Why even those at the top of their game need insurance

Advisors know the importance of finding a niche for themselves and communicating the value of insurance to clients. For Ronnie Lee Kaymore, that involves focusing entirely on athletes and, often, protecting the income of some of the best college players.

“They seem to have a bright future,” the four-year MDRT member from Newark, New Jersey, said, “but they have to stay healthy before they get drafted.”

College football fans know that didn’t happen for Jaylon Smith. The award-winning Notre Dame linebacker was expected to be a top-10 NFL draft pick in 2016 until he suffered a serious injury in his final collegiate game. It was enough to knock him all the way down to the 34th pick, toward the beginning of the second round. That’s significant because of a sliding scale that establishes a player’s salary based on draft position.

For Smith, that meant, according to some, a drop of more than $15 million — which is a loss of more than 80 percent of what he might have earned without the injury.

Backup insurance plan

Fortunately, Kaymore, a former player himself at Washington State University and in the Arena Football League, set up Smith’s policy so that if he was injured and not drafted in the first round, he could collect more than $800,000.

“It doesn’t replace all that he’s lost, but it’s certainly a great story of a young man taking the time to insure and protect his NFL future,” Kaymore said.

Smith had been referred to Kaymore by two teammates at Notre Dame who worked with the advisor, and the star linebacker believed in it right away, Kaymore said. The policy continues to be a relief as Smith works to return from nerve damage that reportedly is not healing as well as expected.

Learn from experience

“This is my fourth claim of this magnitude,” Kaymore said, noting that in his playing days, he didn’t have insurance for himself and hadn’t even heard about it. “I always talk about clients that I’ve worked with in the past that have actually collected from these policies. I use these stories to educate and encourage families to protect their most important asset, which is their ability to earn income.

“There are so many college kids that get hurt that look like they are shoo-ins to go to the next level. This is a success story because the kid had insurance, but many don’t have it in place.”

•  See more about Kaymore in “Athletes make lucrative niche market” (pdf)
• Get more sports-related tips with “Use metaphors to help people understand income replacement products” (blog)

Written by Matt Pais, MDRT Content Specialist