Advisor strategies

Commentary: Small things get big in a customer’s mind, and the next thing you know, the customer is gone — for good.

Commentary: Many benefit brokers live by the idea that face-to-face onsite service is the only way to provide quality service. Certainly that is one of the advantages a local broker has, being local. But times change, says HR Technology Advisors’ Joe Markland.

Commentary: There are certain areas of an asset allocation where there is real danger to blindly investing in passive investments.

Success on Wall Street and buyer demand has created ‘a crazy marketplace right now.’

Employers using Aon Hewitt’s multi-carrier fully-insured private health care exchange experienced average annual health care cost savings more than 4% lower than industry projections.

Smaller companies and non-profits are among the organizations that are contemplating a switch in how they manage employee benefits.

Commentary: There may be an opportunity to partner with professional employer organizations, says EBA advisory board member Andy Torelli.

Commentary: Working with a managing general underwriter can be one of a broker's most beneficial relationships, helping to build a book while addressing clients’ major insurance issues. Selecting the right MGU partner is critical.

Nearly a year and a half after the IRS opened the door to flexible spending account carryovers, 60% of employers report they have amended or are planning to amend their FSA plans to take advantage of the added flexibility.

Of the five types of sales profiles, one sticks out as significantly more successful than the rest, but in order to emulate that success, advisers must change their habits.

There are a variety of solutions available that brokers can suggest to clients who are seeking to attract and retain millennials, who often have yet to build financial savings.

Leverage the changing ways employees access and consume technology to improve benefits communications and “look like a rock star” to your clients.

Insurance company CEOs discuss the essential role of the broker and how they can make themselves stand out as new players enter the insurance space.

There is a unique opportunity in retiree health benefits, one that brings a potential windfall for advisers willing to embrace the market.

Generations X and Y prefer an adviser to give retirement information face-to-face rather than searching online, survey finds.

Employers are bracing for double-digit pharmacy cost increases in the next year, but advisers can help them to take steps now to mitigate those cost increases for both their active and pre-retiree populations.

If I had a dollar for every time an industry professional reacted to my choice of college major with, “Risk Management and Insurance?  I didn’t know you could major in that,” I would be a rich man. From what I see, many people who make up the industry did not set out with the intention of working in insurance or employee benefits. So why would a young professional just entering the job market choose employee…

Gibson Insurance and its CEO Tim Leman are known in industry circles for their trailblazing social media presence, but many brokerages still wonder, what is the real return on investment from online marketing?

Commentary: When evaluating the nonmedical space and the products with the greatest level of applicability to an employee, auto and home insurance provide significant protection, comfort and well-being to an employee and their family.

Commentary: Technology is easily duplicated. Even for those who excel at it, technology is not their greatest asset. Brand, marketing and service model make a company.