News Feed

Today marks the eighth annual celebration that honors the important work benefits practitioners and professional advisers do on behalf of North America’s workforce.

Americans who use the services of a financial professional are significantly more likely to have taken steps toward preparing for retirement than those who do not, finds the first quarterly results of a Principal Financial Well-Being Index.

Because so much of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is still unclear, one specific caveat must be made. BeAdvised contributor Sam Fleet addresses how PPACA will effect fixed indemnity plans.

No day is ever the same for a hard-working employee benefit consultant. For those of you who've always wondered what the competition is up to, EBA premieres a monthly feature — 'A day in the life,' in which an adviser tracks one routine day. We kick off with Kevin Roberts, a daily user of social media.

It's finally spring, time for a fresh start. Time to focus on what you can control and what you can positively influence. Apply yourself intelligently to achieve sales success.

Although it's hard to start a conversation about death and dying, providing employees with a benefit option that will help them ensure their end-of-life affairs are in order can not only provide peace of mind, but also can keep loved ones from paying a heavy price both emotionally and financially for a funeral they were not prepared to plan.

One of our clients, a Midwest employee benefits agency, came to us with a serious problem. Revenues were down 19% over the previous year, despite an increased marketing budget. They spent their $137,000 budget on brand-building - including a $15,000 sponsorship of the 18th hole at the local pro-am celebrity golf tournament, a $10,000 sponsorship of the Heart Gala, full-page glossy ads in the local business magazine and half-page ads in the weekly business paper. While they couldn't say for certain what, if any, new business resulted from these efforts, the net result was an almost 20% drop in revenue. Not surprising, but still a terrible waste of resources.

Many businesses are incorporating social media into their marketing campaigns and into their product and service offerings. But new technology does not always disintermediate. In the case of social media, the "original" social media technology is being integrated in new and innovative ways. So what is it? The plain old telephone. Increasingly, employees and consumers are using social media on their mobile devices or smart phones. At the end of the day, however, a smart phone is still a phone.

Every brokerage sells in the small group market. The reason is simple: That's where most of the group business resides.

Agents are missing a huge sales opportunity with group term life insurance. Most of you think that you actually sell group term life insurance - but you are 100% wrong! You may take orders for group term, but when was the last time that you encouraged an employer to offer group term life where none existed before? Or you initiated a conversation with an employer about voluntary group term life insurance?