A product comparison compares all products within a product category (eg. all 10-year term) or a combination of product categories (eg. 10 and 20-year term). Products may be limited to guaranteed products only or a may include both guaranteed and current (non-guaranteed) products.

There are also several Comparison options. Comparisons may be based upon: initial premium, accumulated premiums or total premiums for multiple lives. The comparison sorts the products from lowest to highest cost based on the selected comparison factor.

Companies or products may also be listed in alphabetic order.

Before generating a product comparison, you must enter basic information about your client into the Client Information screen. For further information, refer to Enter Client Information.

NOTE: Please print this instructional and have it with you as you run the Compulife program.

After entering your client's information into "Enter Client Information", you can request a product comparison by clicking on option 3 at the Compulife Quotation System master menu (the red menu that appears when you start the program).

Tip: You can be anywhere in the Compulife Quotation system and pressing the F3 function key will also display the "Display Product Comparison" window. Function keys, such as F3, are shortcuts to Master Menu choices. F3 corresponds to the first choice on the Master menu, F1 the first choice, etc.

The Display Product Comparison window contains a comparison for the last category of comparison selected by the user. To determine the current category being compare, look to the top left corner of the header. Under the menu line which offers the options "File, Options, Print Options, Help", you will find the product category in either a white box or yellow box.

Categories appearing in yellow will include both guaranteed and current (non-guaranteed) products in the comparison. Selecting any of these will compare all products within the specified category. For example, the 10 Year Level Term category, which appears in yellow, compares all current and guaranteed 10-year products. Comparison results will highlight non-guaranteed products in yellow, while guaranteed products will appear on a white background.

Categories that appear in white include only guaranteed products. For example, the category "10 Year Level Term Guaranteed" will only compare guaranteed products within the 10 year product category.

Products considered guaranteed are those which guarantee the initial premium for the specified term. For example, a guaranteed 10-year product has an initial level premium for the full 10 years. Following that initial level period, some guaranteed products may have both current and guaranteed renewals, while some may have only guaranteed premiums. The nature of renewal guarantees, after the initial level period, does not factor into Compulife's categorization of plans in categories.

There is another category called "Other Level Term", which includes all products not found in 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 year term categories. The other category could include 40 year level plans, but it could also include a 6 year level plan.

To select one category of products, click on the gray down button to the right of the current category. This will display the list of category options. Click on the option you want, and the program will display a comparison for that category.

To select more than one category of products, you can select Multiple Categories. This permits you to compare a combination of product categories based upon an accumulation calculation.

This will display a "Multiple Categories" window. In that windows is a list of products categories with check boxes to the left of each category. After checking the categories you want, click on the "Compare Now" button to proceed to the "Accumulated Premiums" window.

Because a multiple category comparison is mixing "apples and oranges", it is only fair to specify the period of time the consumer plans to purchase the insurance. This is the accumulation period.

The other option is to decide if the comparison is to be based upon Guaranteed (high) or Current (low) premiums. If the client is concerned about the maximum possible cost of the policy, the Guaranteed premium should be the basis of the comparison. If the client is looking for the absolute lowest cost, regardless if the premium is guaranteed for that period or not, then you would select current.

Once these values have been entered, click on the Okay button. The comparison results will be displayed on screen and the value in the premium column will be the total accumulated cost for the period you specified.

Products that appear in yellow are those that have initial premiums NOT guaranteed for the level period. Those that appear in white have premiums guaranteed for the initial level period. The accumulated cost that appears, may appear in yellow, but if the comparison was based upon guaranteed premiums, the accumulation in the result column will be the guaranteed maximum premium, regardless of the color white or yellow.

The most popular comparison/quotation print option in Compulife is the Pick 12 Policy Analysis. This allows you to display up to 12 products, side by side, in a spreadsheet format. However, to populate the Pick 12 spreadsheet with products, you must file those products from the quotation system.

Products from your comparison can be filed by using the right mouse button.

To do this, move the mouse pointer to the first product that you want in your spreadsheet. With your mouse pointer on that product, click the right mouse button.

The first time you click the right mouse button, the "Pick 12 Product List" window will appear. Providing that your windows have been set up properly, the comparison "Display Product Comparison" window should appear on the left half of your screen, and the "Pick 12 Product List" should be displayed (at the same time) in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

If that is not the way your windows appears, and one window is covering and obscuring the other, it will be difficult to follow the next instructions. To set your windows to the default setup recommended by Compulife, you can go back to your Compulife Quotation System master menu, and click on "options" which is located in the top line. The third last option in that list is "Reset Defaults". If you select this option, your Compulife windows will be located and sized as recommended by Compulife.

Assuming both the "Display Product Comparison" window, and "Pick 12 Product List" window are both displayed, you can simply right click again on the product in the comparison window. That will now move the selected product to the first blank line in the "Pick 12 Product List". To file the next product simply right click on that next product in the comparison windows. That product will appear in the next blank line following the first product selected.

An alternate method for filing individual products to the "Pick 12 Product List" is to use the up and down arrow keys to move the light blue line (in the comparison) to the product that you want to file. With the blue line on the product you want, you can press the right arrow on your keyboard. The first right arrow will display the "Pick 12 Product List". Another right arrow will place the product into the "Pick 12 Product List". Using the up or down arrow, you can move the light blue line to another product and another right arrow will add that product to the "Pick 12 Product List"

When you have the group of products that you want in your spreadsheet, you can either click the "Go to pick5" button in the Pick 12 product list, or press the F5 function key. Either will take you to the Pick 12 Policy Analysis. If you want to learn more about your options with the Pick 12 Policy Analysis, you should click here for the instructions for using the Pick 12 Policy Analysis.

When filing to the Pick 12 Policy Analysis, and providing that you are doing so for a new client that you have just entered, the "Pick 12 Product List" automatically has deleted the products previously in the Pick 12 Policy Analysis. This gives you a clean slate to start you new client with.

However, if you have already done one group of products for this client, and now are doing another group for the same client, you may need to manually delete the products. You will find a button on the bottom of the Pick 12 Product List that says "Delete all". This will delete all products in the Pick 12 product list and permit you to start from scratch.

You can also delete individual products in the Pick 12 Product List. Simply click on the product that you do not want on that list and click the "Delete a product" button. That product will be deleted and the group of products below that deleted product will fill that spot.

Alternately, if you want to delete that product and replace it with another, but keep the rest of the products in their current positions, you simply need to file a product over top of that product. There are two ways to transfer a product to a specific position in the Pick 12 product list.

First, click the right mouse button on the product that you want to file in the "Display Product Comparison" window. This will place the light blue line on that product. Now move your mouse pointer to the position you want that product to appear on in the Pick 12 Product List. Clicking the right button on that spot will move the dark blue line to that position. Another click will place the product in that spot.

The second method is to click and drag the product to the Pick 12 Product List. To do this, click and hold down the right mouse button on the product that you want to file in the "Display Product Comparison" window. With the right mouse button depressed, move the mouse pointer to the position you want the product place in the Pick 12 Product List. When you release the mouse button, the product will appear.

There is nothing to stop you from mixing and matching products in the Pick 12 Policy Analysis. For example, you may want to file four 10 year term products, four 15 year term products and four 20 year term products. To accomplish this follow the previous instructions to file the first four 10 year term products. Then, without closing the Pick 12 Product List window, switch the categories from 10 Year Level Term to 15 Year Level Term. Using your right mouse button, click and file the policies you want to add to the four 10 year products already in the Pick 12 Product List. Finally, switch the category to 20 Year Level Term and file the four 20 year term plans you want.

Another feature you can elect to use is the filing of multiple products to Pick 12. To do this you must click on multiple products in your comparison results. To select multiple products click the right mouse button on the first product you want to select. Holding the control button down, right click on the next plan and continue to right click on plans until you have selected the group you want. With your mouse pointer on the last product selected, click the right mouse button to display the Pick 12 Product List windows, and the right button again to file that group of products.

You can select a group of products that are consecutive by right clicking on the first product, and then holding down the shift key and left clicking on the last product. This will highlight the first and last product, and all in between. When you right click on the last product, that group will be filed to the Pick 12 Product List.

If you simply want to file the first 12 products to the Pick 12 Product List, move your mouse pointer to the top of the Display Product Comparison windows and click on "File". From the File menu select "File First 12 Products" option. This will place the first 12 products on your list into the Pick 12 Policy Analysis, and automatically display the Pick 12 Policy Analysis.

Alternately, and more quickly, you can hold down the control key and press the letter F (control-F). This will accomplish the same task. in your spreadsheet. With your mouse pointer on that product, click the right mouse button. The first time you click the button, the "Pick 12 Product List" windows should appear. Providing your windows have been set up properly, the comparison "Display Product Comparison" window should appear on the left half of your screen, and the "Pick 12 Product List" should be displayed (at the same time) in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

If that is your situation, you can simply right click again on the product in the comparison window. That will move the product to the first blank line in the Pick 12 Product List. To file the next product simply right click on that next product, and it will appear in the next blank line following the first product selected.

When you have the group of products you want in your spreadsheet, you can either click the "Go to pick5" button in the Pick 12 product list, or press the F5 function key. Either will take you to the Pick 12 Policy Analysis. If you want to learn more about your options with the Pick 12 Policy Analysis, you should click here for that set of instructions.

To print the comparison, move your mouse pointer to the top line of the Display Product Comparison window, and click on File. The Print option is the first choice on this menu.

The format for the Display Product Comparison printout is quite different from the spreadsheet format used by Pick 12 policy analysis. The comparison printout is composed of two type of pages. The first of these pages is called a detail page, followed by an option summary page.

The comparison detail page provides expanded information regarding the 6 lowest priced products (products 1-6 in the comparison results. Products are laid out on the page in a six cell format, two columns of cells by three rows.

Summary pages contain much less information about each product. A summary page provides one line per product which gives the company name, product name, premium and Compulife's risk category indicator (P+, Pf, R+ or Rg). For a full description of the meaning of those categories, please refer to the instructions regarding "Enter Client Information".

Companies and products in summary pages are for those products which did not appear in the comparison detail pages. If you print a single detail page (showing products 1 to 6) then the summary page will not include those 6 products. The summary page will include products 7 and on.

Summary page are optional. You can print a comparison, showing the first 6 products in detail, and elect to have no summary pages. Alternately, you can have more than one summary page. To select the number of summary pages that you want in your printout, go to the top of the Display Product Comparison window, and click on "Print Options". The "Number of Summary Pages to Print" is the second option on that menu. When you select that option you can alter the number of summary pages from 0 to 9 pages.

You can alter the number of comparison detail pages the same way. The "Number of Comparison Pages to Print" is the first option on that menu. When you select that option you can alter the number of comparison detail pages from 1 to 3 pages. If you set the number of comparison pages to 3, the first 6 product will print on the first page, products 7-12 will appear on page 2, and product 13-18 on page 3. If you have summary pages following that, the first product in the summary page would be the 19th product.

The reason for requiring at least one product detail page is to make the consumer aware that there is more information about the product than just the premium. In addition to the company name, product name and premium, comparison detail pages also include the first five guaranteed renewal premiums, renewable to age, convertible to age and the company description for the health category of the premium. The detail pages can also include (at your option) current renewal premiums, A.M. Best ratings, A.M. Best financial size categories and comment lines (if they have been entered).

The ability to print guaranteed premiums only in the comparison report is the third option on the "Print Options" menu (top line of Display Product Comparison). If "Print guaranteed premiums only" is checked, then ONLY guaranteed premiums will appear in the renewal premium quotations that appear in the comparison detail pages. If the option is not checked, then current premium (if available) will be included in the printout.

The inclusion of A.M. Best ratings in your printout is governed by the A.M. Best rating and size category setting on your "Enter Client Information" screen. If you have activated ratings or ratings and categories, then they will appear in the comparison pages. Alternately, you can turn either off by selecting "Quote All Companies" option, which tells the system to ignore the ratings. This will cause the ratings to not appear in your comparison pages.

The "Print Options" menu also includes a choice "Print Vertical Lines". Using vertical lines (which create boxes on your comparison detail pages) take longer to print that using a simple dot-style vertical dividing line between the two columns of product cells. If you want the vertical lines instead, click and add a check mark to this option.

The last option on the Print Option menu is "Set Print Font". This will display a "Font" windows which permits you to select the fonts and color used for your comparison detail and summary pages. The default font used by Compulife is "Arial" and the default color is "black".

The Font window also allows you to specify font size but your selection, if too large, will be overridden by the automatic space calculations incorporated in the program.

The actual number of font options are dictated by your version of Windows, and what fonts the system has provided for you. Some fonts actually give better results that others. For example, while Arial produces a very attractive sans serif font, MS sans serif actually gives a slightly better result.

For those who don't understand the difference between serif and sans serif fonts, the word serif means that the bottom of letters, with vertical lines, have little tips or turns. Those little add-ons are called serifs. Sans serif means NO serifs. Sans serif fonts give boxier looking print. The best advice is for you to try different fonts, and pick one you like.

To include the state license number in the heading of the comparison report, next to your agency/agent name (licensee name), you must use the "List or Modify Product Database" option on the Compulife Quotation System master menu. After selecting that option, select the last option "Edit/Change State License Number".

Because agents licensed in multiple states will have different license numbers in each of those states, the system allows you to keep a database of those different license numbers. Assuming you have selected the option "Include License Number in Printouts", the license number for that state will appear next to the licensee name on the top of your printout.

The second option on the "File" menu (at the top of the Display Product Comparison window) is the Print Preview. Print Preview permits you to see the printouts on screen, before printing. If you are experimenting with your fonts, or page composition, the "Print Preview" is very handy.

Using print preview does not slow down the printing process, if you elect to print the comparison after previewing. The reason for this is that the majority of the tough work the computer does to assemble the printout, is done for you in generating the printout viewed in the "Print Preview" window. If you want to print the printout having previewed it, simply click on the "All Pages" button at the top of the "Print Preview" window.

Print preview displays a single page at a time. To view further pages use the right arrow (black triangle) in the top left hand corner of the Print Preview window.

To adjust the size of the display, use the menu just to the left of the "Cancel" button (top right hand corner of window). You can increase or decrease the size of the page being displayed in the Print Preview window.

The "Copy to Clipboard" windows permits the copying of the current page, to the clipboard of your computer. The clipboard copy is a "graphic image" and does NOT copy text information to the clipboard. Because the image is a graphic, it can be placed into a frame in your word processor, and sized small or large to fit the space available.

You can display an individual product from your "Display Product Comparison" window by double-clicking on any product in your comparison list. This will pop-up a "Display Single Product" windows for the product in your comparison.

If your system has been set up according to the Compulife defaults, the "Display Single Product" window should appear in the top right corner of your computer screen, to the right of the "Display Product Comparison" window. You should be able to see both windows at the same time.

If that is not the way your windows appear, and one window is covering and obscuring the other, it will be difficult to follow the next instructions. To set your windows to the default setup recommended by Compulife, you can go back to your Compulife Quotation System master menu, and click on "options" which is located in the top line. The third last option in that list is "Reset Defaults". If you select this option, your Compulife windows will be located and sized as recommended by Compulife.

The "Display Single Product" window is the same style of product display you can obtain by selecting the second option from the "Compulife Quotation System" master menu. All the functions, features and operations of the "Display Single Product" window work in this version of that window, and so you should consult with the documentation for that option. This chapter will only describe the function of the window as it works in conjunction with comparisons.

The Display Single Product windows gives you a lot more additional information about the product that you have selected. The window displays renewable to age, convertible to age, A.M. Best rating of the company, the age basis of product (last versus nearest), health category of premium, Compulife's classification, renewal premiums for all years (scroll down to view more), length of initial premium guarantee, waivers, etc.

To display another product in the same window, move your mouse pointer to another product in the comparison, and double click on that product. The product in the "Display Single Product" window should change to the new product. This is the method by which you obtain additional information about products in the comparison results.

The comparison results can be sorted by company name by clicking on the "Company Name" in the comparison results header. This is a very useful display if you want to see the other premiums and health categories for any particular product. For example, if you highlight the sixth company in your comparison results, then click "Company Name", then all the premiums associated with that company are displayed.

NOTE: If you completed a comparison based upon a preferred plus health risk, ALL categories for that product will be displayed. However, if you did a comparison based upon regular non-smoker, then P+, Pf and R+ premiums will not be included in the display.

TIP: If you do a comparison based upon regular rates, and want to see the other categories for that product, double click on the product to pop-up the "Display Single Product" window. Click the "rate category" button to the right of the header, and all categories for that product are displayed. When you click on the other category you want to see, the premium will be displayed in the Display Single Product window.

Comparisons sorted by company name place all companies in alphabetic order and so if you are looking for a particular company in the premium results and can't find it, simply switch to a company sorted comparison, locate the company and product, click the left mouse button on the product, and resort by premium to see where the product appears in the comparison results by premium.

In addition to the options that are specific to a printout, you have other comparison options at your disposal. For a list of those options move your mouse pointer to the top of the "Display Product Comparison" window, and click on "Options".

The first group of options allow you to select premiums modes other than annual. The monthly premium refers to the automatic bank withdrawal premium as opposed to those companies who may also offer a direct bill monthly premium.

Following premium modes the system offers the ability to compare premiums based upon accumulated premiums. Accumulated premium comparisons are based upon the accumulation of the annual premiums.

Accumulated premium comparisons are useful for comparing products beyond their initial level period. For example, there is little point in comparing accumulated premiums for 20 years, for 20 year guaranteed level term plans, as the comparison results will be in the same order as an initial level premium comparison.

However, if you are wondering which 10 year level premium product has the best total cost over the next 20 years, an accumulated premium comparison will help determine which company has more attractive renewal premiums.

Selecting "Accumulated premiums" will display the "Accumulated Premiums" window. In addition to identifying the number of years to be compared, you can determine if the comparison is to be based upon the guaranteed or current premiums.

The flaw of an accumulated premium comparison is that it does not take into account the time value of money when looking at total cost over a number of years. Compulife's "Present Value Accumulated Cost" option allows you to inject a time value of money factor into that equation.

To understand what the present value cost of a policy represents, it is best understood as the amount of capital invested today which, with interest earned less tax, is equivalent to the total premium payments required for the indicated number of years.

When selected, the "Present Value" window appears. This is essentially the same window as "Accumulated premiums", except the interest, tax and net interest after tax fields have been added.

Present value is most often associated with the concept of inflation, or the devaluing of money. "Tax" is not generally associated with this value and so if you are thinking in terms of inflation, you should set the tax value to zero.

The tax assumption comes into play if you think about the lump sum of money you would need to set aside today, in order to pay premiums for a policy over the next 20 years. For example, if you were looking at a premium of $1,000 per year, you could set aside $20,000 which would certainly pay those 20 $1,000 premiums. But $20,000 is more money than necessary because that lump sum money could be invested and earn interest. That interest, together with the lump sum, could be used to pay the premiums. This means you could set aside a total lump sum less that $20,000. How much is enough? That is the calculation that the present value accumulation makes. It determines how much lump sum money, with interest, is needed to pay those premiums for 20 years (or whatever time period you select).

That is where tax comes in. Life insurance premiums must be paid with after tax dollars. In order to earn interest, and use the interest to pay premiums, your client must first pay tax on the interest. Paying tax each year on the interest reduces the amount of money available to pay premiums. Therefore, by taking into account a tax rate, the lump sum of money must be larger in order to pay taxes. The higher the tax rate, the higher the lump sum equivalent cost of premiums.

The Compulife present value accumulated premium comparison can make those calculations instantly.

The Interest Adjusted cost index is/was a method for doing total cost comparisons for a period of time, taking into account the time value of money. Compulife includes this as an option because some states require this as a basis for total insurance premium comparisons.

There are two inherent problems associated with the index. The first is that in ALL cases, the method employs a 5% "time value" assumption. Because this interest assumption is fixed, it will be either too high or too low for most people.

Second, and this is a larger problem, the index is expressed as a value, which for the most part, is meaningless with one exception. If you do a comparison for 40 years, and one product has an index of 3.48, and a comparable products has an index of 4.96, then the product with the lower index is less expensive, in terms of total accumulated cost.

The index value generated by the calculation is best understood as the average cost per thousand for insurance, per year, for the number of years compared. To calculate the average cost per thousand normally, you would simply accumulate the annual premiums for the period of time in question, say 20 years, then divide the premiums by 20 to get the average premium per year. Next, to get the average cost per thousand, you would divide by the number of 1,000's of insurance.

For example, a 20 year term policy with a face amount of $250,000, with a premium of $500 per year, would have total premiums for 20 years of $10,000. Dividing $10,000 by 20 years gives an average premium of $500 (note that the average would be a more complicated calculation for ART). Next, to get the average cost per thousand, you would divide $500 by 250 to get an average rate per thousand of $2.00.

The index makes this calculation much more complex. What it does is add 5% annual interest to each premium payable, then takes the total accumulation after the time period, and takes the present value (based upon 5%) of that lump sum. That value is then divided by the number of years and the number of thousands of insurance. The resulting number is a comparable value, but represent a number with no significance.

By contrast, a present value accumulated cost comparison, based upon the same 5%, would give an equally useful "comparative value", but in addition would tell you the exact lump sum amount of money that would be needed to pay premiums for that time period. That, quite simply, is a significant number.

Annual premium comparisons are based upon the total of the basic annual premium with the waiver premium included. If waiver of premium is an option your client wants, and because some companies charge much more for waiver than others, you can make your comparison based upon total premium.

NOTE: When filing products to Pick 12 there is no need to select waiver premium in the comparison in order to have the waiver of premiums transferred to Pick 12. When a product is transferred to Pick 12, all ancillary values such as modal premiums and waivers are automatically transferred. To display those values in Pick 12, you must use those options in Pick 12.

Using this option, the comparison is based on combined annual premiums for both Client number 1 and Client number 2 (as entered in the "Enter Client Information" window).

Because some companies offer policy fee reductions for multiple life purchases, for husbands and wives, the comparison will automatically take that reduction into account and the total premium will reflect the total cost less the reduced policy fee.

When you double click on a company in the comparison, the Display Single Product window will provide you with total premiums for both husband and wife. If the pound/number symbol (#) appears next to the age in that display, that is a total premium which is less than the total of the two individual premiums if the policies were purchased individually.

Multiple-life comparisons may currently be based on a maximum of two lives. Capability will increase to five lives in the near future.

Using this option, the comparison is based on combined annual premiums for both Client number 1 and Client number 2 (as entered in the "Enter Client Information" window).

Because some companies offer policy fee reductions for multiple life purchases, for related people other than husbands and wives, the comparison will automatically take that reduction into account and the total premium will reflect the total cost less the reduced policy fee.

When you double click on a company in the comparison, the Display Single Product window will provide you with total premiums for the two lives. If the pound/number symbol (#) appears next to the age in that display, that is a total premium which is less than the total of the two individual premiums if the policies were purchased individually.

Compulife does not sell insurance and we are not affiliated with any agency or marketing group. Agents who want to pursue further information about a company, it's products or marketing for that company, are encouraged to contact the home office of that company.

With the blue line on the company/product you are interested in, you can click on options, and then on Company Information. This will give you the home office address, phone numbers and contact person (if available). We encourage you to contact the company for further information.