Minnesota Life Launches "Human Life Value" iPad Calculator App

Minnesota Life Insurance Company, a Securian Financial Group affiliate, has launched an app for the iPad that financial advisors can use to show clients their current economic value based on their expected lifetime earning capacity. The low end of economic value includes only immediate debt plus the cost of funding lifetime priorities such as college costs; on the other end of the spectrum is all of that plus the client's potential earnings through retirement — the Human Life Value, a Minnesota Life statement observes.

"People often do not realize how big that number can be," comments Andrea Mack, director, Life Product Promotions. "Once they do, they think twice about their life insurance coverage."

Minnesota Life's Human Life Value Calculator app for the iPad asks for basic economic information such as current income and debt, number of years to retirement, ongoing financial commitments, funding goals such as college savings, and current resources. The app then shows clients the range of their economic value by displaying their basic needs on the low end of the spectrum and their Human Life Value on the high end. A slide bar allows them to choose an amount of desired insurance coverage between those numbers. They also can arrange to send the results to themselves and their advisors by email. The app can be downloaded from the App Store.

"When clients download the app, complete the calculation and see the results, they understand how their debt, income and resources affect their life insurance needs," Mack asserts.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio