Practice management

To be successful in the sale of voluntary insurance products the agent will have to be transformed into a member of the business owner's employee benefit advisory team.

Hundreds of National Association of Health Underwriters members attending the organization's 81st annual convention June 26-29 were treated to a round of "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey as the convention kicked off in San Antonio - setting the stage for the positive outlook promoted by NAHU throughout the event.

My practice as an ERISA attorney is devoted to working with financial advisers to help their retirement plan clients reduce their administrative cost, minimize their fiduciary liability, and maximize retirement savings at a flat fee.

Waitress Edna and blogger Mike Loncono’s father, a car salesman, had one thing in common — they were plugged in at any task level or job description. Are you?

Financial planners become successful through a fierce commitment to building their practices. But too few principals proactively plan for when — and how — they will one move on. In failing to do so, they run the risk of leaving their firms on someone else’s terms, says Scott Slater, managing director, business consulting, for Schwab Advisor Services. “And that’s somewhat ironic,” he says, “because they are planners.”

Americans are slowly shifting toward buying insurance direct rather than meeting with an insurance professional face-to-face. More than one in four adults prefer to purchase life insurance online, over the phone or through the mail, according to a New LIFE and LIMRA study released Wednesday.

The majority of Generation X and Y policy owners and almost half of Boomer policy owners who have visited their life company’s website sought online services from their insurers, according to LIMRA. “With Internet usage growing almost 150% in the last decade, it is vital that companies understand who their online audience is and what their expectations are and develop a website that offers the important services that these customers say they want,” says Mary Art, LIMRA research director, technology in marketing and distribution research.

Advisers are more confident than they have been since January, but they still report being concerned over the disconnect in the marketplace, according to The Advisor Confidence Index, a benchmark that gauges adviser views on the U.S. economy and stock market.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is nearly ready to issue a proposed rule requiring health insurers to develop standardized, consumer-friendly summaries of benefits and coverage under their health plan packages.

Louisiana Sen. Mary L. Landrieu urges Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to remove agent compensation from the medical loss ratio rule.

Rates for cybersecurity insurance edged lower in the last few months despite surging demand, as heavy competition brewed among insurers rushing into the market in search of the next profitable product, insurance brokers Marsh said on Wednesday.

Lincoln Trust Company has introduced the Personalized Expense Ratio for the 401(k) plans that it administers. The ratio is designed for participants, plan sponsors and advisers to see the actual cost of their plans without having to perform calculations themselves.

For Jeff Rose, founder and chief executive officer of Alliance Wealth Management in Carbondale, Ill., one of the best ways to communicate with existing clients and to attract new ones is through his blog.

As the health insurance landscape changes, so do middle market companies’ views on their relationships with brokers. The majority of companies surveyed by TNS, a Kantar Group company, view their employee health insurance broker or agent as a valued partner. In 2014, most companies — including smaller and larger companies — will be relying more heavily on their brokers to help them navigate through the choices offered under reform. This is evidenced by 75% of companies who think their health insurance broker will play a more important role in their relationship over the next three years.

When Americans think about retirement one of the main obligations they feel is the need to offer financial assistance to their adult children. More than 60% of respondents to a July 12 SunAmerica Financial Group survey expect that they will be helping their adult children as well as their spouse, grandchildren and siblings.

Engaging employees will be the greatest human resources challenge facing employers over the next three to five years, according to a member survey by the Society for Human Resource Management.

Implementing a wellness plan is much easier said then done if you want to roll out a successful program. There are key elements necessary for success to happen; the most important being how your company defines success.

Implementing a wellness plan is much easier said then done if you want to roll out a successful program. There are key elements necessary for success to happen; the most important being how your company defines success.

The National Association of Health Underwriters commends the June 30 decision of a National Association of Insurance Commissioners broker task force to endorse a bill in Congress that would provide state insurance regulators more freedom when it comes to the medical loss ratio implementation.

Almost 80% of employers anticipate that there will be an increased demand for access to savings and investment advice about their 401(k) plans, according to a new survey from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.