboards. If you use it frequently, add it to your Favorites for quick access.

Start With Needs vs. Wants

Begin by introducing a simple idea:

Life insurance is a want product rather than a need product. It is designed to help ensure that what you want to happen financially for the people you care about can still happen if you're no longer here.

The presentation uses familiar examples to establish the difference between a need and a want.

A vehicle may meet the basic need of getting from Point A to Point B, but the particular vehicle someone chooses is often based on what they want.

Housing works the same way. The basic need may be shelter, but most people make decisions about their home based on much more than the minimum they require.

Even children's education can be viewed through the same lens. The conversation isn't simply about what must be provided—it's about the future a parent wants to help create for their children.

These examples prepare the client to think about life insurance in the same way.

Show How Long the Current Plan Will Last

Next, use the client's actual financial information to explore:

If something happened to you today, how long would your current plan support the life your family is living?

In the example shown in the video, the client has:

• Age 44, with a 38-year-old spouse
• $175,000 annual income
• Approximately $175,000 in annual spending
• $250,000 accumulated savings
• Existing life insurance coverage

The presentation illustrates how long the family's current lifestyle could continue using the available assets and insurance proceeds.

You can adjust the client's existing coverage directly in the presentation to explore different scenarios. The Documentation feature can also be used to show the calculations behind the results.

Compare What They Have, What They Can Get and What They Want

The conversation then moves through three important numbers:

What do you currently have?
Identify the client's existing life insurance coverage.

How much coverage can you obtain?
Explore the amount of coverage the client may qualify for based on applicable underwriting and financial guidelines.

How much would it take to accomplish what you want?
Calculate the amount that could be required to support the desired income for the surviving family over the appropriate period of time.

In the example used in the Tech Tip:

Current Coverage: $1 million
Potential Coverage: $3.5 million
Amount Needed to Accomplish the Client's Stated Goal: $5 million

That comparison creates the key moment in the conversation.

Rather than asking the client:

“How much life insurance do you need?”

you can bring the discussion back to:

“How much coverage do you want?”

Once clients can see the difference between what they currently have and what they want to accomplish for their family, the conversation about coverage changes.

The Key Takeaway

The purpose of Needs vs. Wants isn't simply to produce another life insurance number. It's to help the client connect the numbers to the outcome they care about.

The client may be irreplaceable, but thoughtful planning can help make sure the financial resources are there for the people who depend on them.

Tech Tip: Try using Needs vs. Wants immediately after the 10-Minute Lesson on Life Insurance. The first presentation helps establish the value of life insurance; Needs vs. Wants then helps the client think through how much protection aligns with what they actually want to accomplish.