I grew up in a small town on the Ohio River called East Liverpool. It is located in Ohio at the junction of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. When I was growing up it had a population of about 22,000. Today the population has dropped to just over 13,000. However, some very unique and notable people have come from my town. I want to tell you about one of them who learned the meaning of providing value for his clients so well that he went on to become the greatest life insurance salesman ever.
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His name was Ben Feldman (1912 - 1993) and over his 50 year career selling insurance for one company, his sales volume exceeded $1.8 billion, with over a third of it coming after he turned 65. And, he did it by selling out of his office in East Liverpool and not some major financial capital city like New York.
Ben Feldman came from the sleepy little town of Salineville, Ohio, where he started his business career selling chicken and eggs for $ 5 a week. As an aspiring businessperson, he wanted to enter the insurance field but was unable to pass the basic Equitable Life Insurance Company's aptitude test.
In typical Feldman fashion, he sold himself to Equitable, and began collecting premiums on meager nickel and dime policies. In 1942, he joined New York Life, and opened a small office in the Little Building, on the Diamond, in downtown East Liverpool. It was from this location that he began a relentless quest to achieve membership in the prestigious Million Dollar Round Table. He made it in 1946.
Little did anyone suspect that he would far surpass the million dollar mark, however, in 1955, he sold $10 million in coverage. He then began selling one million a month, then a million a week, and in 1971 wrote contracts for over $65 million. He then gunned for $10 million a month and in 1983, with the help of his two sons, Marvin and Richard, he sold $148 million of insurance.
Feldman was an innovator, who made it easy News Today for his clients to understand the complexities of the Federal Estate tax law, which desecrated the fortunes of a large number of wealthy individuals in the period that followed World War II. Long before computer graphics, he created clever hand-drawn charts, illustrating the need for life insurance to protect an individual's assets from the government. He would book himself on airplane flights, next to a potential client, where upon he would open his brief case, stuffed with $100, $500 and $1,000 bills, along with his charts and graphs. The idea was to entice his neighbor to notice the money and remark, "Is that real money?" "Yes," Ben would reply, "but I'm not afraid to carry it, because it's insured." With such an opening, a sales presentation was a lay-up.
A lover of luxurious automobiles, Feldman would often be seen racing up and down the highways that link Pittsburgh and Youngstown in his Cadillac Eldorado. It was within this 50-mile corridor that he sold the majority of his policies. Often equipped with a CB radio and a car telephone - long before anyone had heard of such a device - he handled rejection like none other.
A favorite Feldman method was to approach the office of a busy executive and ask for an appointment. The response from a frazzled secretary would usually be, "I'm sorry, his time is too valuable." Ben would ask, "Is it worth $100 a minute?" "At least!" would be the answer, to which the response (accompanied by five brand new one hundred dollar bills,) would be, "Well I'd like to buy five minutes."
Even when Ben Feldman would go deep sea fishing, he would spend his time developing new sales techniques, memorizing the entire New York Life Insurance rate book. And, he would arm himself with pithy little phrases, designed to overcome the most difficult challenge. To the potential client who said, "I believe in term insurance." Ben would respond, "Term insurance is temporary, but your problem is permanent." "I can't afford the premium," would invoke, "You are already broke and don't even know it."
Following in the footsteps of such a legend was not easy for Marv and Rich Feldman, but they handled the challenge well as Marv became president of the Million Dollar Table in 2001, and Rich excelled in a number of endeavors, including "drag racing," of all things.
Now you might be thinking to yourself that Ben must have been some kind of superstar, good looking, fast talking, kind of man - but you'd be wrong. Ben was a short, stout, balding and spoke slowly with a distinct lisp. He never finished high school. He was so shy that years later when he was asked to speak at insurance industry meetings, he would only agree to if a screen was erected between him and the audience.
But, he was a legend when it came to making a point to know every business owner in his region. He did his homework first and learned all he could about his potential customers so that by the time he met with them (often on a "cold call") he was ready with the right Value Development Questions. He didn't always sell right away but he never gave up. I once heard him say that for years he didn't stop working for the day until he made at least one sale - no matter how late it got.
One of favorite stories about Ben is about a prominent real estate developer. Ben tried for weeks to get in to see the busy man but was always unsuccessful. One day, Ben stopped in cold and handed the developer's assistant the envelope with five $100 bills and asked her to give it to her boss. He told her "If I don't have a good idea for him, he can keep the money." He got in and sold a $14 million policy. Years later when Ben realized the man need additional insurance due to the unprecedented growth of his company; he was once again stymied by the man's insistence that he was too busy to take a physical. Undaunted, Ben rented a fully equipped mobile hospital van, hired a doctor and sent them to the industrialist. Rumor is that the man ended up with over $50 million in coverage.
In 1992, New York Life marked Ben's 50th year with the company by proclaiming "Feldman's February", a national sales competition. Ben took this as a personal challenge. The winner of the contest (at 80 years old) was Ben Feldman.
Ben was famous for his sayings that he used to inspire both clients and himself. My favorite is:
"Doing something costs something.
Doing nothing costs something.
And quite often, doing nothing costs a lot more."
Ben Feldman died in 1993 at 81. A few years before his death he was asked about the largest policy that he had ever written. "I can't say. I haven't written it yet."
Do you envy the life of luxury being enjoyed by people in developed countries, wishing you too could life such a life but lacking the $10,000 of monthly income needed for such a life? Well, I challenge you to consider living in the Philippines, either on a full or part time basis. Retirement is not a matter of age; it is a matter of having enough ongoing income. With a $2,000 monthly income (or pension or annuity), one can truly live a life of luxury. I present how this is done and list the primary expenses of living in the Philippines as a foreigner.
#1 DO NOT LOCATE YOUR RESIDENCE IN MANILA.
Manila is a bustling and exciting city, but full of congestion and expensive real estate, much as any major city in the Western world. The further one gets from Manila, the lower the cost of living accommodations. Of course, there is always the trade off of the more a remote location you to, the less comfort and Western world amenities will you find.
For this reason, I always counsel people to consider the major secondary cities of Cebu or Davao, or the Subic Bay area, or resort or university communities such as Baguio, Dumaguete, Tacloban, and Cagayan De Oro. The cost of housing in these areas is substantially below Manila, yet they have readily available air access in and out of the community, and because foreigners tend to favor residing in these areas, there are more upscale housing accommodations to select from.
The two cities with the most luxurious amenities for a Westerner, outside of Manila, are Cebu City and Davao City.
In these two cities you can expect to pay from $300 monthly for a small apartment to a high of $800 monthly for a luxury house in a gated community with a swimming pool. A similar rental in the USA would could about $3,000 to $4,000 monthly. A similar house in Manila would cost about $1,500 to $2,000 monthly, or more, depending on the location in Manila.
#2 HIRE A COUPLE OF MAIDS AND PERHAPS A DRIVER.
For the luxury life, you will want a couple of maids, one to tend to the cooking and shopping, and another to tend to the laundry and house cleaning. They will do all the grocery shopping (at a lower cost than you could ever get), wash and iron all your clothes, and have your favorite food ready for you at each meal. A real luxury which is completely unaffordable in the Western world on $2,000 per month. Two maids would cost less around $100 to $120 monthly.
A driver would probably be desired should you choose to purchase your own automobile. While living in Cebu City a few years ago, I had a new vehicle that I drove myself, but I found quickly that by hiring a driver for $80 a month, the vehicle was always kept in immaculate condition, and I had someone to tend to the vehicle while I was at restaurants, shopping, or at business appointments. I never had to worry about where to park the vehicle or petty theft or destruction of the vehicle. While living in Butuan City I tend to not use a personal vehicle as much, but I have found it still worth having a driver.
#3 PURCHASE A GOOD INTERNATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN
With $2,000 a month income, I would not opt for local Philippine health insurance programs, rather I would purchase an international for foreigners living overseas. Depending on your age and any preconditions, a policy for which you would pay $500 monthly in the USA would cost you round $200 monthly.
#4 ALL OTHER ITEMS
With your housing, maid services, transportation and health care provided for with approximately $1,200 monthly, this leaves you $800 monthly everything else. Utilities (electric, water, phone, cell phone, high speed internet service and cable TV) will add up to around $150 monthly, bring the cumulative total to $1,350 monthly.
This leave $650 monthly for food, entertainment, fuel for your car, travel, personal care items. Groceries will be about $250 monthly, and fuel and personal care items might total $50 monthly, which leaves around $350 for meals in restaurants, entertainment and travel. Eating dinners out a couple of times a week and monthly entertainment would cost around $200 monthly, so you would still have $150 monthly of excess funds for savings.
CEBU CITY OR DAVAO CITY - WHICH TO CHOOSE?
Each is different from the other in many ways, and Davao City living costs are less than those in Cebu City, so your lifestyle there can be even greater.
Cebu has a large population of foreign retirees in relation to its population. Foreigners are drawn to its abundance of beaches and resorts. It is a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. Like Manila, it too has its upscale, modern shopping malls, casinos, and a great night life.
Those who love living near the seaside, have interests in diving and other water sports, yet like the efficiency and amenities of a smaller modern city, then Cebu City would be your choice.
Davao City is THE city of Mindanao, and by square miles it is the second largest city in the world. Its population is approximately 1.4 million. Located on the southern of Mindanao, it is the more rural of the two cities, and it has the lowest cost of living. So, if you enjoy the lifestyle of a large city, and want more money in your pocket at the end of the month, then Davao is the place for you.
Davao City does not get large numbers of foreign travelers as does Cebu City, yet for those seeking outdoor adventures, the options are plentiful. Living in Davao is a bit like living in both an urban and a rural city, as the city has modern shopping centers, upscale gated communities and hotels, yet living there you become deeply rooted to the land outside the city.
The important thing in living in the Philippines is to do your research, based on your wants, needs and desires, and tie into someone who has gone before you and can provide you wisdom by guiding you through the array of questions and anxieties.