The March 2002 disk update will be processed Monday, February 25th and Tuesday, February 26th. Disks will be shipped Wednesday, February 27th. You should have the March Update in your office Friday, March 1st.
The Internet monthly update will be posted to our four monthly update websites on Wednesday, February 27th.
Unless you have made arrangements to purchase your diskettes, please return your "January disks" ONLY AFTER you have successfully installed the February 2002 Update. January disks are your backup in case you should have problems installing the February edition.
For those not wanting to return disks there are two ways to eliminate the problem. Please go to the end of this bulletin for full details.
After no small amount of criticism that Compulife's "Lite" program is archaic because it's DOS only (it isn't), we have decided to amend our marketing strategy with regard to Compulife Lite.
The following will describe Compulife's new "Lite" offering and the corresponding pricing changes that we are making for the "Lite" product.
Compulife Lite will now cost $149 per year. The new price applies whether you obtain updates by disk or by Internet. Those who purchased at the old prices will have the balance of their subscription honored at that old price.
Those who receive Compulife Lite by disk will continue to receive the same DOS only version of the software that we have previously offered. By comparison to a personal use version of Compulife, updated by disk, the Lite offers a 50% saving in cost. Keeping in mind that Lite updated by disk does not require you to return disks each month, and that you must pay an extra $21 to keep your personal use disks, $149 is less than 1/2 the cost of the $300 per year personal use subscription ($279 plus $21 to keep the disks).
Once again, the Lite program offered by disk will be DOS only. Lite by disk does not include ART or 5 year term plans.
Those who elect to purchase Compulife Lite and receive their monthly updates by Internet will pay $149 per year, an increase of $50. In return for that, you get the Windows version of Compulife.
By comparison to the cost of a personal use version of Compulife's program, updated by Internet, Lite offers a cost saving of $50 per year. The personal use version of Compulife, updated by internet, is $199.
What you give up to save $50 per year:
1. You will not have ART or 5 year term comparisons. That is the same as Lite updated by disk.
2. There is NO DOS based software in the Lite version updated by Internet. A Compulife subscriber who wants the DOS based software, in addition to the Windows version, would need to purchase the full personal use version of the software ($199 instead of $149).
3. Compulife Lite by Internet will not provide access to the Interest Adjusted Cost Analysis, Income From Capital Analysis, Retirement Investment Analysis or View/Print File programs. From our experience most subscribers do not use these options. For those that do, they generally require more technical assistance and telephone support. If you want these program options, you will need to pay $50 more per year to get them.
NOTE: The DOS version of Lite will still have the DOS versions of these options.
Compulife Lite printouts, in Windows, will now ADD two new lines of information to the bottom of each page. In addition to the "Note" which advises that errors can occur, and that you are not responsible for errors, the system will now say:
This quotation has been produced using the Compulife(R) Quotation
System.
Compulife(R) is a registered trademark of Compulife Software,
Inc. (www.compulife.com)
We freely admit that this new footnote amounts to "advertising" for the benefit of Compulife. That's one of the big reasons why we are now prepared to provide our Windows software at this new discounted price. Such advertising is of benefit to Compulife and that's a big reason you save $50 per year buying Lite instead of the full personal use system. If another agent sees one of your printouts, he or she will know where it came from and we can expect a call to obtain our product.
Therefore, if you don't need the three things not provided in the Internet Lite version, and you don't mind your clients and other agents knowing that you use the Compulife program, then Compulife is prepared to give you a $50 per year reduction in the personal use price.
Incidentally, this is something a number of our competitors already do in their software, and they do so without any consideration for your choice or reduction in price.
You have the option of going either way and if you don't mind helping us advertise and promote Compulife to other agents, you save money.
And if you don't want Compulife's name on the bottom of every quote, then you are welcome to pay the extra $50 per year. You'll get the full personal use version of the software and no mention of Compulife in your printouts, just as we have always done.
For those who are already buying a Compulife program at retail prices, additional copies of the software are available at the following annual subscription prices.
| Agency Use | ||
| Agent (Personal Use) | ||
| Lite (Personal Use) |
| Agency Use | ||
| Agent (Personal Use) | ||
| Lite (Personal Use) |
** Note: To obtain the above discounts, disks are shipped to the subscriber who is purchasing the additional copies of the software. Disks are then shipped by that subscriber to those that they have purchased the disks for. This reduction in Compulife's mailing cost explains the deeper discounts from the retail/direct price. The following prices also assume that the subscriber is paying the "disk" update price for their own copy of the program.
Those buying Compulife's Internet engine for $1,500 per year (assuming a $500 initial fee), are given a $1,500 credit toward the purchase of additional PC based software at the above discounted prices. In other words, you get to purchase $1,500 worth of PC based software, at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE!
For example, if you are buying the Internet engine, you can receive a total of 13 Compulife Lite subscriptions (by Internet) at no additional charge. Normally those 13 Lite subscriptions would cost you 13 times $109 per year (for a total of $1,417) but you can apply your $1,500 credit to that cost.
As another example, if you are buying the Internet engine, you can receive a total of 7 Compulife agency subscriptions (by Internet) at no additional charge. Normally those 7 agency subscriptions would cost you 7 times $199 per year (for a total of $1,393) but you can apply your $1,500 credit to that cost.
Of course these PC packages can be a mixture of agents and agencies and the first $1,500 worth of software is at NO CHARGE.
Then, in addition to that, you have our permission to set up customized web links from your affiliates web sites (those who have Compulife or who you have purchased Compulife for) to your Internet engine, at no additional charge. As long as your affiliate has Compulife's PC software, there is no additional charge to connect them to your copy of our Internet engine.
Compulife is now shipping trials by Internet. It is now easier than ever to request a 30 day free look at the Compulife program.
Please keep this in mind if you want to refer a new subscriber to Compulife. And if you don't want bulk purchase systems and receive the above mentioned annual discounts, Compulife has a referral program that will give you 6 free months of service for referring a new subscriber.
To request a free trial, e-mail your request including the name, address, phone number and e-mail address for the agent or agency that you are referring. If they buy, you get 6 free months.
Our e-mail address for trial is: barneyrl@concentric.net
In December we began offering subscribers the next generation of our Windows program. For the past two months this has been available on demand at our mid-month website.
We are now satisfied that the program is working well and it is now included in the February monthly update for those subscribers who receive updates by Internet. Beginning in March, disk update customers will receive the new program on their disks.
This newest version of the Compulife program recognizes and works with the concept of product families. This make the software much easier to use. Documentation explaining the use of the new system is now found at our www.compulife.com website, under the last menu choice on that screen.
Effective April 2002, Compulife will no longer be shipping DOS software with our monthly update disks. The DOS program will remain available (in addition to the Windows program) for those who update monthly by Internet.
IMPORTANT: If you want and need the DOS version of our program, you will need to switch over from obtaining monthly updates by disk to obtaining monthly updates by Internet.
The removal of the DOS components from our disk update software will permit us to reduce the total number of disks from four to three; one Master disk and two data disks. That makes duplication faster and helps us control costs.
Of course you can save yourself $80 per year by switching over to obtaining your monthly updates by Internet.
And beginning in February, Compulife's mid-month update of the Windows program will include the newest version of our Windows software. This next version permits you to automatically obtain Internet updates without needing to use your browser.
We are testing this new version now and it is working great. Assuming that you have an open Internet connection, and assuming it is past the 25th of the month, the Compulife program will automatically poke our monthly update website to see if a new update has been posted. If a new update is available, the program will ask if you want to download it.
In addition, and assuming that you are running the program when you have an open Internet connection, the program will poke our mid-month update site to see if there is a newer version of the mid-month update. If it finds one, it will ask if you want to download the program. The frequency of the mid-month update check is a variable set by you. The default check interval is every seven days.
If you do not have an open modem connection, you can manually engage the monthly or mid-month updates from the "Install Next Update" option found at the bottom of the red Compulife Quotation System red menu. If you click on either internet update option, the system will initiate a connection to the Internet and check for newer updates.
Once again, this feature is in the new Windows version of the program which will be available at our mid-month update site beginning in February. Assuming it works properly throughout February, that newest version of the program will be provided to all subscribers beginning in March.
a) Pick 12 will be modified to allow the filing of multiple life quotes reflecting discounts for companies which offer multi-life options. You will be able to print pages showing total premiums for all lives and then subsequent pages for each individual life. Discounts, where available, will be noted. As the Pick 12 features become available, they will be posted to our mid-month update site.
b) Pick 12 will allow the quotation of modal premiums together with waiver of premium. Currently, when you click on waiver of premium, the spreadsheet defaults to annual premium. If you switch to another premium mode, the waiver of premium is dropped.
For those who update by Internet, Compulife has gone to great lengths to provide you with redundancy in our websites. Our main website is:
However, we keep another completely separate website, on a completely different server, in a completely different country, at:
Whatever we update to compulife.com, we also update to compulife.cc. If one website goes down, for whatever reason, the other is ready to serve you. That includes both monthly and mid-month updates.
For those doing monthly updates by Internet, we have a third website standing at ready with the monthly updates ready. If you cannot obtain your monthly update from either compulife.com or compulife.cc, call our office at (800) 567-8376 and we'll tell you where the third site is.
For those not wanting to return disks there are two ways to eliminate the problem.
1. Switch to obtaining monthly updates by Internet.
Not only will you eliminate the expense and hassle of returning disks, you will save $80 per year in subscription fees.
To switch to Internet monthly updates, call us at (800) 798-3488. We will send you an agreement called the "Internet Update Endorsement". Read it carefully, especially the part where you agree that you have successfully downloaded and processed our "mid-month updates". If you haven't done that before, call us and we'll be happy to take you through the procedure. It's easy.
2. Disk Purchase Program
The other way to avoid returning the disks and the disk box each month is to pre-purchase them for $21 per year ($1.75 per month). Once you do that you can keep them for future reference, throw them away or return them for a credit (once each year) when you are invoiced for the following year. $21 costs you less than mailing back disks each month.