Agent’s Sales Journal April 01, 2007
Front Page Stories
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Decoding Bush's Health Plan Proposal
In his Jan. 23, 2007 State of the Union Address, President Bush proposed tax code reforms that would profoundly affect the health insurance market. Whether Bush's proposals hurt or help you as an agent in the short run depends on the kind of
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What Does the Future Hold for Your Designations?
A senior couple looking for financial advice might be comforted to know that their agent is a Certified Senior Specialist (CSS). But suppose another agent right next to that producer is a Certified Senior Consultant (CSC), and the one next to them
Short Takes
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Baby Boomers Create an Unprecedented Opportunity for Income Annuities
The increasingly wide array of new and emerging retirement income products and solutions can be dizzying. Virtually a day does not go by without a financial services provider adding a new or repackaged approach into the mix. Amid this proliferation
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What Can the Secondary Annuity Market Do for Your Clients?
When the conventional wisdom of well-established insurance and investment products is challenged, skepticism is merited. Sometimes however, closer examination reveals that a simple yet fundamental change will deliver substantial benefits not just to
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ASSOCIATION DIRECTORY
AALTCI (American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance) Mission This national association serves insurance and financial professionals who provide long term care financing solutions. It serves as a forum for member
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Selling the Younger Client on Variable Annuities
We have all heard about, hopefully prepared for, and are thriving in the wave of economic opportunity presented by the baby boomers. When you couple the financial goals of boomers with the risks of volatile equity markets, increased life expectancy,
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Fighting Inflation with Immediate Fixed Income Annuities
There?s a reason why the multi-billion dollar financial planning industry is booming: The approximately 76 million baby boomers approaching retirement are increasingly required to not only self-fund, but also self-administer their own
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FIA Suitability - Keeping Yourself out of Legal and Regulatory Trouble
If you have been selling fixed index annuities for the past few years, you know they have been under scrutiny by regulators, broker-dealers, and attorneys. Perhaps the greatest danger that many agents face that sell FIAs is the possibility of a
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FAs Offer New Features, Retain Appeal to Conservative Investors
Let?s say you have a risk-averse client who is already in retirement or close to it. The client knows it is time to get more serious about saving for the upcoming years but is reluctant to invest in securities-based products. One solution is a
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Five Tips for Better Annuity Prospecting
2007 looks to be a promising year for annuity sales. In fact, the next decade looks promising. Several factors are contributing to this recent rise in annuity sales, and they may contribute to further escalations in the market. Those factors
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Answering Your Questions about Annuity Contracts and More
The retirement cycle for the 76 million-plus baby boomers has begun. It started Jan. 1, 2006, thus making this a golden time for retirement income planning and the sale of annuities. Never before has our industry had such a captive audience that
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Nine Fallacies about Annuity Designations
The wrong selection of the owner, annuitant, or beneficiary of an annuity can thwart a client?s planning objectives in many ways. Bad decisions regarding annuity designations are usually the result of either failing to carefully read the
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Annuities: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
There are two types of annuities: immediate annuities and deferred annuities. Immediate annuities start paying an income stream for a fixed life expectancy or a certain period. Deferred annuities are used to invest assets in a tax-deferred
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Why Use an Annuity?
There are so many different answers to the above question that it may be better to first address the question, ?What is an annuity?? To find that answer, we turned to multiple industry insiders. All agreed that an annuity should provide
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2007 Annuity Company Rankings
With the sheer number of annuity carriers in the business, it can be difficult to find the right one. Now you can do just that. This year, we partnered with NAFA to bring agents our 2007 Annuity Company Rankings. We asked agents to rate the
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2007 Annuity Market Study
Agent Media/NAFA study shows annuity producers optimistic about marketplace despite lingering challenges The first annuity was offered in 1759 by a Pennsylvania company to Presbyterian ministers and their families. Since then, annuities
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NAIFA to Revamp Local Association Structure
The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors says it will respond to declining membership by trying to create more value for its members. The NAIFA board recently hired an outside research firm to study the views of NAIFA members,
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Annual U.S. Health Care Spending Expected To Double To $4 Trillion by 2016
U.S. health care spending by 2016 will almost double to $4.1 trillion and account for 20 percent of every dollar spent, according to a report recently released by the National Health Statistics Group at CMS, the Los Angeles Times reports.
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NAVA Launches Industrywide Initiative to Standardize an Automated Annuity Sales Process
NAVA recently announced an industry-backed initiative to establish a comprehensive set of standards for simplifying and improving the electronic annuity purchasing process for consumers, insurers, distributors, and regulators. The goal of
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Life Settlement Awareness Month Approaches
The second annual Life Settlement Awareness Month will be held in June 2007 as a way to educate agents and brokers on this growing market. Life Settlement Solutions, the life settlement provider that founded Life Settlement Awareness Month, will
From The Agents Desk
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Tall Street Journal
What's News Business and Finance Worldwide Frog Walked ASJ Columnist Arrested in Texas Parody nothing to laugh about, says local D.A. By Christopher Pebble FORTH WORTH - District Attorney Joe ?Bebo? Dokes has
Sales Review
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iBoomerang Offers Sales Tools that Return a Profit
As an insurance agent, you may sometimes feel like you live in your car. That?s because you probably spend countless hours each week driving to sales call after sales call. Although it comes with the territory, this cold hard fact of a
Perspectives
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New Look, New Online Presence, Same Journal
By now I?m sure you?ve noticed that our front cover looks a little different than you?re used to. We?ve redesigned everything from the logo to the layout in order to make it easier for you to navigate the issue. Our logo
Prospecting Corner
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Use Media Coverage to Get More Leads and Convert More Prospects
Agents are looking for ways to make their marketing dollars more effective. Time-starved, distracted prospects are also looking for something: a quick way to decide who should be their financial advisor. Agents who raise their visibility by being
Sales From The Darkside
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Joel Jumps on a Prospect Early in the Day
?I?m a workaholic. ?I had an office at home in Denver, CO, and this meant I was always working. I would call East Coast prospects and clients before I went to work. I would do paperwork after I got home. So I was a hermit, a
Objection of the Month
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Objection of the Month April 2007
How would you respond to a prospect who says? "Annuities are so complex. I just don?t understand enough about them to invest in one." ?I think if you take the time to sit down with a few very suitable annuity choices
