Life Insurance - Why Pay More For Less?

I recently had lunch with a planner that I have been working with for about the last three years.  Although he had not really sent me many of his clients to work on their insurance needs we stayed in touch.  At lunch, I had asked him about his personal life insurance for he and his wife.  He was polite and let me know he and his wife were all set – they have a good friend in the insurance business.
 
I asked him to humor me and complete an informal questionnaire on he and his wife and let me know what their current insurance premiums were for the coverage they had.  Worst came to worst he would at least know how my process works.
 
A few weeks after the lunch the planner sent me over the informal questionnaires along with the information on his current coverage for he and his wife.  It turns out he and his wife each took out two 20-year level term policies 6-years ago, $3,000,000 on him and $1,000,000 on his wife. 
 
We shopped the marketplace for best class underwriting as they both were in excellent health.  Long story short in early March, they were both approved best class with premiums 15% LESS than what they were paying.  In addition, they would also have an another 6-years of coverage as they will be resetting at the 20-year term.
 
I let the planner know that his friend did nothing wrong, because it is the truth.  At the time these policies were underwritten term insurance was much more expensive.  What the friend did not do was follow up and let them know they should get underwritten again as term insurance prices have come down dramatically.  Both new 20-year term policies were put in force, and they let the existing coverage run out and lapse.
 
In the past month or so the planner has sent me a number of his clients to review their current life insurance coverage to see if we can get a cheaper premium.  I know life insurance is sometimes not a high priority in all financial plans as there are other larger obstacles and goals to address, but if you can save your clients meaningful dollars by pricing out their current life insurance coverage ever so often the exercise can become a part of your value proposition.