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Like so many successful advisers, Brian Ashe is quick to tell you that relationships are the largest driver of success in the insurance business. "People change companies," Ashe says. "They can be really terrific with numbers; they can be good managers of their offices; they can have the latest equipment. But if you are not a person who believes in and is dedicated to the establishment of relationships, it makes it significantly more difficult to be successful."

Unanswered questions and unknown repercussions abound as regulators continue to flesh out the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act framework. For employers, it is a frustrating time of uncertainty and confusion.

Consumers are spending $363 billion a year on ancillary health care, according to a new study by Deloitte.

Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider and publisher of the widely followed Standard & Poor's Index Versus Active Fund scorecard series, has launched the industry's first comprehensive, periodic scorecard for target-date mutual funds. The S&P Indices Target-Date Scorecard provides performance comparisons, equal- and asset-weighted peer averages, and volatility comparisons for U.S. target-date funds versus their relative S&P Target-Date Index.

When the National Association of Insurance Commissioners decided last Sunday to delay action on throwing their support behind a bill that would exclude broker commissions from health reform’s medical loss ratio calculations, the move was met with mixed reviews, but by no means signals an end to the effort, say insiders.

New research from MetLife spotlights a disconnect between the perceptions of voluntary benefits held by employers and employees.

A March 17th hearing on the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act had more of a July 4th sensibility, with fireworks igniting before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health.

Insurance companies and investment firms offering retirement services to companies large and small are learning that attention to detail and improved communication with the plan sponsors and, indirectly, plan participants can dramatically improve their customer retention and satisfaction rates.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s retirement services unit is generating significant new business, much of it from existing clients of the bank.

In response to the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan on March 11, 2011, the Million Dollar Round Table and the Million Dollar Round Table Foundation have established the MDRT Japan Disaster Relief Fund. The MDRT Foundation has donated the first $50,000 to the fund, and MDRT will match donations up to another $100,000.