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Pick 12 Policy Analysis is the most commonly used Compulife presentation for consumers. Pick 12 allows the agent to place up to 12 products, from any mix of term categories (level term periods), and display them side by side, year by year, for up to 60 years. NOTE: Please print this instructional and have it with you as you run the Compulife program. Before displaying or printing a Pick 12 Policy Analysis you must do the following:
1. Enter basic information about your client into the Client
Information screen. For further information, refer to
Enter Client Information.
2. Select and file up to 12 products into the Pick 12 Policy
Analysis. Products are selected using the methods explained
below. After entering your client's required information Enter Client Information you may use either Display Product Comparison (Master Menu option 3) and/or Display a Single Product (Master Menu option 2) to select products for Pick 12. Once products have been compared they can be individually highlighted and filed into the Pick 12 program using the right mouse button. For a complete explanation of how to file products to Pick 12 from a comparison, click on Display Product Comparisons - Filing To Pick 12. Batch processing is also available for users wishing to compare the same groups(s) of products for multiple clients. After creating a Pick 12 Policy Analysis for a group of products, the group may be saved into a "Batch" file. To do so, select the Batch option found on the top line of the Pick 12 window and save the current group of products as a batch. Once a batch has been created, you may retrieve it whenever a comparison of that specific group of products is desired. For further information, refer to Batch File. A much fuller explanation of filing products to Pick 12, from a comparison, is available in Display Product Comparisons - Filing To Pick 12. Products from your comparison are filed to Pick 12 by using the right mouse button. To do this, having selected the "Display Product Comparison" option from your red master menu, move the mouse pointer to the first product that you want to select and place in your spreadsheet. With your mouse pointer on that product, click the right mouse button. The first time that you click the right mouse button, the "Pick 12 Product List" window will appear. Providing that your windows have been set up properly, the "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 that these windows appear on your computer monitor, and if 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 that both the "Display Product Comparison" window, and the "Pick 12 Product List" window are both displayed, and you can see both at the same time, 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. These will allow you to move the light blue line (in the comparison) to the product that you want to file. With the blue line on the product that 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. There are two ways to display a single product. One way is to choose number 2 on the Master Menu which is "Display Single Product". This will display a window titled "Display Single Product". The last product that was selected using that Window will appear. If you wish to display a product for a different company, click the down button (small upside down triangle) that appears to the right of the company name. This will display the list of companies included in the Compulife Quotation System. Locate and click on the company that you want. If the product displayed is not the product that you want, click the down button (small upside down triangle) that appears to the right of the product name. Select the product from the list that is displayed. With the correct product displayed on screen you can now go to the top line of the window and click on "File". The first choice is "File to Pick 5". Clicking on this will display the "Pick 12 Product List". Move your mouse pointer into the "Pick 12 Product List" and click on the line in the "Pick 12 Product List" where you want the product placed. Click again. This will place the product into the Pick 12 product list. You can then go back to the "Display Single Product" window, select a different product or company, and repeat the process. The other way to display a single product is to go to option 3 on the Compulife Quotation System red master menu. This will take you to the Display Product Comparison. Once a list of products is on screen, double clicking on any particular product will cause a "Display Single Product" window to appear. The product in that window will be the product that you had double- clicked on in the comparison window. Moving the mouse to a different product in the comparison window, and double clicking on that product, will cause that product to appear in the "Display Single Product" window. Once the single product is displayed, you can go to the top line of the window and click on "File". The first choice is "File to Pick 5". Clicking on this will display the "Pick 12 Product List". Click on the spot in the "Pick 12 Product List" where you want this product placed. Click again. This will place the product into the Pick 12 product list. You can then go back to the "Display Product Comparison" window, double click on a different product, and repeat the process. It should be noted that the idea of filing products from a "Display Single Product" window, which itself was displayed by double clicking on a product in the "Display Product Comparison", is a redundant process. The simpler method is to right click on products in the comparison. The reason Compulife provides this alternative method is that some subscribers may have such low resolution computer displays that that they cannot adequately display the three windows at the same time. After filing the desired products into the Pick 12 program, close the "Display Product Comparison" window. At the "Compulife Quotation System" red master menu click on number 5 to go to the Pick 12 Policy Analysis.  Alternately you can press F5 from any point within the program to bypass the Master Menu and display the Pick 12 Analysis. TIP: F5 is a function key shortcut to the Compulife Quotation
System red master menu choice 5 which is the Pick 12 Policy
Analysis. F1 is another shortcut that take you instantly to
number one on the menu, which is "Enter Client Information". F3
will give you comparisons and F2 will give you the single product
window.
NOTE: If you only filed 4 products to Pick 12, the window
will be called "Pick 4 Policy Analysis". The number in the title
of the windows reflects the actual number of products you have
placed into the spreadsheet. If you attempt to display the Pick 12 Policy Analysis before you have filed products, a warning message will appear. The program will advise you that you need to use F2 or F3 to file products into Pick 12. After the Pick 12 Policy Analysis window has appeared, you can print the Pick 12 Policy Analysis by moving your mouse pointer to the top of the window. Click on "File". Move your mouse pointer down and click on "Print (windows)". Once you have confirmed your printer choice you can click on "OK" to print. Alternately you can click on the printer icon that appears in the middle of the Pick 12 Policy Analysis header. It is the little square icon to the left of the "Fit Columns" button. Clicking on the print icon sends ALL pages directly to your default printer without giving you the "Print" windows which allows you to modify printer settings. More about printout composition, print styles and print options is found further down in this chapter. The Pick 12 Policy Analysis window is broken into three basic display areas regarding client, insurance product and premium information. The very top of the window contains information about the client and options for manipulating the window. The second area contains company/product information and the third area contains columns of premiums for the products selected. The header at the top of the window displays the face amount, premium mode, age, sex, and health category information which you entered entered into the "Enter Client Information" window in order to select the products in your Pick 12 Policy Analysis. To the right of that information is the printer icon, the "Guaranteed" check box, the "Fit Columns" icon and the More/Less icons. Clicking on the printer icon will print the current Pick 12 Policy Analysis to your default printer. Alternately, you can go to "File" at the top of the window, and click on "Print (windows)". That permits you to change the printer settings and/or select the group of pages that you want to print. The "Guaranteed" check box will instantly display the guaranteed premiums for the products in the spreadsheet. As background, many term plans have two sets of future premiums; current and guaranteed. When a product is filed to the Pick 12 Policy Analysis both sets of premiums are automatically placed into the spreadsheet. When the Pick 12 Policy Analysis is displayed the current premiums are shown first. Using the scroll bar to the right of the window, you can move down the premium listings and you will find that the current premiums are followed by the guaranteed premiums. Alternately, you can immediately see the guaranteed premiums by clicking on the "Guaranteed" check box. This will switch to the display of the "Guaranteed" premiums. Clicking the Guaranteed box again will remove the check mark and the current premiums are displayed. NOTE: Apart from being different and lower than the guaranteed premiums, current premiums are marked with an asterisk indicating that the premium can be altered by the company if the company elects to do so. The "Fit Columns" icon/button will force all premium column widths to be resized so that all premiums can be displayed in the window. This has the impact of permitting you to see all premiums, for all columns, without having to use the side scroll bar. The "More" or "Less" icon/buttons affect how many company/product lines are displayed in that part of the window. Clicking "More" adds more lines, requiring less up and down scrolling to see the company/product name lines. Adding more company lines reduces the number of years of premiums that can be seen in the premium columns. Click on "Less" to reduce the number of lines. The second area in the Pick 12 Policy Analysis window displays company/product information. This information is displayed horizontally, line by line, with each company/product on a single line. The area displays the company name, product name, and the health category assigned by Compulife to the rates being quoted. NOTE: More company/product lines can be displayed at the same time by clicking on the "More" icon in the header of the Pick 12 Policy Analysis window. P+, Pf, R+, and Rg are indicators that will help you determine the underwriting (health and lifestyle) criteria that you will need to satisfy in order to qualify for the premium shown. P+ - indicates a rate for an individual in very preferred (preferred plus) health. A company offering a P+ premium also offers a preferred (Pf) and a regular (Rg) health premium. Pf premiums are less difficult to qualify for. Rg premiums are much less difficult to qualify for. Pf - indicates a rate for an individual in preferred health. A company offering a Pf premium also offers a regular (Rg) health premium. Rg premiums are less difficult to qualify for. R+ - indicates a rate for an individual in somewhat better health than regular (Rg), but not what the life insurance industry typically terms "preferred health". A company offering an R+ premium also offers a regular (Rg) health premium. Rg premiums are less difficult to qualify for. Rg - indicates a rate for a person in normal health who does not have any medical or lifestyle condition which would increase their future risk of dying. Example: A person who has moderately elevated blood pressure may not qualify for P+, Pf or R+ premium rates, but they might qualify for Rg. A private pilot may not qualify for P+ or Pf premiums, but might qualify for R+ or Rg rates. You will need to speak to the company or an insurance agent for more details. Premiums quoted for smokers already take into account that the insured person smokes and therefore has a greater risk of death than a non-smokers. Premiums offered to smokers are already higher than those for non-smokers. Additional information is available about each company/product in the spreadsheet. To display that information move your mouse point to a company line in the top of the window, and click on the company/product line. This will display the "Summary of Policy" window. This windows repeats the company and product name, and also give you the renewal to age, the convertible to age, a brief description of the level premium period and guarantee, the annual premium, the waiver premium, other modal premiums, A.M. Best rating information and the Head Office address and phone numbers. The third and last area of the "Pick 12 Policy Analysis" window displays each company's premiums, column by column. The first column of premiums correspond to the first product listed on line 1 in the header area above the premium columns. The second column of premiums corresponds to the second product, etc. There are a number of ways to manipulate the information that appears in the columns. To delete a column/product simply move the mouse pointer to the column of premiums that you do not want in the spreadsheet. With you mouse pointer on the column, click your right mouse button. This will display a menu. The second last option in that menu allows you to delete a column. When you click on that choice, the column is deleted and the product that followed that product moves into that deleted position. If it was your intention to leave the spot open, so that you can go to your comparison and file a new product, then DO NOT delete the product. The way to replace a product in the spreadsheet is to run your comparison and highlight the product you want with the left mouse button. Next, right click to display the "Pick 12 Product List". With the product list on screen, move your mouse pointer to the line in the list that contains the product that you want to replace. Left click on that product. The highlighted product from the comparison window will now appear in that position in the Pick 12 Product List. When you are in the Pick 12 Policy Analysis window, and right click on a column of premiums, you will also find on that menu the "delete all columns (F10)". Selecting this option will delete all products in the spreadsheet. Alternately, you can press the F10 key. NOTE: You do not need to delete all products in the spreadsheet if you plan to do a new spreadsheet for a different client. If you change anything in the client information, using "Enter Client Information", and then proceed to begin filing products into the Pick 12 Policy Analysis, the system will automatically delete the old spreadsheet and begin again. If you have not changed the client information, and want to do a new spreadsheet for the same client, you will need to do a manual deletion of the all the products in the Pick 12 Policy Analysis. TIP: There is also a "Delete All" button in the "Pick 12 Product List" window. This can let you delete all products in the Pick 12 Policy Analysis just before you begin filing new products into the spreadsheet. You can manipulate the order of columns by moving your mouse pointer to the head of the column that you want to move. The head of the column is the line which indicates the category of the product in the column, ie. 10 year, 20 year, etc. To move the column click and hold down the left button on the header of the column that you want to move. With your left button held down, drag the column to the column where you want it to be. TIP: Build from right to left. For example, if you want the product in column 8 to go in column 1, then click and drag 8 to 1. Then decide what product you want in 2, and so on. Alternately you can switch columns by pressing the F8 key. This will display the "Move Column" window and allow you to specify which column to switch with another column. Once you have selected the two columns to switch, click the OK button. Column widths can be changed in two ways. First, you can change one column's width by moving the mouse to the head of the column, and placing the cursor on the right column border. This is the border between the column that you want to alter and the one that follows. When you have placed your mouse pointer in the correct position, the pointer will change in appearance to a double arrow. At that point click and hold the left button, and drag the mouse to the right if you want a wider column, or to the left if you want a narrower column. The second way to change the width of all columns is to click on the "Fit Columns" button on the top of your window. The system will automatically make all columns narrow enough to fit the window that you have displayed. This eliminates the need for side scrolling to see additional premiums. However, if you click on "Fit Columns" and the columns appear too narrow to display the premiums properly, you can resize the columns by moving the mouse pointer to the head of column one and widen the column manually. Once that column has been set to the width that you like, you can continue to do the same for each of the following columns. Alternately, you can use a feature found in "Style Options" at the top of the screen. Go to the Style Options - Display Style which follows the next section. NOTE: Before reviewing "Style Options" more fully, changing the width of your columns is a change in the "style" of your display. "Style" refers to the look and feel of your display, NOT the life insurance product content. For example, the width of your column(s) will be the width regardless of what product or premiums end up in the column. Changes to the style of your display are not automatically remembered. If you want a style change to be remembered you must act to save the changes. There are two places you can save a Display Style. The first and quickest way to save a style is to go to the top of the Pick 12 Policy Analysis window and click on "File". NOTE: As you read further you will note that there are two different "styles" related to the Pick 12 Policy Analysis. These are "Display Style" and "Print Style". While the ideas and concepts are the same, Display style affects the "look and feel" of what is displayed on your computer screen, while Print Style affects the "look and feel" of your printouts. From the list of "File" options click on "Save Display Style". This will display the "Save As" window. When you save style changes you are asked to give a name to the style that you are saving. The reason for this is that you can have multiple styles on file. While this may seem redundant for your computer display, the ability to have multiple styles becomes very important for "Print Styles". There you may have different looks and feels depending on the combination of products that you have selected. Saving your style to a filename also backs up your style. When you save the style to the filename you are also saving it as the default style currently used by your computer. However, if you accidentally mess up your current style, you can retrieve the style by going back to the filename you saved. More on that will follow. When you click on "Save Display Style" you can select an existing file listed in the "Save As" window or you can save the current style under a new name. TIP: Give your style a unique name. Compulife provides three style sheets with your update. Avoid using these to save your style changes as these styles will be overwritten with your next monthly update. Compulife updates those sample style sheets so that if you mess up a style sheet too badly, we can have you load one of our style sheets and you can begin again. The style sheets are: LORES.STY
- best used for low resolution display When you have entered you style name, and have clicked the OK button, you will now find yourself in the "Display Style" window. If you are done saving your style, simply click the OK button in the bottom right hand corner of the window. Retrieving a previously saved style can be accomplished by going to the top of your Pick 12 Policy Analysis window, clicking on "Load Display Style". This will display the "Open" window. Locate the display style name you want, and double click on it. This will load the select style as the default style. While clicking your right mouse button on a column of premiums will display a menu that allow you to change font, colors and justification of the column, the most thorough method of making those changes is using the "Style Options" at the top of your Pick 12 Policy Analysis windows. When you click on "Style Options" a drop down menu will appear. Click on "Display Style" to display the "Display Style Options" menu. The first choice in the "Display Style Options" window is the button "All Column widths same as Column 1". Earlier we talked about manual setting of column widths using your mouse to manually drag the right hand border in the header of the column. If you set the width of column one, then want all other columns set the same, you can use this button to make the rest of the column widths the same as the first column. To the right of this button is the "Set Row Heights to" which is followed by a numeric spinner. Making this value larger will increase the height of the premium rows, while making this value smaller will decrease the height of the premium rows. The next area of the "Display Style Options" window is where you "Select Item to Change Font" and from there you can "Set Justification", "Set Color" and "Set Font". Unlike the right mouse button which will permit these items to be edited for each premium column, the "Select Item to Change Font" will allow you to edit a much greater number of the fonts you see on your computer display. The following is a description of each item that can be edited: Accumulations - your spreadsheet is able to display the total accumulated premiums in 5 year steps. Editing accumulations will permit you to set the color and font of the accumulations row. Justification of values in this row is determined by the justification set for the column. PVAC - PVAC is the "Present Value Accumulated Cost". This is similar to accumulations but is the accumulated value discounted based upon the interest and tax assumptions entered in the "Display Options" menu choice. PVAC is shown in 5 years steps. See Display Options for more information. Editing PVAC will permit you to set the color and font of the PVAC row. Justification of values in this row is determined by the justification set for the column. Index - Index is the "Interest Adjusted Payment Index". This is average cost per thousand per year, adjusted for a 5% time value of money. Indexes can be shown as an alternative time value measurement to PVAC. See Display Options for more information. Editing Index will permit you to set the color and font of the Index row. Justification of values in this row is determined by the justification set for the column. Current Years Column - The far left column, to the left of the premiums for product number one, is a list of years for each respective premium. Current premiums are shown first in the Pick 12 display, followed by guaranteed premiums. You can edit the justification, color and font for the "Current Years Column". Guaranteed Years Column - The guaranteed premiums follow the current premiums is the Pick 12 display. The Guaranteed Years Column appears next to guaranteed premiums and indicates the corresponding year for each row of premiums. You can edit the justification, color and font for the "Guaranteed Years Column" and it is recommended you make this different from the current premiums so that you can easily identify the difference between current and guaranteed premiums. Highlight Lowest Column - "Display Options" contains an option to highlight the lowest column of values. This column can be used to quickly identify which column of premiums and/or values is lowest for a company/product. You can edit the justification, color and font for "Highlight Lowest Column". Generic Policy Headings - This is the header row which appears above the first year premium. The header contains the generic level premium category for the product displayed. This would be 10 year, 20 years, etc. Justification of values in this row is determined by the justification set for the column. Company/Product List - This is the company name, product name and health category displayed above the premium area in the spreadsheet. All values are automatically justified in this area but you can set the color and font. Column 1 Default - This is the font for the premium column for product number one. You can edit the justification, color and font for the premiums that appear in column 1. Column 2-12 Default - This is the font for the premium column for product numbers 2-12. NOTE: While each premium column can be edited separately, permitting a wide variety of color/font combinations, most users will want all columns following column 1 to be consistent with column 1. If that is the case, then edit the values for column 1 and press the "Set Columns same as Column 1" button that appears to the right of the "Select Item to Change Font" menu. At the bottom of the Display Style window you will find three buttons. The first button is the "Load Display Style" which permits you to retrieve a previously saved display style. Alternately, and as discussed previously, you can load a display style by going to the top of the Pick 12 Policy Analysis window, clicking on "File" then clicking on "Load Display Style" The second button is the "Save Display Style" which permits you to save the current display style. Alternately, and as discussed previously, you can save a display style by going to the top of the Pick 12 Policy Analysis window, clicking on "File" then clicking on "Save Display Style" The third button is the "OK" button which will close the "Display Style Options" window. You have the same ability to control the look and feel of your Pick 12 Policy Analysis printouts as you do the look and feel of the Pick 12 Policy Analysis display on your computer screen. The "Print Style Options" window is virtually identical to the "Display Style Options" window with the following differences discussed in detail. To change your print style, move you mouse pointer to the top of the Pick 12 Policy Analysis window and click on "Style Option". A drop down menu appears and you then click on "Print Style" to display the "Print Style Options" menu. Once again, you will note that the "Print Style Options" window is virtually identical to the "Display Style Options" windows and is purposely laid out to make certain that the common elements are in the same location and function the same way. Print Style adds a number of items, but two items are missing. These are the column width and column height options. When printing a Pick 12 Policy Analysis the computer will automatically space rows and columns to take advantage of the space available on the page. If you place 5 products on the page, the spacing will be wider than if you placed 10 products on the page. The only spacing control you have is to set margins which can be done by clicking on the "Set Margins" button found at the bottom center of the Window, immediately to the left of the "Preview" button. Before discussing the margin button, the Preview button and function needs to be understood. Unlike Display Style, where the results of changes to your display can be viewed immediately, changes to the Print Style will not be fully understood until you print the spreadsheet. To avoid printing you can use the "Print Preview" option which will allow you to display a copy of your printout on screen, without printing. This will save the time and expense of having to print to see the impact of a change you make. When you click on the "Preview" button, your program will pause and assemble the printout. When completed, the printout will appear in the "Print Preview" window.  It should be noted that all the hard work, in selecting fonts and spacing columns, etc., has been done by this process. If you elect to then print from the "Print Preview" display, the printing process is quite quick. In relationship to printing from "Print Preview", you have two print buttons. The first print button permits you to print "All Pages". Alternately, you can print a "Single Page" which is the default page you are currently viewing. To move forward or backward a page, you can use the two arrow buttons fount in the top left corner of the Print Preview window. If you click the right button, you will go to page 2 from page 1. The total number of pages, and the page you are looking at, is displayed in the status line just below the top row of buttons. The "Copy to Clipboard" button permits you to copy the single page that you are looking at, to your computers clipboard. NOTE: "Copy to Clipboard" is a "graphic" image. This makes it very simple to place the page in a document editor as a graphic frame, which can be sized and placed easily. The next option in the header is the display size selection, allowing you to zoom in or zoom out on the print display. The Cancel button will close the Print Preview window. The ability to preview a printout is such an important tool that we have made it accessible in several different places. In addition to the "Print Style Options" window, you can do a print preview by going to the top of the "Pick 12 Policy Analysis" window, click on file, then click on "Print Preview". Print Preview is also available from the "Print Options" menu. The logic is that having selected a Print Option, you might want to review what the impact was on your printout. To set the margins on your printout you can click the "Set Margins" button on your Print Style Options window. The margins window has four basic margin controls to set the outside perimeter of your printout. These are: Top Margin - sets the space at the top of your printout Before entering the values to set your margins, you can first identify if you want the values entered in Inches or Millimeters. This is found in the bottom left corner of the window. NOTE: The right side of the windows contains a representation of your page. As you enter values for the margins, the lines inside the page move, showing the movement of your margins. TIP: If the page appears to be on its side, then you your "Print Orientation is "landscape" printing. If you want the printout to be up and down the page, you can close the Margins window and switch the Print Orientation from Landscape to Portrait. This is the radio button menu in the left hand side of the "Print Style Options" window, about halfway down the window. In addition to the four basic margin selections, you can also control the header margins. This is useful for those who use printed letterhead with logo in the top left or top right of their page. Entering a value greater than zero will cause the header to be further indented by that amount. If you do not use pre-printed letterhead, do not enter a value other than zero. The only other value that can be edited in the margin window is the "Remove Space Above Footer". Compulife's footer information is printed from the bottom margin up, while the bulk of the printout is printed from the top margin down. Sometimes the spacing of the page, as calculated by windows, is less than precise and there can be additional space between the footer and the bottom of the premium tables. If there is more white space than you would prefer, this space can be removed by entering a value into the "Remove Space Above Footer". The greater the value, the more space that is removed. Print Style Options allows you to edit the fonts and colors in the various columns and rows in your Pick 12 spreadsheet. The method for editing each individual item is the same as "Display Style Options" but the item you are setting fonts and colors for is the printout, and not the display on screen. Given that most users have a full color monitor, and many will have black and white lasers, the color composition of a screen display will be and should be different than for a printout. The same items that have been listed and described previously in the Display Style Options, "Select Item to change Font", are also found in the Print Style Options. However, there are some additional items which are particular to the printout and not to the display. These are: Header on Printouts - This edits the header area of your printout and allows you to select the font, font size and color for the header area. The header includes all the information above the company and product names at the top of your printout. Footer on Printouts - This edits the footer area of your printout and allows you to select the font, font size and color for the footer area. The header includes all the information below the premium columns at the bottom of your printout. Summary Page Body - One of the print options for Pick 12 Policy Analysis is the ability to include a summary page which will be discussed in more detail further on. This allows you to select the font used in the summary page although you are greatly limited in the font size and the system will automatically shrink a font selection to ensure the information fits in the summary page. Further, the software automatically make the company name bold, while the balance of the page is in regular font. In addition to being able to change the fonts in your spreadsheet, there are additional page formatting options found in the "Print Style Options" window. These are: Print Orientation - You can elect to have your spreadsheet printed in Portrait or Landscape mode. Landscape it a good idea if you are quoting on the high end of the 12 product limit in the software. This allows adequate space in which to include all the premiums columns. By contrast, if you were only quoting 5 products, and wanted to quote 30 years of premiums, on a single page, then Portrait would be the better format. Company/Product List - The first option is to decide if the company/product list, which appears below the header and above the premium columns, will be a single or double column list. Generally, a single column list would be used for portrait printouts, while double columns look better for landscape. The issue is how crowded you want your lines to be. The second option is to decide if you want a "Line Above/Below" the company/product list. If checked, a line will appear above the first company in the list, and after the last company in the list. The third option is to decide if you want a "Line Between" each company/product in the list. If checked, a line will appear between each company/product line in the list. Grid Lines - Grid lines are used to subdivide the premium columns and rows. The first option is to have "Line Outside Edge" grid lines. These are two vertical lines, one on the left margin, and the other on right margin. The second option is to have "Vertical" grid lines. This will place vertical lines between each column of premiums. The Horizontal Grid Lines are a radio button selection. You can have one or the other or the other, but not in combination. If you select horizontal every 5 years, horizontal lines will separate premium rows every 5 year results, and add lines on either side of 5 year summary information such as premium accumulations, PVAC's or indexes. Horizontal all years simply places a grid line between every row on the page. No horizontal lines means what it says, there will be no horizontal lines between rows of premiums on the page. Allow Variable Font Size - With very few exceptions, it is best to check this option. This gives the system permission to alter your font size selection, in the event you have selected a font too large to print. Number of Years Per Page - This means what it says. If you indicate that you want 20 years per page, then the system will place 20 years on each page (subject to the total years to print, which is sent in "Print Options"). The vertical spacing of rows will stretch the line height so that the rows are evenly spaced (vertically) on the page. If you attempt to place too many years on the page, the spacing between the lines will become crowded. This can be resolved by making the fonts smaller. As in the case of "Display Styles", print styles must be saved or your changes can be lost. There are two places where you can save or retrieve a print style. The first is to click the appropriate button at the bottom of the "Print Style Option" window. Alternately, you can go to the "File" option on the top of the Pick 12 Policy Analysis, and select the "Save Print Style" or "Load Print Style" option from that menu. As in the case of "Display Styles", you will be asked to give a name to the print style you are saving. Do not use the default names Compulife has already provided as these are, when you install a monthly update, replaced by Compulife. The following are default files provided: PORT20.PTY
- portrait printout with 20 years per page By giving your print style a unique name, you will not have it overwritten by Compulife when you do a monthly update. Further, if something should happen to your print style changes, you will have the backup file to retrieve. Display options are items which impact the content of your quotations. A change to display options will affect the way the premium data is presented on your computer display, and will have the same impact on your printout. By contrast, and with only one exception, Print Options are changes that you can make to your printout that do not impact the display of the product. To make a change to you "Display Options", move your cursor to the top of the "Pick 12 Policy Analysis" windows and click on "Display Options". Show Decimals - If you check this selection your premiums will show total premium to the penny. This is important if you are quoting odd face amounts where the premium results are not in dollars. However, if you are doing a round number face amount, such as 100,000 or 500,000 face amount, the likelihood is that the premiums will be in even dollars. By clicking on "Show Decimals", and removing the check mark, the premium display on your monitor and in your printout, will have the decimal points removed. If a premium did have any pennies in it, and you remove the check mark on Show Decimals, the premium will automatically be rounded up to the next dollar. This ensures that your premium quotation is NOT TOO LOW. Show Dollar Signs - Checking this box will place a "$" (dollar symbol) in front of each premium that you display and print. Highlight Lowest Column - Checking this box will alter the premiums and values for the least expensive product, for any given year or accumulation result, in the spreadsheet. The appearance of the column is governed on screen by the font/color selection determined in "Display Style". By contrast, the appearance of the column is determine by the font/color selected in "Print Style". Premium Payments - The first option under Premium payments is the modal premium. You can select the premium mode by click the radio button on the mode you want. Alternately, without the Display Options windows displayed, you can press the letter corresponding to the underlined letter in the premium mode. For example, pressing the letter "M" will change the display to monthly premiums. Alternately, pressing the letter "N" will display the annual premium. Waiver Premium - Checking the waiver premium box will cause the system to display the premiums with waiver premium included. If the column does not display premiums, it means Compulife does not have waiver premiums to display. If you are looking at older age premiums, such as 60 or 65, and a "W" appears next to the premium, this means that this premium is the first premium where waiver is no longer being added. Most companies do not provide waiver premium beyond age 59 or 64. You can alternately display waiver of premiums, without selecting the Display Option, by pressing the letter "W". "W" will turn waiver on, and another "W" will toggle it off. Show 5 Year Summaries - This includes or removes the 5 year summary information from your display or printout. Place a check mark in the box to include the summary values. 5 Year summaries can include either the PVAC or the interest adjusted index. You can have one, or the other, but not both. In addition to either of these values, you can optionally add accumulations. Accumulations cannot be quoted separately as the concept of accumulated premiums is a poor method of analyzing total cost, especially over a longer period of time. 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, you are given the ability to enter the Interest and Tax Rate. Net After Tax interest is automatically calculated after the other two fields have been entered. The PVAC values displayed is based upon the Net After Tax value. 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 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. Save as default - If you change the values in the Display Options window, those changes will only be remembered for the quotation that you are currently working on. When you leave Pick 12, and return later, the system will revert back to the previous values. If you want the system to remember the modifications you have made, then you need to click the "Save as default" button. Print Options are items which impact the content of your printout. A change to print options will affect the way the premium data is produced on your computer printer. With only one exception, "Total years to print", Print Options do not impact your Pick 12 Policy Analysis display. TIP: Because you will not see the results of changes that you make to Print Options, it is recommended that you use the print "Preview" button found in the bottom left hand corner of the "Print Options" window. This will display the printout on screen, without having to actually print it. If you like the on screen version of the printout, that can be printed from the Print Preview window. Include Summary of Products - This is an optional last page which provides additional information about each insurance product in the spreadsheet. The summary page repeats the company and product name, gives you the renewal to age, the convertible to age, a brief description of the level premium period and premium guarantee. Include Best Ratings in Summary - This will include the A.M. Best ratings in the summary page. If you elect to include A.M. Best ratings, you also need to include the Guide to Best Ratings with the comparison. That can be printed with your quote, or, because the Guide is stagnant, can be pre-printed and duplicated to save printing time. Include Modal Premium in Summary - This will include the alternate premium modes in the summary. If the spreadsheet was based upon annual premiums, then the monthly, quarterly and semi- annual premiums (if available) will be shown in the summary page. If the spreadsheet is based upon monthly premiums, then the other modes would be the annual, quarterly and semi-annual premiums. Total year to print - You can print a total number of up to 60 years of premiums. If you have indicated, in your style sheet, that you want 20 years per page, and indicate in Print Options that you want 50 total years, it will take a minimum of 3 pages to print current premiums, and another 3 pages to print guaranteed premiums. Include Generic Heading Titles - These are level premium categories from which the products were filed. For example, 10 year or 20 year term. Generic heading titles are particularly useful if you are mixing level premium categories in the same spreadsheet. You can quickly, at a glance, identify the differences between 10, 15 and 20 years. Include Compulife Comparison Disclosure - Some states have adopted the NAIC "illustration regulation" which states that illustrations may only be produced by life company approved software. Compulife is NOT approved by any life company and we do not consider our comparisons to be "illustrations". To agents concerned about making that point clear to the the public, we recommend you print and include a Compulife Comparison Disclosure that makes this point very clear. For further information, please click on "Print Disclosure Now" and read the disclosure statement. Include PVAC Summary Page - Understanding the concept of the Present Value Accumulated Cost can be challenging, and even more challenging to explain to a consumer. If you have checked this option, and if you include the PVAC in your Pick 12 printout, then a PVAC Summary Page will be added to the comparison which explains the concept and gives a sample calculation for the first product in your spreadsheet. Print Guaranteed Premiums Only - Some products offer schedules of both current and guaranteed premiums and if necessary, the Pick 12 Policy Analysis will print both current and guaranteed premium pages. The only exception would be where the system automatically detects that all the products in the spreadsheet have fully guaranteed premiums. If that is detected, then the guaranteed premium pages are the only pages that print. However, if you want to eliminate current premiums pages from your printouts, check the "Print Guaranteed Premiums Only" box. Include License Number - Some state require that you include you license number next to your name in all materials given to the public. If you are selling in states which require this, then you can click on "Include License Number" and this will be printed to the right of the licensee name which is printed in the top left corner of the page. NOTE: License Numbers are entered into the system using "List or Modify Product Database". Customize Title - Some subscribers do not like the title of the spreadsheet which is "Pick 12 Policy Analysis" where 12 is the number of products in the spreadsheet. If there are only 7 products in the spreadsheet, then the title of the spreadsheet is Pick 7 Policy Analysis. If you check Customize Title, you can enter your own title for the spreadsheet. If you want the number of products reflected in the title, then simply put "##" (double number symbol) where you want the number to appear. When you click on the "Preview" button, your program will pause and assemble the printout. When completed, the printout will appear in the "Print Preview" window. It should be noted that all the hard work, in selecting fonts and spacing columns, etc., has been done by this process. If you elect to then print from the "Print Preview" display, the printing process is quite quick. When you click on the "Print" button, your program will offer the "Print" windows and give you the option of printing your spreadsheet or parts of it to the printer of you choice. Save as default - If you change the values in the Print Options window, those changes will only be remembered for the quotation that you are currently working on. When you leave Pick 12, and return later, the system will revert back to the previous values. If you want the system to remember the modifications you have made, then you need to click the "Save as default" button. OK - Closes the Window. Batch file processing is available for users wishing to compare the same set(s) of products for multiple clients. After generating a Pick 12 Policy Analysis for a group of products, the products may be saved to a batch file. The Pick 12 program can retrieve the batch file whenever a comparison of that specific set of products is desired. To save, load or delete a batch file, click on "Batch" which is found in the top menu line of the Pick 12 Policy Analysis window. This will display the "Batch Option" window. Save Current Proposal as Batch - This will save the current set of products in your Pick 12 Policy Analysis to a batch file. The current list of batch files are in the white box at the top of your "Batch Options" window. To save a batch file click the "Save Current Proposal as Batch" button. The currently highlighted batch/line title will appear in the editing area just above the "Save Current Proposal as Batch" button. If this is not the batch/line you plan to save your batch to, move your mouse into the white box and click on the batch/line where you want this new batch placed. When you click on the batch/line, the current contents of that batch/line will appear in the editing line (this could be blank). Next, enter/edit the name that you want to give the batch file. When you are finished, click again on the "Save Current Proposal as Batch" button. Your Batch is saved. Load a Saved Batch - To run a Pick 12 Policy Analysis for an existing batch file, click on "Batch" at the top of your "Pick 12 Policy Analysis" window. Highlight the batch/line you wish to retrieve, then click on the "Load a Saved Batch" button. Your Pick 12 Policy Analysis window will automatically close and you will be taken to the "Enter Client Information" window. When you have entered in your client, click the OK button and select Pick 12 Policy Analysis from the Compulife Quotation System red master menu. Alternately, when you client information has been entered, you can press F5 which will do the same thing. At this point your program will advise you that the client information has changed and ask if you wish to re-file. Click on "Yes". This will assemble the group of products, for the client you have entered, and display the Pick 12 Policy Analysis. Delete a Saved Batch - To delete a batch file, click on the line/batch you want to delete, and click on the "Delete a Saved Batch" button. Alternately, you can save a batch over an existing batch, which erases the batch that was previously there. |
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