Practice management

Employee Benefit Adviser magazine is now accepting nominations for four annual awards: Employee Benefit Adviser of the Year Health Plan Adviser of the Year Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year Voluntary Benefits Adviser of the Year

Leading employee benefit law practitioners willing to act as mediators or expert witnesses in legal disputes can now be found by logging onto The American College of Employee Benefits Counsel’s website.

Last week American General Benefit Solutions (Benefit Solutions), a business unit of American General Life Companies, unveiled a series of informative video presentations for its most popular plans to help agents promote its extensive line of employer-funded and employee-paid insurance products.

This month I thought I'd deviate from my normal approach and follow up on a previous column using a case study approach.

As I am writing this, my two-year-old is smacking my leg, trying to crawl onto my lap and attempting to commandeer the keyboard. All of these "adorable" antics make it difficult for me to work, type, or even think.

Iwould rather be poked in the eye with a sharp stick than sit through a humdrum and aimless sales presentation that goes nowhere. What needless pain that is. There is something to say for sales momentum and pursuing a goal in everything you say and do.

For the benefit professional who hates making cold calls or following up on direct mail, networking can be the next best alternative. But, like any marketing strategy - and yes, marketing is necessary - networking requires consistency of action over a period of time. Too many benefit professionals join a local Chamber of Commerce, go to one or two events and fail to generate even one appointment and then never return, believing that networking is a waste of time and energy.

Two new benefit firms have been accepted into the Benefit Advisor Network, expanding the group to 40 member agencies nationwide. The newest members are DeWitt Stern Planning Services of New York City and Gregory & Appel, Inc. in Indianapolis.

Here’s a roundup of recent staff changes in the industry.

Experience with the health insurance exchanges in Massachusetts and Utah suggest these reform mechanisms will retain a strong need for brokers to provide buyers with market education and guidance.

Industry: Available to third party administrators, plan service providers, employee benefit consultants, card processing companies and associations, insurance carriers, banks, industry software vendors, payroll processing companies, and other members of the flexible compensation industry.

Liberty Mutual has published a guide on the Family and Medical Leave Act written specifically for brokers and advisers. “Tracking Absence: A Leave Guide for Producers” is intended to help producers understand the complex federal law, enabling them to better help their client’ FMLA compliance efforts.

Despite concerns about the impact of rising health care costs on their businesses and employees, only one in six employers (16%) say they favor a federally funded universal health care system, according to the 2011 UBA Benefits Opinion Survey from United Benefit Advisors.

Although benefits comprise 30% to 40% of an employee’s total compensation, they’re largely hidden from view, which can serve to undermine benefits appreciation.

Here’s a roundup of recent staff changes in the employee benefits industry.

Brokers and advisers may need to play a more strategic role in helping their clients navigate an expected convergence of health care reform and absence management that will add another layer of complexity to regulatory compliance in these areas.

If there is going to be growth in the life insurance market it will be in the mass affluent market, said executives at the 2011 Life Insurance Conference on April 12.

The economy and health reform may have prompted the youngest workers at U.S. companies to take a deeper interest in workplace benefits, according to online research conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Unum.

Despite the drive to make all things digital during the 2010 open enrollment season, employers didn't turn away from good, old-fasioned face-to-face meetings. Also, complying with the first phase of the health law was a breeze.

There’s no doubt that starting a financial advisory business can be harrowing, but finding good people to eventually take over your business may be even harder, says John Brackett, a regional director with Financial Network Investment Corp.