October 2009

LIAM – Life Insurance Awareness Month
Health Care Fly-In - Washington, D.C.
NAIFA Member Benefit – Don’t Miss out on this!
NAIFA Government Relations: Wins and Accomplishments for 2009
Membership Report
LILI – Leadership In Life Institute
IFAPAC – Insurance & Financial Advisors Political Action Committee – Isn’t It Time to Join?
Professional Liability Program
NAIFA-Arizona Community Service
2009/2010 NAIFA-Arizona Community Service Program
Public Relations
In the News
For fun – try these quick links
Life Insurance Industry – Did You Know?

LIAM – Life Insurance Awareness Month
NAIFA-Arizona received a Proclamation from the Arizona Governor to honor September as ‘Life Insurance Awareness Month.’ Click here to view.

Health Care Fly-In - Washington, D.C.
Arizona had 16 representatives attend the NAIFA ‘fly-in’ to discuss the industry’s position with national legislators on Health Care. Among those who attended on your behalf: Phoenix member, Barry McBride; Scottsdale leaders, Ann Bean, Juli Quain and Haydee Dawson; Tucson member Allen Ekman and NAIFA-Arizona Immediate Past President Phil Solinsky.

NAIFA Member Benefit – Don’t Miss out on this!
The new NAIFA Virtual Library is the single most comprehensive, user friendly online resource that supports a financial advisor or insurance agent regardless of his/her practice specialty, distribution channel or career level. NAIFA members have free and unlimited access to this extensive online library that includes fact finders, concept pages, business tips and tools, client presentations, tax information and specimen documents. Check out the NAIFA member benefits overview on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n82T3Q3G6o

NAIFA Government Relations: Wins and Accomplishments for 2009
Click on this link for highlights of NAIFA National’s 2009 activities to date:
http://www.naifa.org/advocacy/govtalk/2009/GovtalkSE.pdf

There were some Arizona bills that are worth noting that were passed and signed by our new Governor during this past session:

HB2224 (Title 28) requires a person who has a third or subsequent motor vehicle violation within three years that does not produce proof of financial responsibility will have to in fact submit this proof before their license, registration, or plates are reinstated. It also reduces the authority of the courts to reduce or waive penalties imposed due to the above circumstance of not showing proof.

HB2323 (Title 20) reduced the go-bare or waiting period for small employers who are uninsured from six consecutive months to 90 days so that they are able to apply for the HealhCare Group plans.

HB2324 (Title 20) allows health insurers to issue policies to individuals that are exempt from certain mandated benefits.

SB1180 (Title 28) made various changes relating to towing companies in that they will require the tow company to release a towed vehicle to a person designated in writing by an insurance company on the day the request is given to that towing company.

SB1289 (Title 28) permits the release of personal identifying information contained in a vehicle accident report on request by a person involved in an accident or a licensed insurer of a person involved in an accident, or an attorney who is representing a person that is involved in an accident.

Membership Report
The local membership chairs are off to a good start this year. We are hoping to have an increase in membership statewide! We have made available some new tools for recruiting new members, (the agent advocacy brochures, and the advocacy business card), as well as a template for making Local Brochures for monthly meetings. We need to use these Connections that Count tools to work with, not only agents, but clients as well. We want to have our clients of the future ask us if we are members of NAIFA. When that happens we will be overwhelmed with applications. Won’t that be an interesting problem to have? If you have not seen any of the new tools, contact your Local Membership Chair or me and we can e-mail you our templates, or printer information. In the meantime, we need everyone to bring in one new member. The membership teams will just have to figure out how to get all the paperwork done!

Thanks for all of your help and dedication.

David Sewell, NAIFA-Arizona Membership Chair & President-Elect david.sewell@fbfs.com

To sign up a new member go to www.naifa-az.org and click on JOIN.
Also, don’t forget to go to the Member Benefits Calculator.

LILI – Leadership In Life Institute
LILI is an intensive curriculum for personal growth built upon the conviction that leadership of others begins with leadership of self. It is a six month course. Sessions are one full day per month. Benefits for the participant:
• Creation of personal vision and mission statements and guiding principles
• Creation of business plan
• Tools and techniques to improve your practice
• Expanded professional network
• Formation of long-lasting bonds with leaders from other associations and LILI Alumni
• Increased understanding of self
• Enhanced interpersonal relationships
• Increased productivity and effectiveness
• Renewed enthusiasm for association service
For more on LILI, go to: www.naifa.org/benefits/lili/

Am I a good candidate for LILI?
The Leadership in Life Institute encourages and fosters an encompassing approach to life. Candidates for LILI should be well-rounded, financially stable individuals of good character and reputation. As a LILI participant, you will be asked to examine your life leadership skills. Between sessions you will be asked to apply what you have learned. Are you open to self-exploration and personal change? Are you willing to invest your time and talent to make a positive difference in your association? Contact Lars Hansen at lhansen@sazagency.com or 480.924.4750 to discuss whether LILI is right for you. There is a tuition fee as well as eligibility requirements.

IFAPAC – Insurance & Financial Advisors Political Action Committee – Isn’t It Time to Join?
What is IFAPAC’s purpose? IFAPAC is a separate fund that supports the campaigns of candidates for public office who understand and influence issues important to insurance agents and financial advisors. IFAPAC’s goal is to advance the legislative and regulatory interests of NAIFA (federal and state). NAIFA dues income may not be used to support candidates.

A contribution to IFAPAC allows insurance agents and financial advisors – who might otherwise feel that their smaller financial contributions may not necessarily make a difference – to pool their resources and improve a candidate’s chance to win office. Of over 3,700 federal political action committees (PACs), NAIFAPAC ranks in the top 1 percent.

The minimum contribution for individual recognition is $50 and the maximum is set at $5,000 by federal law. The annual club levels are: Investor ($50 to $99); Century ($100 to $199); Ambassador ($200 to $299); Statesman ($300 to $499); Envoy ($500 to $999); Diplomat ($1,000 to $2,499) Emissary ($2,500 to $4,999) and Capitol ($5,000). All contributions are voluntary.

You may contribute online by going to www.naifa.org/ifapac

Contributions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes. However, they may be tax deductible under other provisions of the IRS code.

Professional Liability Program
The NAIFA-endorsed Professional Liability Program offers the top features in E & O Insurance available at a reasonable and competitive price. This program provides an extremely valuable member benefit. It is the only program designed by NAIFA members for NAIFA members!! It has become the premiere professional liability insurance solution for NAIFA members. It is more than an insurance policy. It is a Comprehensive Professional Liability Solution that includes broad coverage, competitive price, exemplary claim defense, loss control seminars, risk management recommendations and a long term, stable market. For additional information visit www.naifainsurance.com

NAIFA-Arizona Community Service - Thank you!!!!
You contributed 243 pair of women’s shoes and 78 purses to the Fresh Start Program for women in need during our 2008/2009 community outreach drive. Heartfelt thanks to all of you who participated and made such an impact; not only on the success of the program, but on the lives of those these items will touch.

2009/2010 NAIFA-Arizona Community Service Program

It is now our pleasure to let you know that our new program will be in support of our military, “Packages from Home”. The mission of ‘Packages from Home’ is to send care and comfort packages to deployed American military heroes who are stationed in active duty theaters around the world, as well as to facilitate activities that elevate morale of all veterans.

How can you help?
NAIFA-Arizona has selected the following recreational items that we would like to contribute to ‘Packages from Home’ for delivery to our servicemen/women. We are asking you to bring these items to your local’s general membership meetings throughout the year. NAIFA-Arizona will arrange pick up from your local.
• Baseball/softball gloves (gently used okay)
• Baseballs and softballs (gently used okay)
• Basketballs (regular and nighttime)
• Board games (used okay; up to 10” long; please be certain all parts are present)
• Books – standard sized paperback only, please
• Playing cards
• Puzzle books (Crossword, Sudoku, Word Search…)
• Stationery; pens

Please call Patricia Chesebrough, CAE at 480.661.6393 for additional information or e-mail naifa-az@azis.com

Public Relations
Press releases covering the August 2009 NAIFA-Arizona Area Leadership Conference and Barry A. McBride as Advisor of the Year were forwarded to newspapers around the state. Packages from Home has been selected as the NAIFA-Arizona charity to be supported by all our locals. We have zeroed in on recreational items which are non-perishable and can be utilized year round. See above. An outstanding opportunity to support our troops.
Jack Watkins jwatkins@pfg-inc.com
NAIFA-Arizona Community Service and Public Relations Chair

In the News:
NAIFA-Arizona is pleased to announce that Barry A. McBride, CLU, ChFC is the 2009 Recipient of the NAIFA-Arizona Advisor of the Year Award. Click here for more on Barry.

NAIFA-Scottsdale is the winner of the 2008/09 NAIFA-Arizona Association of the Year Award for overall excellence! Congratulations to Tracy Jones, NAIFA-Scottsdale 2008/09 President.

NAIFA-Tucson and NAIFA-Phoenix each won the NAIFA-Arizona Richard Martinez, CLU Community Service Award for outstanding community service during the 2008/2009. Congratulations to Chastity Vaughn (Tucson) and Eric Bailey (Phoenix) for chairing these committees and overseeing important community programs.

For fun – try these quick links:
Professional Practice Tools & Tips – www.naifa.org/benefits/prof_tool_tips/
Preferred Providers – www.naifa.org/benefits/preferred/
Sales System – www.naifa.org/benefits/sales/
Sales, Prospecting and Marketing Tools – www.naifa.org/benefits/salestools
NAIFA on Twitter – www.twitter.com/NAIFA

Life Insurance Industry – Did You Know?
Investment Holdings and Lending:

• At the end of 2007 the industry held over $5 trillion in total assets
• Those $5 trillion + of industry assets are distributed among all segments of our economy, as 38% are in corporate bonds, 33% are in stocks, 11% are in government bonds, 6% are in commercial mortgages, and 12% are in a variety of other assets
• Life insurers are the single larges source of corporate bond financing
• Life insurers hold approximately 22% of all private employer-provider retirement assets
• Insurance companies employ about 2.2 million people as direct employee and as agents and brokers
• Life insurers annual revenue from premiums alone was $600 billion in 2007, an amount equivalent to 4.4% of US GDP
• The top 25 life insurer fleets control about 80% of industry assets
• The top 35 life insurer fleets control 86% of industry assets

Reported in a NAIFA update 03/09