I have some insurance related questions?

[Hansika]

I will be taking my insurance license test this Friday, and as such have come across a lot of information during my studies. I do have a few questions though.

1. With all the limitations and taxes on annuities and retirement plans, wouldn't it be better to just open up a savings account with a bank to store as much money as you please, and then use it as your retirement funds? Or is there a law, such as the Seven-pay test that turns a policy into an MEC, that relates to this?

2. Since the death benefit of a life insurance policy may be included in the insureds taxable estate when the insured is the policy owner (as defined by 'having the right to assign the policy, change or name the beneficiary and to make loans against cash value'), wouldn't the insured be able to dodge taxes by having his or her spouse documented as policy owner? Or will the policy owner (in that case the spouse) have the policy in his/her taxable estate when the policy matures?

[knight_shadow]

It's always funny watching spammers try to be subtle.

[Kevin]

Reply with "helpful" link in 3...2...1...

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Reply with "helpful" link in 3...2...1...

Maybe not. The insurance angle may have just been distraction. Note the links in the "sig,"

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Maybe not. The insurance angle may have just been distraction. Note the links in the "sig,"

It's just bizarre all the way around - on the bright side, there's at least some more evidence for a new form of "nonverbal" communication, as spam identification via context clues seems almost universal at this point.

This probably only interests me.

[Kevin]

Question: Do folks post this spam in their signatures in order to boost their relevance on Google? I'm working with Thompson-West right now building my firm's site [well, I have to pass the Bar first, but I'll have some sort of ownership stake in it] would that help my rankings?

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Question: Do folks post this spam in their signatures in order to boost their relevance on Google?

Good question.

And when will you be taking the bar?

[Kevin]

At the end of July.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Question: Do folks post this spam in their signatures in order to boost their relevance on Google? I'm working with Thompson-West right now building my firm's site [well, I have to pass the Bar first, but I'll have some sort of ownership stake in it] would that help my rankings?

If they are, it's not a great way to do it, since the post will be deleted and the cache isn't covered by spiders (Google's VERY good at preventing abuse).

You're really just better off paying someone for SEO - consider it advertising dollars - or learning about it yourself, although it can be very time-intensive and it's probably just as efficient to pay someone else. Search Engine Optimization can be incredibly effective - even more effective than those hack shops that have a web address that's like "okclaw.com" or whatever.

[Kevin]

Well, like I said, FindLaw is doing the site and for what we're paying (it ain't cheap) the search engine optimization is going to be done pretty well. In fact, they're custom writing all of the content so that it's optimized for search engine 'findability' (amazing how my spellcheck doesn't think that's a word).

I'm going to see what they do and fill in the rest of the content. I'm doing bios on everyone, a few downloadable forms for clients and prospective clients, some generic legal advice, etc. They have a pretty decent way of tracking how much business you get through them -- the website has regular and toll-free numbers which are registered to findlaw. The prospect calls those and they're logged so that you know exactly how effective the site is.

Like I said -- pretty good stuff.