- For Benefits, Word Choice Can Prove Paramount
How “Ancillary” and “Voluntary” may be hurting your enhanced benefit sales
by Eric Silverman
I just closed my first 50 life case and couldn’t wait for the employee group meeting. Visions of 80% employee participation were letting my mind cash checks that inevitably my mouth hadn’t yet written. While presenting I proceeded to, innocently enough, refer to the majority of their employees as “tow truck drivers.”
read more - A Consolidating Landscape
Five trends in 2018 for insurance mergers & acquisitions
by Mary Anne Durall
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the insurance space are not simply buy-and-sell arrangements. They are often very complex deals that present a long list of challenges
read more - Advising Today’s Business Clients
Should My Business Be An S-Corp or a C-Corp?
by Herbert K. Daroff, J.D., CFP, AEP
I think the answer to that question may be, “YES!” Consider having both. I think that the operating company should be an S-Corp, have the real estate owned outside of the business as an LLC, and find a legitimate business reason to also establish a C-Corp, with a fiscal year other than calendar year.
read more - Wired For Service
Tech’s growing role in retirement income planning
by Ken Lotocki
Income planning for life after retirement is perhaps the most important and complex service in a financial advisor’s repertoire. Without the right financial technology, the process from start to finish is enough to make your head spin.
read more - A World View of Benefits Planning
Challenges and opportunities in the global benefits space
by James Reid
From large scale multinationals to small-medium enterprises, employers around the world are witnessing benefit trends which are having a lasting impact on retention and business growth. While these trends are being shaped by changes to the global socio-economic climate, they do position benefit providers to help employers navigate the future in a way that drives…
read more - The New Timeline of Risk Projection
The impact of longevity on underwriting and mortality standards
by Phil Bruen
Insurance has always been about the law of large numbers. Old assumptions have gone out the window as lifespans have lengthened, however. U.S. life expectancy at birth increased from 70 years of age in 1960 to 79 in 2015, and for a person who reaches age 65, U.S. life expectancy is now about 84.
read more - Who Pays For Aging?
On the long road to retirement, getting there often overshadows enjoying it
by Neil Sprackling
“Society seems to have put more effort into helping people reach old age than in helping them enjoy it.” Frank Howard Clark’s observation may be tongue-in-cheek, but it points to a serious issue.
read more - A Conversation With Axel Merk
Bitcoin: Cryptic Currency?
by P.E. Kelley
What is Crypto-Currency? It may depend on whom you ask. The Securities & Exchange Commission considers it a security. The Internal Revenue Service accounts for it as property. And the Treasury says it’s a currency. And they may all be correct, which is perhaps the crucial takeaway, at least if you are considering investing money…
read more - Brave New Benefits World
Finding your place in the benefits-tech landscape
by Kirk Cooper
As a broker, you’re expected to be an expert in insurance products, not IT. But like virtually every industry, the insurance business is being transformed at breakneck speed by advances in digital technology.
read more - US Execs Aren’t Ready For New EU Data Protection Laws
… Here’s why this could be a risk
by MIa Papanicolaou
On May 25 2018 the European Union’s (EU) data protection regulation, known as GDPR, is going into effect. While many businesses in the EU have been readying themselves for this regulation change, US businesses that provide services in the EU may not be as prepared.
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