Aon Study Shows Employers Changing 2010 Medical Programs

As employees flip through their open enrollment packets, they may notice substantial changes to their medical plans for 2010, from increases to employee contributions to introducing a wellness program, according to the 2009 Benefits & Talent Survey by Aon Consulting, the human capital consulting firm of Aon Corp. Aon Consulting surveyed 1313 employers nationwide in its 2009 Benefits & Talent Survey and found 41% of employers are expecting to make more substantial changes to their 2010...

Will the M&a Bull Charge Again?

Editor

Sustainability in an Uncertain Time

The ability of insurance professionals to sustain future business profitability requires examining operating principles and practices at the core of an enterprise able to capitalize on the opportunities of a changing world. The American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA) has built a committee system and established alliances to exploit the diverse talents in the wholesale insurance industry specifically, and the marketplace generally. AAMGA works with other professional trade asso...

Census Ranks Major U.S. Cities with Health Insurance Coverage

Workers' Comp State Funds Gaining Market Share

Top 10 Ways Insurers Are Non-Compliant

J.D. Power: Consumer Satisfaction with Homeowners' Insurance Surges in 2009

False Expertise Claims Can Cost Millions

Although most agents and brokers understand that their duties and obligations to an insured are limited, and they do not generally have a duty to volunteer to an insured that the client should procure additional or different insurance coverage, that duty changes when brokers hold themselves out to have expertise. In Williams v. Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs Insurance Services of California Inc, the California Court of Appeal determined that an insurance agency was negligent in advising on, procurin...

Separation of Insureds, Wos in Contractor Minefield

Setting aside for the moment how turkeys must view the holiday, the author's reference is to the tradition of many folks who use the Thanksgiving holidays for reunions or other assorted family gatherings. Just as a simple generalization made in all innocence may detonate the anger bomb at Thanksgiving dinner, contractor considerations are too often treated as easily addressed on a broad brush basis. The Separation of Insureds provision provides the equivalent coverage of what was formerly kno...

Cash Flow Underwriting Frustrates Agents

Agents are boiling over with frustration at carriers who are focused entirely on growth regardless of loss ratio. Agents know they can grow slowly and profitably, or they can grow quickly with higher loss ratios. From the agent's perspective, companies are cash-flow underwriting. Agents who understand the long-term benefits of moderate but profitable growth wish all of their carriers would follow the path of the most successful: Steady but moderate growth relative to industry-wide growth, ach...

Voip: Can You See Me Now?

Today's equivalent of the videophone is generally computer based and runs on a platform known as Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. The video application is not necessarily an automatic component of VoIP phones, but does reflect the multi-informational nature of the platform -- handling both voice and data. Beyond sending voice, pictures, documents and video, VoIP takes advantage of the cost structure of the Internet. Unlike traditional phone service, which charges by the minute or second...

Follow Steps to Logical Process of Qualifying

The author previously worked as a producer at a large agency. The culture among the sales team was, "Just look busy and walk with purpose and urgency and the brass will leave you alone." Old-time agencies operating under these dynamics have above-average marketing costs, strained relationships with their carriers, a below-average profit margin and their revenue per producer is below a long-term survival rate for the producer and the agency. Here are steps on how insurance agents & brokers...

2009 Gores Agent M&As

editor In an interview, Dale Myer and Richard Schlicher, insurance acquisitions and mergers (M&A) professionals, talked about who's buying insurance, what these buyers are looking for and how an owner can determine the value of his or her agency. According to Myer, in the robust years of 2006 to 2008, the M&A market was driven by the entrance of a large number of well-funded buyers anxious to become significant participants in the insurance distribution. With the number of buyers down -- ban...

Dodge the Capital Gains Bullet

The mergers and acquisition environment is very cloudy. Compared with previous years, 2009 has been very slow in terms of completed transactions. If you are an owner who has plans to sell your agency in the next 5 years, you should consider moving the sale date up to the next 12 months, as the expected change in the capital gains rate will have a material effect on your after-tax value. For those who are planning to sell within the next 5 years, it is time to determine when is the best time t...

Invest Beyond Financial Protection

For many in the insurance industry, the Resolution Trust Corp (RTC) was a mere footnote in the history books -- even though the RTC, as a result of the savings and loan crisis closed almost 750 thrifts between its enactment in 1989 and the end of its charter in 1995. Since 2007, regulators have closed more than 120 banks and credit unions. For agents with financial institution clients, these difficult times require new risk management strategies. In response to the subprime mortgage crisis, C...

Learn Strategies for Avoiding the Blame Game

In recent years, the blame game has become very popular. The object of the game is to find somebody to blame; it does not really make any difference who this is, as long as it is not the person looking for a victim to blame. Insurance professionals are guaranteed losers and at all costs should avoid involvement in the game. Constructing the agency defense is like building a bomb shelter -- which is not something you can do when the planes are overhead. Probably the single most important facto...

Decommoditize Personal Lines

Now that the personal lines industry is finally seeing some relief with upward rate adjustments after a prolonged soft market, the time has never been better to align the agency workforce toward the power of consultative selling. The industry is fraught with references of personal insurance as a commodity and price driving sales. Never has the adage been more true than if you sell on price, you will lose on price. The way to eliminate this is to educate and train your staff to provide constru...

Midterm Elections Could Mix Familiar with Unpredictable

The 2010 election cycle is shaping up to be one of the most interesting in a long time. There will be 37 gubernatorial races and a host of state legislative elections in 2010. The upcoming elections will affect state legislative agendas. Improving state economies, taxes and issues that have budgetary impact will continue to dominate discussions in the state houses. Looking forward, there certainly will be some surprises -- there always are -- but the insurance industry can expect to see many ...

It's a 'Whole Other Agency'

Tyler, TX, located 100 miles southeast of Dallas, boasts picturesque antique shops, mom-and-pop specialty stores and charming brick streets. It is here that Kenneth W. Threlkeld established Threlkeld & Co Insurance Agency (TCI) in 1982, and it has grown to one of the premier insurance agencies in East Texas. TCI splits its services between 65% for commercial property-casualty, 23% group life-health and 12% personal property-casualty. One of TCI's advantages lies in its employees, and the ...

Market Directory

It's the Capacity, Stupid

In the professional lines arena of the insurance industry, numerous forces at work affect the market between the ebb and flow of the hard and soft cycles. Though hardly an exhaustive list, some factors influence these cycles: 1. interest rates, 2. inflation, 3. excess capital, and 4. developing loss activity. To be sure, any one factor, or any combination of the above, could fundamentally shift the pricing curve. But a more certain and immediate turn in the market seems to be elusive due to c...