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NAIFA-Arizona Continuing Education & The Arizona Diamondbacks Billboards (NAIFA-Arizona Committee Reports & Other News) New ComplianceBenefits Update: William Cassidy, CLU, ChFC NAIFA-Arizona Continuing Education & The Arizona Diamondbacks Sign up for two hours of Continuing Education (your 'Spring Training') and one hour of Career Motivation (your preparation to hitting your career goals 'out of the park)! And, we've added some FUN to this 'home run' - your registration includes a ticket to the Arizona Diamondbacks first night game of the 2010 Season - Diamondbacks vs San Diego Padres. Some stats: How to register: Finally, you may call 480.661.6393! Note: VISA & MasterCard accepted. Want to get a $5.00 refund on your registration fee at the end of the meeting? Simply bring a jar of Peanut Butter with you. By doing so you will be supporting 'Packages From Home', NAIFA-Arizona's Community Service Project this year. Peanut Butter appears to be the one item they have a hard time keeping stock of - our military men and women love it!! Here's the 'Game Plan': How timely! This course will instruct you on the 'essence of reform'; it will include proposals for reform and address proposed implementation and the impact of timelines on costs prior to implementation; you'll look at the differences between state and federal control and the roles of each. Other areas of instruction: individual plans, employer sponsored plans, Medicaid and the role of the agent. Ruthann is currently Vice President of Black, Gould & Associates, a large general agency in Phoenix. And she serves as the Region VII Vice President for the National Association of Health Underwriters. Her career in employer benefits spans 34 years working from both the consulting side of health insurance and the employers' side. While serving as a Compensation and Benefits manager for a large international employer, she had firsthand experience working with healthcare plans in several European countries. That experience is why, today, much of Ruthann's time is spent working on the current health care reform in an effort to encourage passage of legislation that will work properly. Ruthann has written a variety of white papers on many of the detailed topics involved in the Reform movement. 4:00 p.m. "Use Estate Planning and Improve Your Bottom Line" (one hour CE) Presenter: Mark Moritz, CLU, ChFC, JD Estate Planning is something your clients care about, and something they want help with. You are in a perfect position to help them accomplish their objectives. Whether you want to be an estate planner, or simply understand better how life insurance fits into the estate planning picture, learning about estate planning will increase your value to your clients, and improve your bottom line. Mark started in the insurance business in 1974, selling $5,000 family plans door-to-door with Metropolitan. He joined Connecticut General in 1975, and there was introduced to the subject of estate planning. He earned his CLU designation in 1977, his ChFC in 1982 and his CFP in 1983. He became assistant manager of CIGNA's Phoenix Agency, in charge of case design and technical support. In 1987, he was named in Money Magazine as one of "The Best Financial Planners in the U.S." Eventually, he got tired of being accused of practicing law without a license, so he took three years off and got a license. Now he practices law full time. His practice is limited exclusively to estate planning. He does not sell insurance, but he tries to persuade his clients that life insurance is a key part of their estate planning, and that their insurance agent is a key member of the estate planning team. He is a founding member and past president of the Valley Estate Planners, past president of the Planned Giving Round Table of Arizona, past chairman of the Maricopa County Bar Association Estate Planning section, and has taught courses on estate planning for the SFSP, the CPA Society, and the College of Financial Planning. 5:00 p.m. "Winning the Race Without Crashing" Motivation Presentation (non CE) - Presenter: Mark Bonnett Like a racecar driver, opportunities in your field can be realized in just thousandths of a second. The victories are 'won' in the garage by the efforts of a team of critical players. Get re-charged and energized. Leave this session ready to accelerate and WIN. Listen & Learn - having fun! Mark Bonnett , Regional Vice President, North Star Resource Group, is a MAIN Platform speaker for LAMP in Las Vegas this month! He has a strong message for advisors, as well, that is extremely motivating! Mark is a perennial MDRT (Million Dollar Round Table) member and has hit Court of the Table in addition to running a world class organization in Phoenix. You will learn from one of the best! On your mark, get set, go............... 6:40 p.m. First Pitch - seating reserved for you and your family/friends in Bullpen Reserve Section 108! See you there!!! If we didn't answer all your questions, give us a call at 480.661.6393 or e-mail naifa-az@azis.com Other Upcoming Events “Around the State”: March 25, 2010: The Alumni Association is Coming to Phoenix! Be our guest and join The American College and President, Dr. Larry Barton, on March 25th, 2010, at the Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dr. Barton is visiting several cities across the country and discussing hot topics in our profession, such as fiduciary standards, company consolidations and the proliferation of designations. This is a "No Pressure" event designed simply to reconnect you with your College. Camelback Inn The Alumni Association connects American College graduates, faculty, friends and students. April 16, 2010: YAT Meeting If you are 40 years of age or younger OR 5 years or less in the business, please join us for a special meeting designed just for you!! April 16, 2010: NAIFA-Phoenix 2nd Annual Community Outreach Golf Outing Arizona Biltmore, 2400 East Missouri Avenue – 12 Noon Shot Gun Start April 30, 2010: NAIFA-Tucson Golf Contact: Mike Sandoval 520.572.1156 sandowow@comcast.net May 7, 2010: NAIFA-West Valley Golf Contact: Jonathan Smith 623.776.0558 jonathan@jsiaz.com May 13, 2010: NAIFA-Phoenix Long Term Care Forum – 3 Hours CE Free to NAIFA-Phoenix Members May 21, 2010: NAIFA-Scottsdale Golf Contact: Winston Vineyard 480.951.8890 wvineyar@amfam.com Billboards (NAIFA-Arizona Committee Reports & Other News): New Compliance: NAIFA partners with Simplified Training Solutions to help members become compliant with HIPAA privacy and security as well as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley privacy requirements. Please visit: http://www.simplifiedtraining.com/shop/hipaa.php Benefits Update: William Cassidy, CLU, ChFC IFAPAC-Arizona – Jim Bennett, LUTCF
Professional Development – Diana Brettrager, CIC Something to Pass on: Stan has put together two podcasts for you to listen to. There’s great material for you to learn from and an opportunity for you to assess your current strategies. After the podcast, you answer a series of questions. When you’ve completed them both, they’ll schedule a one-on-one session with Stan. All for free. Send in your request for the podcasts to paula@ptmgroup.com She will get the link for the podcasts sent to you immediately. The second link gets sent a few days following. Peanut Butter, Our Military and Community Service – Patricia A. Chesebrough, CAE NAIFA-Arizona President’s Memo – Bob Bryant, Sr., LUTCF “The Perfect Association” You know what? NAIFA does all of these, but one; and, that one pales in comparison to the rest. Thank you for your membership and support. Will you please recruit someone who is not a member, but should be? We need you and we need your help. Thank you. In The News: NAIFA-Tucson Nominates 2008/09 NAIFA-Tucson Past President Chad Schneider for YAT’s “Four Under Forty” Award Program. NAIFA-Phoenix Past President (1988/89) B. John Garcia, LUTCF – at the Yuma Sorting Line Event in early March. Ended up in 8th in open division out of 90 teams; tied for 2nd on cattle, but 3rd on time, out of 160 teams in 7 division. WOW! Congratulations, John!
It’s Not About the Commission – It Is All About the Mission
Father to NAIFA-Arizona Past President (1998/99) Barry A. McBride, CLU, ChFC Dean McBride started his career in Portland Oregon with Business Men’s Assurance Company of America in 1952, following graduation from Arizona State University. He chose BMA Portland, Oregon office because of the Branch Manager, Bud Horn, who was thought to be the finest Manager in the company. Over time, that proved to be true. Dean started selling life insurance in a new town, with a new company with no experience and no financial help. He had to create a market from scratch. Under Mr. Horn, he was taught to forget about himself and to focus on the needs of the client. He was motivated with sayings like, “die damn it, die, but don’t quit”, because you cannot control when you will die, but you can control if you quit. Quitting in his era was equal to failure and that was not an option. He was inspired with the integrity of the industry and trusted what Bud said, that in 5 years, the business would be much easier, and very rewarding, not just from an income standpoint, but from a delivery standpoint. My dad found the nobility in his profession by delivering funds to families and business when they were needed most. He found great joy in planning people to financial stewardship. There were many nights when he would struggle to find someone to talk with about insurance, while never breaking the key rule, not going home before 9:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The term “sticktoitiveness” was born to guide him to success through the hard times. Soon he started to gain success. He did it not by big home run cases, but by many little policies on regular people. To him, it was not about the commissions, it was about the missions, the missions of serving many, and over time, he built a huge clientele, one which became a ground of familiarity through which he elevated many people. He had a saying around the office, if you want to make a statement about your success or your commitment, he would say, “say it with apps.” Dean became the first agent in BMA history to write more than 1 million dollars of life insurance in one year. He began to qualify for all of the clubs and made the Million Dollar Round Table in 1959. He knew that he made the right decision, that of the life insurance business, and with BMA Portland, with Bud Horn. He became a popular speaker at BMA meetings because of substances of his words, his honesty, but most of all, his genuine humility. He was the brightest rising star for BMA. Loyalty is its own reward, he was taught, and Dean carried this into his work, and his family life. For example, your author was born in 1956, and at the time, they had a first name selected that started with a “b”, and the last, which started with an “m.” But what to do about the middle name? An “a” name was selected so that I would be BAM, with intent that one day, I and my older brother would be associated with BMA as well! In 1965, Bud Horn called my dad aside and told him that BMA was looking for a new Branch Manager for the Phoenix office, and Bud suggested that Dean should consider it. In 1965, we moved from our Portland home to Phoenix, Arizona and Dean built the Phoenix agency into one of the top agencies in the country, most often ranking first or second. He worked to develop everyone’s talents to the highest for the benefit of clients and for the benefit of their own families. But the foundation of the agency was built on love, honesty, respect and professionalism, with the results found in a working environment fit for anyone’s children to later join. Many of the producers had kids follow them into the business, including my brother and myself. We both still enjoy the industry our father introduced us to so many years ago. Dean believed in our industry and insisted that we all belong to NAIFA (NALU, then). He set the standard of production at the MDRT level and we were expected to reach that level, to join and to join in. I began my career of industry service to NAIFA by his direction. While serving as the Branch Manager, he did not sit and let the office run on the producers. He believed strongly that he must sell as well to remain connected to the work, and to be a good example. He continued to qualify for the MDRT while operating the agency. He also joined in by attending the meetings and through his service to the MDRT Foundation, serving many years raising funds. He believed in grasping someone and bringing them up and along. He loved his associates. All considered, if there was ever someone who could have displaced Bud Horn as the best BMA manager ever, Dean was the one. Dean thought that I had a bit of potential as a manager and appointed me as an Associate Branch Manager in 1985. (Please note that I, BAM, was now an ABM with BMA!) In 1989, Dean decided to retire from Management and he and BMA asked if I would take the role. He did not retire from production, but kept his service of excellence until age 80. Just after turning 80, the MDRT sent him a certificate, one of which he held in the highest position, he had reached 50 years of MDRT qualification, an accomplishment reached by only a few. Three months after reaching 80, Dean passed away. But the planning he did for his clients continues on today under our watch, and the planning he put in place for his own family is providing the security he always taught vital to his prospects, clients and agents. He loved our business, and his memory moves me to be better than ever before. Be proud of what you do!!! |
