Zurich names Dave Anderson Global Head of Credit and Political Risk
Anderson has been with Zurich since 2002
Staff on May 31, 2016
Zurich has called up one of its 14-year career veterans, Dave Anderson, to be its new head of credit and political risk at Zurich North America.
In his new position, Anderson will work on the direction, management and performance of the Credit and Political Risk unit of the company, which is part of the specialty products unit of Zurich North America Commercial and has political risk and single risk trade credit underwriting teams in the UK, the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as a short-term multi-buyer trade credit team in New York and London.
In Anderson’s most recent role as global business development director of Zurich Credit and Political Risk, Anderson oversaw aspects of sales, broker development and cross selling of insurance products.
“Dave brings a deep understanding of the risks that global businesses face in an increasingly volatile world,” said Brian Salvatore, president of specialty products in a formal release. “Under his leadership, Zurich will continue to provide world-class credit and political risk solutions for customers operating in emerging markets.”
Environment commissioner’s audit, IBC highlight need for severe weather plans
Both say climate change will cause more severe weather
Carine Abouseif with files from Canadian Press on May 31, 2016
As the wildfire continues to burn through great swaths of Alberta, Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Julie Gelfand is warning that Ottawa better prepare to deal with the impact of other severe weather events.
Gelfand’s spring report issued Tuesday echoes comments made by Insurance Bureau of Canada’s president and CEO Don Forgeron earlier this month. Forgeron told the press that the Northern Alberta catastrophe is just the most recent evidence that extreme weather disasters are getting worse and more frequent. He also highlighted that the federal government should be better prepared.
IBC’s VP Federal Affairs Craig Stewart said Tuesday, “The insurance industry firmly believes that climate change is a real and present danger costing government and Canadians. The reports make it clear that now is the time for action.” He also said a better approach would motivate Canadian homeowners to mitigate their own risks. This approach would also make “makes sure insurance is available and affordable to prepare for severe weather events that are now occurring more frequently.”
Gelfand’s report addressed several areas where the federal government is not prepared for these kinds of disasters. One part looked into federal floodplain maps which have not been properly updated in 20 years. Building codes have also not been taking climate change into account. Another part of the report looks into home codes that may not be strong enough to withstand extraordinary snowfalls.
The audit also noted that the government’s Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements relief fund has paid more over the last six years than it has since it began 39 years ago. The audit says that while $253 million in federal funding for three disaster mitigation funds has been offered by Ottawa since 2011-12, only $25 million has actually been paid out.
The IBC says the annual economic costs of disasters around the globe has multiplied by five since the 1980s. In Canada, that spending has risen from an average of $40 million a year in the 1970s to $100 million a year in ’90s.
“IBC is pleased that the federal government has agreed with all of the findings and recommendations in these reports,” said Stewart. “It once again shows their continued commitment to preparing Canada for the increase in severe weather events that stem from climate change. We look forward to furthering these discussions with governments across the country over the coming months.”
The logo of the Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) insurance company in Zurich, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Keystone, Steffen Schmidt)
(Bloomberg) — Martin Senn, the Zurich Insurance Group AG chief executive officer who stepped down in a December reshuffle, has committed suicide, the company said in a statement on Monday. He was 59.
The family informed Zurich Insurance that Senn had taken his own life on Friday, according to the statement. “We are profoundly shocked by the news of the sudden death,” the company said.
Senn was found in his holiday house in Klosters, a Swiss ski resort, Blick newspaper reported. The cantonal police of Grisons wouldn’t confirm the death but said officers had been deployed on Friday in connection with Senn.
‘Huge loss’
“This is a huge loss; Martin Senn was an amazing person,” said Martin Naville, CEO of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, where Senn had served as president. “Human beings are hard to understand but we have to accept his decision.”
Senn in December acknowledged “setbacks” in the months before his departure after higher-than-expected claims at the general-insurance unit forced the company to abandon a takeover bid for RSA Insurance Group Plc. The company later announced an overhaul of the general-insurance business.
During Senn’s five years as CEO, Zurich Insurance rose about 19 percent and paid out record dividends of 17 Swiss francs a share. In his biggest acquisition, he bought a 51 percent stake in Banco Santander SA’s insurance division for $1.67 billion in 2011. Two years later, Chief Financial Officer Pierre Wauthier committed suicide and Josef Ackermann quit.
‘Conservative approach’
Senn’s “conservative approach” helped Zurich Insurance perform well during the financial crisis, when he was the chief investment officer, said Andreas Schaefer, an analyst at Bankhaus Lampe. “Zurich’s asset side never caused any problems and the company did well compared with its peers,” he said. Schaefer has a hold rating on the stock.
Mario Greco, the former CEO of Italy’s Assicurazioni Generali SpA, assumed Senn’s role in March. UBS Group AG CEO Sergio Ermotti was set to take over as president of the chamber of commerce in June.
Senn started at Zurich in 2006 as CIO and became CEO in 2010. He joined from Switzerland’s biggest life insurer, Swiss Life Holding AG, and held several positions at Credit Suisse Group AG.
When he was 26, Senn became treasurer of the Hong Kong branch of Schweizerischer Bankverein, today known as UBS Group AG.
Copyright 2016 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chinese buying insurance from Hong Kong to bypass government controls
Spending almost doubled in a year despite government crackdown
Bloomberg on May 31, 2016
Chinese residents are successfully finding ways to avoid financial constraints dealt down by the government, and they’re using insurance to do it.
In February, the Chinese government tried to crack down on residents who were using their government-issued credit and debit cards to buy insurance from Hong Kong then cashing out the funds and sending them abroad.
But on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that government initiatives to curb the insurance buying craze are failing. Spending on insurance and related investment policies almost doubled in a year and is now at $1.7 billion. The report says buyers continue to be motivated by uncertainty about the future of the currency and better coverage from Hong Kong policies.
Former employees of one charity alleged that it sometimes steered patients toward donors’ drugs.
(Bloomberg) — Three drugmakers have disclosed receiving subpoenas amid a widening federal investigation into pharmaceutical companies’ relationships with charities that help people afford their products.
See also: Drugmakers: Can we legally help QHP patients?
Gilead Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq:GILD), Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq:BIIB) and Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC (Nasdaq:JAZZ) said they’ve received subpoenas this year for documents related to such nonprofits, though the companies provided few additional details. Two companies, Gilead and Jazz, said their subpoenas came from the U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts. The filings didn’t disclose names of specific charities.
The new subpoenas follow an October disclosure from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (Nasdaq:VLNT) that it received subpoenas from U.S. attorney’s offices in Massachusetts and the Southern District of New York, seeking materials related to Valeant’s patient-assistance programs.
See also: Germany is new battlefield for drugmakers facing price scrutiny
As drug prices have surged, drugmakers’ large contributions to charities have given them a public-relations foil against backlash and helped keep patients from seeking lower-priced medicines, Bloomberg Businessweek reported this month. The seven biggest co-pay charities, which cover scores of diseases, reported combined contributions of $1.1 billion in 2014 — more than double their 2010 figures.
Under federal law, drug companies can’t give direct co-pay help to patients covered by Medicare — such aid would be considered an illegal kickback. Instead, drugmakers are permitted to donate to independent charities that help Medicare patients, provided the companies don’t exert sway over how the nonprofits operate.
If a charity supported a donor company’s drug over another company’s when they both treat the same disease, that support might violate Medicare’s anti-kickback rules. The criminal penalties for such violations can reach $25,000 and five years in prison for each kickback; civil fines can be as much as $50,000 per violation.
Bloomberg Businessweek’s report cited health-care experts who say the drug companies’ charitable contributions serve as investments, in effect, allowing them to keep more patients on pricey drugs — and enabling the companies to collect far more revenue from Medicare itself.
No influence
The charities say they operate independently and their drugmaker donors exert no influence over decisions about which patients or which drugs get their support. They also say they have no influence on drug prices; they’re just trying to help patients afford needed medicines.
Meanwhile, the corporate disclosures since April describe an expanding investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts, which operates a health-care fraud unit. Christina Sterling, a spokeswoman for that office, declined to comment.
On April 21, Biogen disclosed that it had received a federal government subpoena on March 4 “for documents relating to our relationship with non-profit organizations that provide assistance to patients taking drugs sold by Biogen.” The filing didn’t specify which agency issued the subpoena, or which drugs or charities were involved.
Gilead said in a May 6 securities filing that it received a subpoena in February requesting documents related to the company’s support of nonprofits that assist patients. For Gilead’s hepatitis C products, the subpoena also asked for documents concerning the company’s own financial assistance to patients, according to the filing. Gilead makes the hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, which has a list price of $1,000 per pill that prompted a U.S. Senate investigation.
Narcolepsy drug
In a filing four days later, Jazz said it received a subpoena this month for documents related to the company’s support of charities that provide financial assistance for Medicare patients. The Jazz disclosure specifically mentioned its narcolepsy drug Xyrem, which can cost about $90,000 per year, but didn’t provide details about which relationships with specific charities were under scrutiny.
In a statement, Gilead said it was cooperating with the investigation and that it doesn’t disclose the names of copay charities to which it contributes. Representatives for Jazz, Biogen and Valeant declined to comment.
It’s unknown whether federal investigators have issued subpoenas to any co-pay charities. Representatives of several charities declined to comment this week.
Wait list
“As a matter of policy we don’t discuss interactions either with our regulators at [the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)] or other government agencies,” said Daniel Klein, chief executive officer of the Patient Access Network Foundation, which is the largest copay charity, in an email.
Bloomberg reported on May 19 that Jazz had contributed to a narcolepsy patient fund that one charity, the Caring Voice Coalition, set up in 2011. Five former employees of the charity said Caring Voice sometimes favored drug companies that were donors over those that weren’t. Patients who needed Jazz’s Xyrem got help quickly, the former staff members said, while patients who used narcolepsy drugs from a company that wasn’t a donor were sometimes steered away or wait-listed.
Caring Voice Coalition, in an emailed statement, said that it uses uniform criteria to determine patient eligibility for help and that assistance is awarded without regard to any donor’s interest.
See also:
Behind the world’s top drugmakers’ approach to Zika Vaccine
To avert post-antibiotic Armageddon, pharma must ‘pay or play’
Have you Liked us on Facebook?
Copyright 2016 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Toxic ash delays return of 2,000 Fort McMurray evacuees
Group may have to return as late as September
Canadian Press on May 31, 2016
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says concerns about environmental contamination will delay the return of up to 2,000 evacuees expecting to move back to their homes in fire-damaged FortMcMurray until as late as September.
Re-entering the scarred community is to proceed this week for most residents as previously announced. But Notley said Monday that more than 500 homes and about a dozen apartment complexes that escaped a wildfire earlier this month in three otherwise heavily damaged neighbourhoods are not safe to be lived in yet.
She said that conclusion was reached with health experts following tests that found ash tainted with toxic heavy metals and carcinogens such dioxins and furans.
“It was determined that the volume of what we’ve just described was sufficient that those intact homes were not safe until that kind of waste was removed,” Notley said. “It means that people who live in those neighbourhoods should not plan to return permanently on June 4 as originally planned.”
The U.S. Geological Survey found ash left after California’s home-destroying wildfires in 2007 and 2008 was far more alkaline than ash from wood fires. Mixed with water, the ash was almost as caustic as oven cleaner.
It was also significantly contaminated with metals, some of them toxic. Arsenic, lead, antimony, copper, zinc and chromium were all found at levels exceeding Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.
As well, ash particles from urban-wildfire blazes tended to be smaller and more easily inhaled. Both arsenic and hexavalent chromium a form of the metal known to cause lung cancer were more readily taken up by lung fluids than they were in water.
Arrangements will be made for people from the affected homes in Fort McMurray to make a one-time visit.
“We believe it will be possible to arrange for these residents to temporarily return to inspect their residences and retrieve their belongings,” Notley said.
Crews will attempt to stabilize the ash and remaining debris by spraying it with a non-toxic substance which Notley compared to papier mache. Called a tackifier, the product is made from wood pulp and recycled paper.
Meanwhile, services are slowly being restored in preparation for residents who will return on schedule. Gas stations and grocery stores are being restocked.
“They’re working very quickly with those key retail providers,” Notley said. “We are certainly encouraging people to bring up as much of their own stuff as they can.”
The Red Cross also announced Monday that it is releasing another $20 million from donations to everyone able to move back.
Returnees are to receive $300 for the first person in a household and $50 for each additional person. The electronic transfer of cash is intended to help with immediate expenses such as buying cleaning supplies and replacing rotten food.
More than $100 million has been donated to the Fort McMurray relief effort. Tuesday is the last day for individual donations to be matched by the federal and Alberta governments.
A provincial state of emergency that has been in effect in the Wood Buffalo municipality since shortly after the fire whipped through the city is to be extended until the end of June to co-ordinate cleanup and return of residents more easily, Notley said.
The fire is still burning and covers about 5,800 square kilometres, although it is not expected to grow significantly in coming days due to cooler and wetter weather conditions. About 300 South African firefighters have arrived to help, which brings the number battling the blaze to 2,000.
This podcast introduces some of the issues involved when underwriting income property such as apartments or shopping centers, when considering making or investing in a loan secured by income property. The key is to understand the value of the property and value is driven by ability to generate cash flow, which in turn is driven by a variety of factors, depending on the property type.
Businesses getting most rebuild contracts in Fort McMurray
Alberta government focusing on local employers
Canadian Press on May 30, 2016
The Alberta government says Fort McMurray employers have received four out of every five contracts to rebuild the fire-damaged community.
Economic Development Minister Deron Bilous says of the 532 contracts signed by the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes the city of Fort McMurray, about 80 percent are with local employers.
Any business that is either locally owned or employs people in the Fort McMurray area is considered a local employer.
Bilous says businesses from outside the region are given contracts only if there are no local businesses to do the work.
He says these are usually for complex projects that require specific expertise not available locally.
The Fort McMurray Construction Association has complained that workers from the community are being overlooked for jobs, such as trucking supplies to the city.
“It’s frustrating to see misinformation out there about the great work being done by the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo,” Bilous said in a news release.
“The contracting for recovery and cleanup is being led from Fort McMurray by residents of Fort McMurray, and they have done an excellent job of ensuring local employers are being used whenever possible.”
Wood Buffalo Mayor Melissa Blake also said local companies and employees are spearheading recovery efforts.
“Over 80 percent of the contracts signed so far have been with local employers, and we will be reaching out to many more local businesses in the coming days and weeks,” Blake said in a news release.
“I encourage any Wood Buffalo business owner who wants to help to visit www.rmwb.ca and fill out our offer of assistance form.”
More workers returning to Suncor’s Alberta oilsands production
Company expects more projects to be restored by week’s end
Canadian Press on May 30, 2016
Suncor says it expects to restore more of its oilsands production by the end of this week.
The Calgary-based company says start up activities have begun at its oilsands base plant north of Fort McMurray, Alta.
Suncor also expects its MacKay River extraction site will be producing by the end of this week.
It has already restarted its Firebag extraction facility, 120 kilomitres northeast of the base plant.
Suncor says it has moved more than 4,000 employees and contractors back into the region, which was evacuated because of the devastating fires that swept through the area earlier this month.
It says an additional 3,500 people working for Suncor will return this week to support its operations.
http://www.isuccesspath.com – How To Get Property And Casualty Insurance License
Since you’ve found this video, you may be thinking about how to get property and casualty insurance license. There are the basics of what is required, but you also have some choices to make of which path is a better fit for you.
I speak from my own experience of the process I chose and offer you what worked well for me when I had the same question of how to get property and casualty insurance license.
I also cover an alternative for your consideration that I would have liked to have known about before I went through the process.
Intact creates new commercial lines specialty solutions team
Company taking a national approach
Staff on May 30, 2016
Intact has a new plan to grow its commercial lines specialty solutions business. The company announced Monday that it would hire 150 people to make up a new national team that would focus on commercial lines.
Read: Intact is developing coverage for Uber drivers
Intact president Jean-Francois Blais emphasized the company’s combined national and local approach to serving brokers and target customer service. The national angle, according to a formal news release, is part of the company’s plan to become the Canadian front-runner in specialty lines and surety.
Read: Intact buys stake in U.S. pay-per-mile auto specialist
The company has appointed its former Mississauga VP Joe D’Annunzio to lead the new efforts as Senior Vice President of Specialty Solutions and Surety.
Good news for anybody who either has an FHA loan or is looking to buy a property with an FHA loan.
On January 26, 2015, which is just a few days from the taping of this video, the FHA will be lowering their Mortgage Insurance premiums. The current FHA Mortgage Insurance premium is 1.35%. It’s going to be lowered by 0.5%, so from currently 1.35% to 0.85%.
This represents the savings to people taking out FHA loans anywhere from $90 to $300 per month every month that you have that loan. So anybody has an FHA loan. you may be available to do a Streamline Refinance. A Streamline Refinance has very low documentation and has no closing cost so it can be a good deal. You’re automatically saving by half percent just by the reduction in the Mortgage Insurance. And if your rate is higher than the new rate you’ll also save money on the interest rate itself.
The FHA insures about one-fifth of all new U.S. mortgages and is a major provider of mortgages to first-time homebuyers. FHA loans allow for little as 3.5 percent downpayment with the minimum FICO score requirement of 580.
The lower premiums are going to enable 800,000 homeowners to save money on a refinance and it’s going to enable another 250,000 new homebuyers to become homeowners due to the lower payments.
So whether you’re first time homebuyer moving in to a new house or you want to refinance your existing FHA mortgage, the FHA loan program will let you do this with lower Mortgage Insurance.
If you’re interested in finding out how you can buy a house with an FHA loan or save hundreds of dollars per month on your current FHA loan, give Dan Shlufman with Classic Mortgage, LLC a call at (917) 575 -6977 or email at dshlufman@classicllc.com.
Also see:
How to Raise My Credit Score
What is an FHA Loan?
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 3% Downpayment for Conforming Loans
When Does it Make Sense to Refinance?
Why Do I Need a Mortgage Broker?
Using Gift Money for Downpayment: What You Need to Know
Young people still aren’t happy with the insurance industry’s digital options. They want to buy their coverage online. They want to buy it through an app. And they want it all to be easy to understand.
While some companies are experimenting with following Millennials where they go every day — like selling insurance on Snapchat — others have decided to model their apps on ones they know Millennials love, like Tinder.
If you’ve never had the chance to swipe your way through the popular dating app, it works by presenting users with potential “matches” based on their location. Pass? Swipe left. Interested? Swipe right.
Mashable says American startup Trov is using the same swiping concept to bring on-demand insurance products to Millenials. Read more about it here.
Better Prospecting: Financial advisors and insurance agents tend to thrive after they develop a particular specialty, just like doctors.
My advice to you: Become really good at something.
Financial advisory work, with its various licenses, has become similar to health care in one respect. By the very nature of health care, practitioners have been forced through the centuries to become specialists.
It’s interesting to discover a neurologist knows nothing about podiatry. After all, aren’t we talking about health care? Sure. But when I had ingrown toenails, I didn’t go to a neurologist. I went to a podiatrist. He solved the problem.
Thirty years later, I drove by his office. His shingle is still out, and he is still a podiatrist. Apparently his profession is serving his clients well.
Why aren’t more agents becoming specialists? One answer is we keep looking over the fence at the greener pasture. We are bombarded by wholesalers and marketing organizations that promise easier profits, bigger profits and less work. I remember a writer of the 70s named Erma Bombeck. She wrote an article titled “The Grass is Greener Over the Septic Tank.” The title tells it all. There is usually a reason the grass is greener elsewhere — it’s probably because it’s being fertilized. Magnificent promises usually aren’t as great as promised and there is almost always a catch.
Many years ago, I was impressed with an agent named Joe Gandolfo. He sold term insurance. That’s all he sold. He had an interesting philosophy. He found clients who felt that term insurance was a great product. He found clients in abundance. He also found clients who had a need for large term insurance policies. Joe made a very fine living selling term insurance. Can you do well just selling annuities, life insurance or any other single product line? Sure you can! How about asset-based long-term care insurance? Of course! How about Medicare supplements? You bet! Concentrating in one product line produces results.
Let’s take an example. There are several annuity products on the market that are excellent for use with an IRA. Most clients are not happy with the requirement they must take distribution on their IRA at age 70 1/2. With very low interest rates and no desire for risk, the IRA will most likely be reduced over time.
The painful process of paying taxes, for many people, is unpalatable. An annuity with a guaranteed death benefit annual increase can help to mitigate the tax loss at the death of the IRA owner. This takes some of the sting out of the required minimum distribution and the tax consequences to follow. Your client can potentially leave the entire original IRA to a spouse or other beneficiary even after the RMD has taken place for years.
Another solution is to “wash” the tax out of the IRA using flexible premium annuities. The client deposits the IRA into a fixed annuity paying say 3.5 percent interest (fixed). The client then withdraws a small amount from that annuity each year. That amount should be calculated to not break the ceiling to the next tax bracket. The client pays taxes in his or her current tax bracket. The client deposits the remaining after-tax amount into another flexible premium annuity as a Roth IRA. The newly tax “washed” money will now grow at 3.5 percent tax-free. Column 1; the IRA goes down over time. Column 2; the Roth IRA grows over time. The balance shifts to nontaxable and we have a happy client. By the way, we are paid twice on the same money, so we are also happy agents.
A bonus for the client and agent is the fact that we are looking out for the client’s best interest. This one idea alone, as a specialist and expert in a narrowly focused practice can create great marketing opportunities and referrals.
There are many other products and concepts available that make you an expert. When you know more than anyone else about a subject and solutions to problems, people will want your services. When they are very satisfied with your solutions, they will also refer others who have the same problems to solve.
See also:
DOL fiduciary rule will change financial advice
Why clients fire their financial advisors
These female clients love their financial advisors
Some veterans or their dependents may fail to realize exactly what benefits or retirement income for which they qualify.
Although there were roughly 22 million veterans in the United States last year, according to the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, less than half that number used some type of Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) service.
That may be because some veterans (or their dependents) fail to realize exactly what benefits or retirement income they qualify for.
Read on for 10 things veterans and their dependents should know about available retirement benefits, from “2016 Social Security & Medicare Facts,” which was published by The National Underwriter Company, an affiliate of LifeHealthPro.com.
10. The longer you serve, the more significant your retirement benefits.
Military retirement benefits apply to servicemen and women who spent at least 20 years in the military. The amount of monthly retirement income that a veteran receives is based on years of service along with the person’s last or highest military wage and rank.
9. Veterans can qualify for additional benefits besides military retirement.
Veterans are eligible for Social Security retirement benefits, and may have also contributed to the federal Thrift Savings Plan.
8. Cost of living impacts a retired veteran’s benefits.
During years of inflation, when the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI) determines how much cost of living has increased, that figure is used in turn to adjust retired veterans’ income.
(AP Photo)
7. Military retirement benefits may also serve as a type of life insurance.
In the event of the death of a retired serviceman or woman who was receiving military retirement benefits, a monthly annuity becomes available through the Survivor Benefit Plan to a surviving wife or widower, or the retiree’s child/children, or a former spouse (with qualifying conditions), or another designated beneficiary. That monthly annuity will be paid for the survivors’ lifetime.
6. Most, but not all, disabled veterans are entitled to benefits.
Most disabled veterans who incurred their debilitating injury while in active duty qualify for a Disability Retirement benefit. The benefits include only those who did not experience their event due to intentional or willful neglect, or the injury happened during an authorized absence from service.
5. There are additional benefits available to veterans who became disabled during service.
These veterans may also be entitled to additional compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs as well as severance pay.
(AP Photo)
4. Some reservists qualify for military retirement benefits.
Someone who was in the Reserves for 20 years or more, and who has completed what the government calls “satisfactory Federal service,” may qualify for Reservists’ Retirement. The military’s Survivor Benefit Plan also applies to this qualified group.
3. Benefits are available to those left behind after a serviceman or woman dies in the line of duty.
Spouses, children and parents of anyone who became fatally ill or was killed while in active service qualify for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits. This program specifically applies to dependents of military members who died while serving after 1956. Surviving beneficiaries also may be eligible for the service member’s Social Security benefit. Eligibility ceases upon the survivor’s remarriage or death.
2. Not all spouses will qualify for DIC benefits.
Surviving spouses whose marriage was less than a year old may not qualify for benefits. However, a surviving spouse is always eligible when the marriage produced a child or children.
1. Veterans and dependents should take questions and concerns about retirement benefits directly to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Call the following toll-free number to be routed directly to a telephone information service or the agency’s nearest regional office: 1 (800) 827-1000.
(AP Photo)
See also:
Survey: military families boosting savings, cutting spending
http://MortgageWorkbench.com – Check your Eligibility for a No Money Down USDA loan. I have been helping clients in Massachusetts get into eligible properties for almost 10 years. If you have decent credit, 2 years of verifiable employment, and a debt to income ratio that is within the underwriting guidelines, you may qualify for a eligible single family, owner occupied property. Call Mike at 508.4753.4766 or visit http://MortgageWorkbench.com to apply for a mortgage
Non payroll bank depsosits and monetary gifts should be carefully planned and not just show up in the middle of a bank statement cycle. These deposits require a letter of explanation (LOX) that
justifies their source. Any deposit that can’t be sourced will NOT count in the total of available funds to close. This concern can’t be understated.
Bank statements are used to review spending habits, saving habits, and that money being deposited which needs to come from a verified source. Bank statements help underwriters determine
that spending habits are not going to put you in further debt after the mortgage. Again, if you have deposits that cannot be verified from legitimate sources, you have a huge red flag. If you have a
side business and are making deposits related to this business then you should also have tax returns or something to prove it. Total income is important especially with downpayment assistance
programs.
Review what kind of story your bank statements tell. Do you have NSF’s? Do you pay any debts that might not show up on your credit report? Is your savings enough to pay the monthly mortgage
amount? Talk to your loan officer about these topics. Get out in front of these issues early.. don’t hide from them, they will always be discovered in underwriting.
Pair honesty with empathy to navigate transactions with individuals who may be experiencing extreme stress, loss or sadness.
It’s not unusual for financial advisors, insurance agents and employee benefits specialists to confront clients in crisis.
Whether it’s an incident as routine as a job change or as life-altering as the loss of a loved one, each person’s response to stress is distinct. It may not matter how much time has transpired between your client meeting or call and that individual’s crisis. It may not even be their own event that spurs the transaction.
Family members, friends and acquaintances of someone in crisis also may experience secondary trauma symptoms, both emotional and physical, according to the Binghamton University Counseling Center.
Since financial relief is among the top solutions that may help ease people in crisis, here are four tips from trauma experts for talking to people in the throes of one:
Empathy can go a long way toward building a personal connection. To that end, weave a measured degree of personal storytelling into your conversation.
Practice supportive, non-judgmental listening.
If the conversation becomes emotional, encourage your client to seek out support from trusted friends and family.
Encourage your client to develop financial priorities, then present reasonable options for achieving them.
Crises and their aftermath can alter the way an individual thinks and feels. If you want to take a page from trauma experts, manage clients in crisis by combining honesty and empathy.
See also:
Focus on clients’ positive financial behavior
Behavioral finance techniques really work in 401(k)s
Ethics and compliance are complementary forces within the best financial services firms.
Attaining success in the financial services industry depends on performing at your best in every facet of your business. Sadly, too many advisors offer less than their best, perhaps succumbing to America’s pleasure- and consumption-driven culture.
The temptation to settle also is evident in how advisors handle ethics and compliance issues on the job. I often observe individuals who are highly principled (i.e., ethical) but drop the ball when it comes to following the rules (compliance-focused). Others understand the importance of rules, but don’t apply ethical principles when compliance mandates don’t exist.
In short, to become a top-tier professional, you must not only be highly ethical, but also highly compliant in terms of adhering to the law. At first blush, these two elements appear to be at odds. But as the Chinese have taught us, opposing forces are usually complementary — part of a unified duality called “yin and yang.” As that iconic black-and-white symbol suggests, ethics and compliance are both essential to your success; doing one without the other is a guarantee of mediocrity — or worse.
So here’s the practical application. If your heart is in the right place, but you shrug off rules, you leave yourself open to external attack (from customers, competitors and regulators). But if you prioritize compliance over ethics, you leave yourself open to attacks from within (from your own greed, envy, etc.). Finding the right balance between these two elements is difficult, but essential.
The following two examples should make this more clear.
An advisor served an older couple for 15 years, and he often signed forms on their behalf in order to simplify their lives. This continued without incident until one day, he saw a request to transfer funds to an outside institution. Thinking it a mistake, he signed and submitted a form on their behalf to cancel the request. However, the couple had initiated a relationship with another advisor and actually wanted the money to buy a product from that agent. Nonplussed, the couple filed a regulator complaint against the advisor, resulting in a $12,000 fine and six-month work suspension. Lesson: The advisor’s action came from a place of kindness — he was trying to protect his clients. But he broke an important compliance rule: Never initiate an action for a client without the person’s written permission.
The second case involves an advisor who did in-depth fact-finding around a couple’s retirement-income needs. After completing his analysis, he suggested they buy a high-commission product even though less expensive options were available. Operating under a suitability standard, the advisor believed he was justified in recommending the more expensive contract. However, from an ethical perspective, he put his own self-interest above the good of his client. Lesson: The advisor’s bias toward compliance led him to violate a key ethical precept, opening the door to further ethical lapses in the future.
So how should you integrate ethics AND compliance in your own business? Consider these pointers:
At every juncture, ask two questions: “Is it legal?” and “Is it right?” These are two distinct questions, and the answer to one does not necessarily apply to the other.
View compliant actions as the minimally acceptable standard and ethical actions as the “value-added” best practice. Highly successful advisors always go the extra mile to do what’s right for their clients.
Finally, always remember that being ethical doesn’t prevent blowback when you break the rules. Advisors who combine an ethical yin with a compliance yang will always have the most sustainable and rewarding careers in this industry. Will that be you?
See also:
Ethical sales practices are good for more than your conscience
Gallup estimates millennial turnover costs the U.S. economy about $30.5 billion per year.
Gallup recently began a major effort to find out makes the millennials — members of what is now the largest generation in the United States — tick.
The research and consulting company’s full report is available for purchase (you can read more about that here). An abridged version is posted online. Both versions contain much of interest to insurance industry professionals.
“Millennials will change the world decisively more than any other generation,” Jim Clifton, Gallup’s chairman and CEO, writes in the introduction. “As this report shows, millennials will continue to disrupt how the world communicates – how we read and write and relate (…) Millennials are altering the very social fabric of America and the world.”
While the financial and insurance industries are struggling to find and keep new talent, agency owners and top executives are about to make more waves in the workforce with their retirement. Meanwhile, the demand for financial advisors (or go here for personal financial advisors) and insurance agents is going to increase in the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Gallup’s CEO offers recommendations for changes organizations should make to retain the millennials and keep them engaged in the workplace. He calls these functional changes the “Big Six,” all of which are listed below, along with a brief explanation.
1. From “my paycheck” to “my purpose”
Millennials want to work for organizations with a mission and purpose. They want more than a just a paycheck, which is a marked difference from baby boomers, whose “mission and purpose were 100 percent” their families and communities, according to the report. While fair compensation is important to Generation Y, the paycheck is not typically those workers’ main driver.
2. From “my satisfaction” to “my development”
You might’ve read about how office perks like having a Ping-Pong table or free food at different companies are the way to a millennials’ workplace heart. Clifton says that Gen Y doesn’t really care about all that: “Purpose and development drive this generation.”
3. From “my boss” to “my coach”
Out with the commanding and controlling boss; in with the coach who values them as people and employees, and who help millennials understand and build their strengths, Clifton says.
4. From “my annual review” to “my ongoing conversations”
Throw out the annual reviews strategy, and implement a continuous communication and feedback program instead. This aligns with millennials’ style of instant communication via texting, tweeting, Skype, etc., according to Clifton.
5. From “my weaknesses” to “my strengths”
“Gallup has discovered that weaknesses never develop into strengths, while strengths develop infinitely,” Clifton says. “This is arguably the biggest discovery Gallup or any organization has ever made on the subject of human development in the workplace.”
He also recommends that organizations shouldn’t ignore weaknesses, but should minimize them and maximize strengths.
6. From “my job” to “my life”
Gallup found that employees are asking themselves: Does the organization value their strengths and contributions? “Because for millennials, a job is no longer just a job – it’s their life as well,” Clifton says.
Here are more of the report’s findings:
Millennials are the least engaged generation in the workforce
Gallup found that only 29 percent of millennials are “engaged,” defined as being emotionally and behaviorally connected to their job and company, while 55 percent are not engaged. “They are indifferent about work and show up just to put in their hours,” the report states.
These numbers represent both the lowest with 29 percent and highest with 55 percent of all the other generations in the workforce. Gallup explains this by saying that while millennials are characterized as “entitled job-hoppers,” in reality they’re not engaged at work, they are indifferent.
“When they see what appears to be a better opportunity, they have every incentive to take it,” the report adds. “While millennials can come across as wanting more and more, the reality is that they just want a job that feels worthwhile – and they will keep looking until they find it.”
Gross domestic product increased at a 0.8 percent annualized rate in three months through March.
The U.S. economy expanded at a slightly faster pace in the first quarter than initially estimated, reflecting less damage from trade and inventories, Commerce Department data showed Friday.
Key Points
Gross domestic product increased at a 0.8 percent annualized rate in three months through March (0.9 percent forecast), compared with 0.5 percent initially estimated The revised figure was paced by a larger reading on inventories and a narrower widening of the trade gap.
Wages and salaries were revised up for the fourth quarter and the gain in gross domestic income exceeded GDP in the first three months of 2016, which will stoke debate that first-quarter growth figures have been underestimated.
See also: The Fed’s amazing self-fulfilling forecast
Big Picture
The figures do little to alter views of the third consecutive sluggish start to the year, and could portend a tougher slog in the second quarter as businesses work to pare down those bigger stockpiles. At the same time, household income gains were stronger than previously reported as the labor market strengthened, which will help support consumer spending, which accounts for almost 70 percent of the economy.
Economist Takeaways
“One of the most interesting developments is this upward revision to wages and salaries for the fourth quarter,” said Kevin Cummins, an economist at RBS Securities Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut. “It’s certainly not booming by any stretch, but we do expect above-trend growth for the next few quarters, led by the consumer and the health of the labor market.”
“It’s still a very poor start to the year, but there’s a lot of measurement issues still plaguing first-quarter GDP,” Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said before the report. “From past experience we get most of that back in the second quarter.”
“You’re still seeing weakness in business fixed investment, but the consumer’s still chugging along,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James Financial Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The Details
Inventories grew at a $69.6 billion annualized rate from January through March, up from a prior estimate of $60.9 billion. The trade deficit cut GDP by 0.21 percentage point, revised down from 0.34 percentage point. Final sales to domestic purchasers, which strip out the volatile inventories trade components, increased at a 1.2 percent rate, the same as previously reported.
Consumption that makes up almost 70 percent of the economy grew at a 1.9 percent pace (2.1 percent forecast), the same as initially estimated. Corporate profits advanced 0.3 percent in the first quarter, but were down 5.8 percent over the past year.
Wages and salaries grew by a revised $125.5 billion in the fourth quarter, the biggest gain in almost two years and up from the $81.7 billion increase previously reported. Gross domestic income, which combines all forms of earnings, climbed at a 2.2 percent annualized rate in the first quarter, matching the most since the last three months of 2014.
–With assistance from Chris Middleton.
See also:
The Federal Reserve made the poor poorer
Analysts respond to the Fed’s proposed rules for insurers
Treasuries in biggest weekly slide since November on Fed outlook
Copyright 2016 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
US government set to release hurricane season outlook
The Atlantic hurricane season officially starts June 1
Associated Press on May 27, 2016
The U.S. government will release its forecast Friday for how many hurricanes and tropical storms are expected to form over Atlantic and Caribbean waters in the next six months.
It’s an annual reminder from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that coastal living comes with significant risks.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially starts June 1, but tropical weather got a head-start this year: Hurricane Alex made an unseasonable debut in January over the far eastern Atlantic, and the National Hurricane Center says an area of low pressure between Bermuda and the Bahamas could be brewing into something bigger Friday or Saturday.
The long-term season averages are 12 named storms, with six hurricanes and three “major” ones with winds topping 110 mph.
___
2015 TALLY
The 2015 season was slightly below average with 11 named storms, including two tropical storms that made landfall and caused flooding in South Carolina and Texas. Hurricane Joaquin, one of two storms to reach major hurricane strength, killed all 33 mariners aboard a cargo ship that sank off the Bahamas in October.
A U.S. Coast Guard panel is investigating the sinking of the El Faro, which was sailing from Jacksonville, Florida, to Puerto Rico when it got caught in Joaquin. Testimony since mid-May has shown the ship’s captain received outdated storm information the day before the ship sank. Initial forecasts for Joaquin also were wildly inaccurate.
___
COASTAL RISKS
The last major hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland was Hurricane Wilma, which cut across Florida in 2005. Since then, the population in the 185 coastline counties most threatened by hurricanes has grown 8.7 per cent to 59.2 million people, according to U.S. Census estimates.
Overall, 143.6 million people 44.7 per cent of the U.S. population _ from Maine to Texas could be living in harm’s way. Other Census figures hint at the potential financial risks throughout those states: 60.1 million housing units and 3.3 million business establishments with 52.3 million paid workers.
Storm winds can reach frightening speeds, but they aren’t the deadliest threat. According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, storm surge and rainfall flooding combine for three-quarters of all U.S. deaths from hurricanes, tropical storms or tropical depressions.
___
MAJOR DAMAGE
In the Bahamas, Joaquin caused over $60 million in damage, according to the hurricane centre. The islands reported widespread flooding that contaminated drinking water, cut off an airport and swamped a local fishing fleet.
Even “minor” storms can leave misery behind. After Tropical Storm Erika swept through the Caribbean last year, damage estimates on the island of Dominica ranged up to $500 million for homes, roads, bridges and infrastructure, and Puerto Rico reported $17.4 million in agricultural losses for plantains, bananas and coffee.
These lessons have hit home in the Northeast, wracked by catastrophic flooding first from Hurricane Irene in 2011 and again from Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Damage estimates tallied in the tens of billions of dollars.
Due to the financial hardships left in Sandy’s wake, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday that it’s overhauling its appeals process for flood insurance claims with more transparency and oversight. Homeowners will be able to take disputes directly to FEMA instead of first going through the insurance companies they’re fighting.
___
CLIMATE CHANGE
Rising sea levels are expected to increase the vulnerability of coastal communities to flooding from tropical systems. While some aspects of hurricane development still aren’t fully understood, recent research indicates climate change is likely to make hurricanes more intense in the future.
Improved computer models show that warming atmospheric conditions may hinder tropical cyclone development worldwide, says David Nolan, a University of Miami professor of atmospheric sciences.
But the hurricanes that do form could grow more intense because ocean temperatures will be higher, Nolan says. Warm ocean waters feed hurricanes like fuel in an engine.
“The ones that do occur could be a little bit stronger,” Nolan says, “but the changes over the next 10, 20, 30 years would be very small, almost undetectable.”
The longer retirees wait to turn this income benefit on, the greater the payout will be. (Illustration:James Yang)
Annuities are valued for their tax-deferred accumulation benefit, but they also provide an essential source of retirement income for many retirees.
Matt Drinkwater, assistant vice president, LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute in Windsor, Connecticut, reports the institute has conducted an ongoing study of variable annuity owners who purchased contracts in 2007. In 2013, 88 percent of owners above age 70 took guaranteed withdrawals from their annuities. That percentage drops off for those in their 50s and 60s, which is expected, but nonetheless, he points to the 88 percent as an impressive result that demonstrates the income benefit’s value to owners.
The focus on the income benefits of annuities continues with present-day sales. The institute categorized total retail annuity market sales for 2015 by investment objectives, and guaranteed income as a primary objective accounted for about $108 billion of the $207 billion total sales.
Peter Gourley, vice president with Ruark Consulting in Simsbury, Connecticut, says his firm’s research also finds high use rates of annuities’ income benefits among older contract holders. For example, among annuity owners over age 70, he estimates roughly three-quarters are taking withdrawals.
“Some of those are driven by the necessity to take a RMD on a qualified contract,” he notes. “But, even setting that aside, there’s a definite age effect where as people get older into retirement age, obviously they start using their retirement income feature.”
One reason for buyers’ interest is annuities’ ability to help retirees address multiple financial risks. John Homer, CLU and Million Dollar Round Table member with Oxford Financial Group in Salt Lake City, cites longevity, liquidity, inflation, health care costs, sequence of returns market risk and legacy risk as the major categories. Annuities can “deal with the market sequence risk because if I’m providing my income with annuities, I don’t have that risk,” he says. “If I’m concerned about longevity, outliving the income, my lifetime income benefit solves that. Inflation, if I’ve got the inflation type of rider in the annuity, it’s going to inflate. As time goes by, it takes care of that. And, so, three out of those six risks are handled by the annuity and there is no better way to handle those risks.”
Filling the Gap
Nonetheless, advisors shouldn’t view annuities as the ideal solution for every client, cautions Curtis Cloke, CLTC, LUTCF, RICP with Thrive Income Distribution Systems LLC in Burlington, Iowa. He suggests retirement income planning should initially identify the “gap” between clients’ income and expenses. The advisor’s role is to identify available resources, such as Social Security and pensions, and forecast how much additional asset-based income, if any, the client needs to sustain the desired lifestyle. That analysis should also consider inflation, he adds. If there is a current or projected income deficit, the question then becomes how much of that deficit the client wants to cover with a guaranteed income source in order to have a predictable income floor.
Every client, regardless of wealth, wants some level of income stability, Cloke says. Social Security is one source; pensions, when available, are another. If those two sources provide sufficient guaranteed income for the foreseeable future, the client might not need to draw on the portfolio for additional income, at least early in retirement.
Craig Lemoine, Ph.D., CFP and associate professor of financial planning at the American College of Financial Services in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, suggests advisors and retirees also consider additional sources of wealth and liquidity, including home equity, in addition to annuities, for their potential to generate steady income. For example, the quality of available reverse mortgage options has improved and should be reviewed, he notes, despite the emotional attachment clients often have to leaving the family home to their children.
The Annuity Decision
When there is an income gap and the client wants to increase his or her guaranteed income, the amount and nature of the gap will indicate which type of annuity to consider, says Cloke. “If it’s an inflatable gap, then that narrows the scope even further because I can’t do inflation adjustment with guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit (GLWB) products; I can only do inflation with single premium immediate annuities (SPIAs) and deferred income annuities (DIAs). I can buy an inflation increase from a tenth of a point in 10 percent increments up to 6.5 percent. So, I can ladder these products starting at different times and subsets along the way, and I can buy them with different COLA adjustments based on what the math shows me,” he says.
SPIAs and DIAs are best suited for cases when there is a need for contractual inflation adjustments, Cloke believes. “Anytime you buy a GLWB with a fixed indexed annuity, any discussion of inflation is a projective, what-if, if such-and-such and so-and-so occurs kind of conversation,” he says. “Because when you buy a GLWB, things you cannot predict must happen in order for the possibility of inflation to be alive. You can’t guarantee it. You can only project it based on what-ifs. But, with an income annuity, you can buy it with absolute finality and certainty as a guarantee of the contractual obligations of that carrier.”
Income taxes are another factor, says Lemoine. Annuity withdrawals from qualified accounts will be fully taxed. But for nonqualified accounts, annuitization can offer an initial tax advantage over withdrawals because each annuitized payment will include a return of the annuitant’s cost basis. “If we take the income rider, we’re going to get a LIFO (last-in, first-out) treatment, and we’re going to wind up getting all gains at first,” he says “So, we need to consider the taxation element if it’s nonqualified.”
Pros and Cons
The drawback with annuitization is that only a few clients are likely to choose that option. Economists call this the annuity puzzle and advisors cite multiple reasons for clients’ reluctance to annuitize including, among others: exposure to inflation; risk of premature death and payments ending before recouping principal; and loss of control. Cloke has found he needs to offer installment or cash refund options with annuity proposals or clients won’t buy in. “You can’t just do life or joint-life only,” he says. “People won’t hurdle the risk that if I die tomorrow this insurance company keeps the dough, that my family loses my principal. So, I have to attach installment or cash refund. And when I do that I don’t have any risk of loss of anything but what I get is at [age] 65 a 6 percent distribution rate or 6.1, 6.2 depending on the day.”
Annuitization can provide an additional benefit, Cloke observes. The annuity’s relatively high distribution rate allows clients to take a longer-term view with their other assets. That perspective can allow them to take on additional risk with the remainder of their portfolio and increase the potential for earning higher returns.
Homer also reports that his firm doesn’t annuitize many contracts. That option can make sense when the client has limited assets but needs a relatively high income from those assets. In those cases, one strategy is to annuitize part of the assets with a SPIA to get the maximum payout, although he notes that adding an inflation option to SPIAs significantly reduces payouts in early years.
For most clients, the focus is on timing an annuity’s income benefits versus taking withdrawals, says Homer. Most of the annuities his firm has worked with have lifetime income benefits as part of the annuity and that feature is time-dependent. “The longer they wait to turn that income benefit on, the greater the payout will be so we’re measuring the timing,” he explains. “We’re measuring what they need against the timing of that growing payout factor to see when we want to move from just doing the free periodic withdrawals to where we want to move into the guaranteed lifetime income if indeed we want to move that way. There are some cases where we don’t, where we just are going to keep it on a periodic withdrawal basis and that’s where they’ve got large numbers of assets that allow them the freedom to do that.”
DOL Ruling’s Impact
The Labor Department’s recent fiduciary ruling has consumed advisors’ attention recently. The ruling will affect the placement of variable and indexed annuities’ distribution in retirement plans, but as of mid-April the insurance industry’s planned adaptations and implementation of the best interest contract requirements were still under wraps. My admittedly brief review of the ruling’s annuity- related sections did not find any proposed changes to the traditional annuitization options: life-only, joint-and-survivor, etc.
That lack of change makes sense because the options are essentially actuarial variations based on life expectancy tables and the prevailing discount factors. But it’s still unclear, at least to me, if or how variable annuities’ or indexed annuities’ guaranteed living benefit options might be affected. None of the annuity carriers I contacted were willing to be interviewed on this topic so at this point it’s wait and see.
Severe weather spawning numerous tornadoes roiled large stretches of Kansas for a second day Thursday, prompting residents to anxiously watch the skies but causing only scattered damage in rural areas and no injuries or deaths.
A late afternoon tornado warning in the Kansas City area prompted a brief precautionary evacuation of Kansas City International Airport in Missouri, forcing travellers and other visitors into parking garage tunnels, local media reported. The airport was back in operation by early evening.
The area was on high alert a day after a half-mile-wide tornado stayed on the ground for about 90 minutes near Chapman, Kansas, Wednesday night and travelled 26 miles.
The National Weather Service began issuing tornado warnings early Thursday afternoon, with the first sighting of a tornado near the tiny northeast Kansas town of St. George in Riley County about 2 p.m.
An hour later, five tornadoes were reported in a cluster of counties in northeast Kansas, where law enforcement reported baseball-size hail that damaged cars and homes in Meriden northeast of Topeka.
At the same time, several southwestern Kansas counties were under tornado warnings, but no twisters had touched down.
Early Thursday evening, the weather service said a tornado knocked down tree limbs and damaged some outbuildings near the 4,400-resident northeastern Kansas town of Wamego, though the intensity of that twister would not be assessed until Friday.
In neighbouring Missouri, an Air Force worker at the Whiteman base roughly 70 miles southeast of Kansas City reported a tornado had touched down.
The tornado on Wednesday night near 1,400-resident Chapman, 140 miles west of Kansas City, Kansas, damaged or destroyed about 20 homes but edged past Chapman’s southern side after forecasters declared a “tornado emergency” for the town. “Numerous” miles of power lines were extensively damaged, along with a set of railroad tracks, Kansas officials said Thursday.
A survey team from the National Weather Service office at Topeka rated the tornado as an EF4 on a scale of tornado strength EF5 is the highest with estimated peak winds of 180 mph.
In Kansas’ Dickinson County, a tornado Wednesday was blamed for destroying eight homes and heavily damaging as many as 20 others and farmsteads.
“It’s amazing how this tornado missed those centres of population,” said Paul Froelich, a Dickinson County fire district. “And we had outstanding early warning on this. … People knew well in advance of this storm. Consider also, this is Kansas. This is Tornado Alley.”
A typical tornado dissipates within 10 minutes after losing the proper balance of winds flowing into and out of the storm. Tornado researcher Erik Rasmussen of the University of Oklahoma said Thursday that conditions were right to keep the Chapman storm churning no storms were nearby to disrupt it.
A twister at Chapman June 11, 2008, tore a path of destruction six blocks wide. Officials said one woman died, 100 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged, and 80 per cent of the town was damaged.
Email is the most prevalent way that companies communicate with their customers today, yet nearly half of email marketers send everyone on their list the same email – a surefire tactic that won’t get your emails read. Instead, advisors need to take a different approach to email in order to actually get through to their clients and see the impact on their business.
For starters, using email effectively requires a personalization strategy. At a time where likability and trustworthiness are critical to building long-term client relationships, email can be one of the most personal methods to keep in touch with clients. In fact, when done right, it can be 40 times more effective than Facebook or Twitter for customer engagement.
As an advisor with an established connection with your clients, you already have a leg up in ensuring your emails are read; however, just because your clients may not instantly delete your messages doesn’t mean it’s going to strengthen the relationship. There’s still much work to be done in leveraging the marketing power of email.
Here are five ways advisors can use email to deepen relationships and truly engage with clients:
1. Make it personal
Your first goal is to send the kind of email that you would want to read. Would you read an email that sounds like it was written for a random group of many? Neither would your clients, even if it looks like it was coming from you. That’s because your clients are just as inundated with email clutter as you are, and they are constantly looking for ways to sift through the ‘noise’ in their inboxes.
Instead, send emails that are truly personal, ones that your clients would expect to receive from their trusted advisor. Here’s an example of a relevant, personalized email:
“Hi Allison, I saw on Facebook that Alex turned 1 month old today – it’s amazing how quickly they grow up! I want to make sure you have the right insurance plan in place for your family and I’ll call you this week to discuss. In the meantime, here’s a great article with five steps to protect your family financially.”
Personal touches like these today create opportunities for meaningful client conversations tomorrow.
2. Be proactive
One of the most frustrating things for an advisor is to miss out on an opportunity to engage with clients when it is most relevant – such as hearing about a new job (or job loss) – and missing the opportunity to plan for these financial uncertainties.
One way to deepen relationships with your clients is to look for opportunities (such as on Facebook, LinkedIn or at events) to proactively engage with your clients. Doing so builds trust between you and your clients, and gives you relevant reasons to stay in touch.
3. Focus on the relationship
As an advisor, your client relationships should always be top-of-mind. Go beyond just sending clients your company’s latest content. Offer something of value to them as an individual – something that speaks to their particular interests, needs, and biggest concerns.
Email is at its core an owned communications channel, meaning you have full control over format, frequency and delivery, so use that wisely. Reach out person-to-person first, then offer your unique expertise and counsel based on what you know about them individually.
4. Provide relevant information
As their trusted advisor, clients look to you to help them navigate some of life’s biggest changes. Email can be an effective way to provide valuable, relevant information to your clients when they need it most.
Tap into your company’s bank of content assets, and tie those to the proactive, personalized opportunities to get in front of your clients. For example, when you know they are welcoming a new baby, offer a check-list of financial to-dos along with a personal congratulatory note.
5. Leverage technology to save time
As a busy advisor, you can only do so much before forfeiting sleep. With so many clients, each with unique needs, you need to tap into technologies to enhance your productivity. The trick is using email technologies that help you offer more personalized advice to your clients, as opposed to technologies that merely automate everything. Leverage email technologies that draw from a bank of compliant, categorized content assets that tie insights you have on each client, and that allow you to add that personal touch each time you communicate.
By using email to stay top of mind with clients, you can reap tremendous returns that go well beyond quarterly corporate newsletters and annual check-ins. Simply increasing the number of personalized, meaningful touch points with your clients not only offers them the tools and information to establish and maintain their financial well-being, but also reinforces their desire to do business with you.
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