According to a survey of 6,360 people conducted by American United Life Insurance Company, more than 60% of retirement plan participants under age 40 found online retirement calculators the most helpful in retirement planning, compared to 51% of those 41-50, and 41% over the age of 50.  The under 40 group also found mobile apps to [...]

Recently a quick assessment was posted on Life Health Pro by Maribeth Kuzmeski.  According to Kuzmeski, answering these 8 questions will tell you a lot about your marketing strategy for this year. 1) Do you have an up to date website? And does the site have a call to action to engage your prospects? 2) [...]

The key to landing a sale or closing a deal, is first to ask questions.  Ask a lot of questions, and be sure to ask questions surrounding a need or problem for which you have a solution.  Many sales people are always searching for the magic bullet when it is most likely in front of [...]

In a recent article by Jill Konrath, she discusses key questions to ask in a sales situation and why.  First start with a question about their current situation, then move onto finding out what their challenges have been recently and what hurdles they’re currently facing, and finally, what have they been doing to combat these [...]

We see it everyday, practically every business advertisement has some reference to a social media site, Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn…. the names go on and on. The use of Social media has become one of the most powerful ways to increase exposure and generate interest in whatever it is you may be pitching. Following these tips [...]

 Those of you who are parents and have clients that are parents eventually come to the topic of paying for college. Whether in a social setting or during the discovery process, it is one the of the highest needs clients are looking to have met.  They can be younger and wanting to grow their money [...]

A survey of retirees asked “What is your greatest fear about retirement?” The most common answer given was “out living our money”. This is a major factor in why over 80% of annuities sold in 2010 had a guaranteed lifetime income rider attatched. There are more variaties of these riders today than ever before. This is [...]

Many advisors and agents that I speak to INSIST that their older clients simply “aren’t online” or “don’t use Facebook” but this naive statement is just like saying “I know where all of their assets are” or “I have all of their money.”  Our clients, young and old, are using social media on a regular [...]

Workers are more likely to retire after a period of strong equity returns, but they may be leaving the workplace at a time when their nest eggs are at the most risk. A study performed by the University of Missouri and sponsored by Prudential Financial Inc. revealed a handful of factors that affect the timing [...]

I remember very early on in my insurance career hearing a salesperson say: “Get the money first and straighten out the details later.” Being the type of person that believes the money is in the details, I struggled with this thought process then, and I still do today. I am one of those detail-oriented people [...]