Sharon A. Chace

Two long-time friends who are veterans of the insurance industry and frequent authors for Broker World have just released books.

Jack Dewald, CLU, RHU, president and principal of Agency Services, Inc., Memphis, TN, has just released Ten Sales Concepts To Relish, Remember & Repeat, a booklet describing how to use life insurance to provide security for your clients while securing a relationship with them.

Dewald, who has served as chairman for NAILBA and the LIFE Foundation and is currently chairman of The Marketing Alliance, says, “During my 30-year career, I’ve been lucky to be exposed to great ideas and great minds. We’ve worked with hundreds of advisors and placed many millions of life insurance in force. Many of our brokers/advisors have requested that we consolidate some of the better and more effective ideas we’ve come across—thus the idea for this booklet was born!”

Johnny Johns, chairman, president and CEO, Protective Life, said, “Jack explains, with lucidity and a wry sense of humor, why what we do is so important. In simple prose, he passes on some classic and timeless sales concepts that will motivate and inspire…I highly recommend this delightful gem of a book.”

Seasoned veterans as well as newcomers to the business will enjoy Jack Dewald’s book. It can be read in “one sitting” or chapter by chapter when you have a few minutes. His writing style is clear and forthright and coupled with just the right amount of his dry humor (e.g., remember: timid salespeople have skinny kids).

Dewald’s closing remark is one we should all remember: “It’s not your clients’ job to remember you. It is your obligation to make sure they don’t have the chance to forget you.”

If you’re interested in getting a copy of the book, contact Jack Dewald directly at jdewald@agencyservices.com.

Ronald R. Hagelman, Jr., CLTC, CSA, LTCP, president of Republic Marketing Group, co-founder of Hagelman-Barrie Sales Training Solutions, and founder of America’s Long-Term Care Insurance Experts, has been writing a monthly column about long term care insurance for Broker World since October 2005. He has compiled his writing into a book entitled, No Opinions: From Here to There…The Meanderings, Musings, and Pontifications of America’s Favorite LTCI Curmudgeon.

Throughout his insurance career, which encompasses every aspect of long term care insurance product distribution—producer, brokerage general agent, corporate consultant, product designer, home office executive, sales trainer and service on many industry association boards and committees—he has trumpeted the moral obligation of agents, wholesalers and carriers to embrace the need of American consumers to prepare for the likelihood and attendant emotional and financial turmoil of dealing with a long term care event.

Hagelman’s popular monthly columns show this unparalleled passion for the insurance business and LTC insurance. Each month he covers topics ranging from product structure to sales and marketing techniques, and he is never short on opinion and/or prognostication. His new book is a compilation of all of his Broker World commentaries, and each chapter covers a facet of LTC insurance—sales and marketing, products and, of course, opinions and predictions.

If you’re a fan of Ron Hagelman’s articles, you will enjoy revisiting them in his new book. Copies can be purchased from Hagelman-Barrie Sales Training Solutions, www.hbltci.com. [SAC]

Are you selling disability income insurance or critical illness insurance? It isn’t a pleasant topic to discuss with your clients, and many believe that they don’t need these products, but disability and its accompanying expenses are real.

Disability is the number one cause of home foreclosure and bankruptcy. Plus, if you think about it, what good is all of your financial advice if a premature disability prevents your client from any further investing?

Statistics show that the average cost of DI can range from 1 to 4 percent of annual income, and benefit payments can range from one year to life. With that in mind, coupled with keeping the due diligence monkey off your back, you should be actively selling DI insurance.

If you do disability planning with your client, critical illness insurance is a natural combination sale. Ken Smith, director of health insurance at Assurity Life, says a good way to calculate how much CI insurance your client needs is to take his monthly mortgage payment, multiply it by 24 (two years) and add $5,000 to cover health insurance premiums and uncovered expenses. Two years makes a lot of sense, but your client isn’t limited to that amount.

So where do you begin? There are national associations—the International DI Society (www.internationalDIsociety.com) and the American Association for Critical Illness (www.criticalillnessinfo.org)—that have unlimited educational resources as well as membership lists, should you decide to do joint work with a specialist in either DI or CI products. Another good source is the Plus Group (www.plusgroupus.com), a national marketing group of disability specialists, whose membership spans the United States.

If you need a little more persuading, go to the Council for Disability Awareness website (www.disabilitycanhappen.org), where you will find as much information about DI as you will ever need—and you can send your clients to that site.

Since 2005, the Council for Disability Awareness (CDA) has conducted a proprietary annual review of long term disability claims among the U.S. working population. Here is just a sample of the information available.

If you check out some of these sources, you will see how easy it is to join the DI and CI brigade! [SAC]

With great kindness and in honor of his recently deceased brother, Jack Chiasson, CAE, executive director of the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies, wrote the following article to help others.

His candor and good advice is spot on and needs to be shared with as many in the insurance industry as possible. He graciously agreed to let Broker World reprint it.

Many thanks, Jack.

Most of you know that I lost my younger brother a little while ago. Chris was a financial advisor for his entire (and entirely too short) professional life, and he did what all financial advisors do—he encouraged people to plan for the future and to think about what would happen if something happened to them.

Chris was very successful, but I suspect that, like the physician who makes a terrible patient, he didn’t always take his own advice. Oh, sure he had life insurance, a 401(k) plan and a college fund started for his young son, but there were a lot of things he didn’t do. I’m sure he thought he had lots of time to take care of the simple details. He didn’t.

So, as a combination “public service” and a memorial to my brother, I offer the following. I would love to believe that those reading this will say, “We know this…you’re preaching to the choir.” I hope I’m right.

First and foremost—if you don’t have a will, you should. Even if you use one of the many “simple wills” available at your local software seller, do so. If your needs are more complicated than what these will accommodate, call your lawyer today. It’s absolutely worth the money. Oh—and make sure someone knows where it is!

Second, make a list of each and every insurance policy you own. List the name of the policyholder, the face amount, the policy number and any other pertinent details. Also, indicate how your survivors will be able to collect on that policy—list the phone number for the claims department for each policy, and provide a general list of what will need to be submitted with the claim.

On that same list, provide all of your bank information: savings, checking and other accounts. List the name and location of the bank(s), the account number(s) and a phone number for each establishment. As with the insurance policy information in the preceding paragraph, give a brief description of what your survivors will have to do to get the money.

Next, if you have your own financial advisor, a lawyer, a stock broker, an insurance agent, or any other type of advisor, list their names and contact information as well. These are the people who know where assets are and can help guide your survivors at a time of great distress, helping to make the worry about “what am I going to do now?” much less stressful.

The next part is really hard to read, to write and to talk about with people you love.

Have a conversation with your spouse/partner/significant other, with your kids and/or grandkids about your thoughts on the end of your life. Do you want to be buried? Where? Do you already own a cemetery plot? Add the location and other information to your list. Would you prefer to be cremated? What would you like done with your ashes? Do you want a particular kind of religious service? Tell someone all of these things, and make sure it’s written down somewhere—preferably in the same location as your will and the lists described above.

Consider pre-planning the end of your life. It’s not fun or glamorous—and it’s certainly not pleasant to think about, but you’ve been a planner for your whole life up to that point…why stop there?

Make it simple for your survivors to honor your wishes by letting them know what those wishes are. Make it simple for them to continue to enjoy the life that you have been able to provide for them.

I’m sure that by now you can guess all of the things that my brother didn’t do. Perhaps even more than wishing him back with us, I wish he had taken his own advice. It might be possible for his family to more easily cope with the loss of their husband and father if they didn’t have to worry about what the future—especially the very near future—holds for them financially.

A colleague has developed a “worksheet” that works well for this information…if you’d like to have it…[email schace@brokerworldmag.com].

Colonel J. William “Bill” Felton, III was posthumously awarded the 2011 Douglas Mooers Award for Excellence at the 30th Annual National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies conference. John W. Felton, IV, Tennessee Brokerage Agency, Knoxville, TN, a former NAILBA chairman, accepted the award on behalf of his father.

In presenting the award, Mark Rosen, NAILBA immediate past chairman, acknowledged Bill Felton as a “humble leader whose extensive efforts improved the lives of everyone he knew. His contributions to NAILBA, the brokerage community and many other organizations are well deserving of recognition.”

Until his passing in June 2011 (after a courageous 19-year battle with cancer), Felton was the chairman emeritus of NAILBA’s Charitable Foundation. He lived in Knoxville for most of his 78 years. He raised a family of three children and supported each through his career in the life insurance business. Two of his three children joined him in his agency.

He began his insurance career with John Hancock Life in 1960 and took over the East Tennessee division of a Manhattan Life of New York office in 1965. He remained with Manhattan Life and eventually opened Tennessee Brokerage Agency in 1976.

In 2002, Felton spearheaded the founding of NAILBA’s Charitable Foundation. In 2008 the NAILBA Charitable Foundation honored Felton for his contributions to the foundation’s success and named a foundation grant in his honor. The Felton Grant will always be the largest of the foundation’s grants, recognizing his tireless efforts to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate.

Felton served as president of the Knoxville Association of Life Underwriters (KALU), which eventually became NAIFA–Knoxville. He received the David M. Blumberg Award for outstanding service both to the industry and the community. He served as chairman of Manhattan Life of NY’s general agent advisory committee, authored nationally published articles on the life insurance industry, and was a frequent speaker at industry and company meetings.

In addition to his activities in the life insurance community, Felton was also an active volunteer in his community. He served as chairman and board member of the Dogwood Arts Festival in Knoxville, was voted Rotarian of the Year by the Rotary Club of Knoxville in both 2005 and 2006, and was founder of the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial. In addition, he was Knox County chairman of the Reagan–Bush campaign in the early 1980s, and was a member of the board of directors of the Army Transportation Museum Foundation. In Knoxville, Felton served in leadership roles for the Presidents Club of the Chamber of Commerce, the Girls’ Club, the Beautification Board, and the Civitan Club. He was also a very active member of the Episcopal Church community in Knoxville and served on various civic, social and church boards.

“Colonel Felton’s accomplishments were widespread, and he was both a personal and professional inspiration to many of us,” said Rosen. His legacy remains strong through the continued success of his friends and family—and the independent brokerage community.

Melinda Meyer, vice president, member office development, ValMark Securities, was the recipient of NAILBA’s 2011 Chairman’s Award.

The award, created in 2009, was developed to recognize the efforts of a NAILBA volunteer who has performed “over and above” normal expectations during the Chairman’s term.

In presenting the award to Meyer, Christi Daughenbaugh, 2011 NAILBA chair, observed, “Melinda is an active member of the government affairs committee, an active PAC contributor, and an active member of the editorial advisory panel.” Daughenbaugh also recognized Meyer as the “driving force” behind the development and launch of NAILBA’s agency successor networking group.

In addition to her other volunteer commitments with NAILBA, Meyer served as the 2011 chair of the professional development committee, which is responsible for the program development for the annual meeting.

Daughenbaugh continued, “I am grateful for Melinda’s tremendous efforts on NAILBA’s behalf and for our industry.”

LIMRA has released a new study that discusses how the insurance industry can capture more retiree assets. The study reveals that 45 percent of retirees still have assets in their retirement savings plans with their employers, most frequently in their 401(k) plans, and almost a fifth of retirees own three or more IRAs in their households.

The mass affluent retirees with assets of $100,000 to $500,000 are more likely to have relationships with insurance companies than any other market segments. However, as a whole, retirees have only 9 to 10 percent of their assets invested in products and services offered by insurance companies.

According to LIMRA surveys, retirees start to think about the decision of what to do with their retirement plan balance well in advance of retirement. In fact, LIMRA research shows that the majority of retiree assets leave their employer-sponsored plans within the first 12 months of their retirement.

Retirees and pre-retirees will typically need to make a series of retirement-related financial decisions starting at age 591/2, the age at which they can withdraw from their tax-qualified assets without penalty, to age 701/2, when they must take IRS required minimum distributions from their qualified savings. In between, they have to evaluate when to take Social Security benefits and enroll in Medicare and its supplements. All of these financial decisions can be part of a retirement plan directed by an insurance professional. LIMRA research shows that many investors are buying guaranteed income annuity products at these key age-based financial decision points.

Existing relationships are critical to securing rollover business. A financial planner or advisor is often the first person retirees or pre-retirees consult regarding the rollover decision if they have an existing relationship. If possible, offering personalized investment guidance can be a way to strengthen relationships and increase their chances of retaining assets.

Retirees both under and over age 70 need help managing their retirement plan assets to ensure they comply with all legal requirements. Sixty percent of retirees above age 70 who are taking withdrawals are only doing so to meet IRS required minimum distributions and they often take withdrawals through systematic withdrawal plans. The current research finds that most retirees get help from a financial professional or a phone representative to set up the plan.

“Bottom line,” according to Jafor Iqbal, associate managing director of LIMRA Retirement Research, “the difference between capturing these assets and losing them to a competitor is whether you are with your clients when they have to cross some of the financial decision points before and during retirement.”

John Rippinger, president, Resource Brokerage, LLC, Schaumburg, IL, was recently honored with the Edward H. O’Connor Memorial Distinguished Service Award at the annual meeting of the Chicago & Northeastern Illinois Chapter of the National Association of Health Underwriters. This award is given to one person each year who has rendered special service to the institution of health insurance over many years or to a person who contributes outstanding service to the field of humanities in the city of Chicago or the Chicago metropolitan area.

Rippinger has worked in the insurance industry for more than 40 years and currently owns six other companies in addition to Resource Brokerage. In addition to his contributions in the insurance industry, Rippinger is well known for his philanthropic endeavors for Children’s Home + Aid, Ronald McDonald House Charities, MIA Hunters, Angel Flight, Boy Scouts of America and the USO.

Peter Gelbwaks, chairman, Gelbwaks Executive Marketing Corp., Plantation, FL, and chairman emeritus of the National LTC Network, was recently awarded the Florida Assisted Living Coalition (FALC) Life Time Achievement Award for his meaningful contributions to the insurance profession. Proceeds from the dinner/roast ceremony went to Gelbwaks’ favorite charities, the Jewish Family Service and the Parkinson Education Network.

The Florida Assisted Living Coalition is an organization with the mission to provide education, enrichment and empowerment to health care professionals by providing seminars and conferences.

Gelbwaks has been an insurance professional since 1969; he founded his agency that year. He is a member of the board of directors for 3in4 Need More and has served on the boards of the American Association for LTC Insurance, South Florida Chapter of NAHU, and the National LTC Network.

Thirty years: by insurance industry standards, any organization that young shouldn’t be taken seriously. However, at this year’s National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA) Annual Convention (the 30th, by the way) that will not be the case.

In the “short period” that NAILBA has been in existence, wholesale brokerage has become a force to be reckoned with. The production numbers alone prove that. NAILBA agencies represent 100,000 producers who deliver more than one billion dollars in first year life insurance premiums annually. However, production numbers are just a small part of what wholesale brokerage has brought to the insurance industry.

A small group of independent entrepreneurs banded together to bring the industry a more contemporary approach to selling insurance. Granted, a decade passed before this legion’s influence and efficiency caught on, yet it did prevail.

Today you will see many of the most prominent life insurance company represented at NAILBA’s annual convention (and it wasn’t long ago that many of those companies avoided brokerage distribution like the plague).

In three short decades this association has set the industry standard for education, legislative influence, charitable activities and so much more. We salute NAILBA for establishing a code of ethical standards that has influenced the entire insurance industry! [SAC]

LIMRA recently celebrated its 95th anniversary. Here’s a little history course about what LIMRA stands for.

In 1916, a group of life insurance executives met in Chicago and voted to establish an organization focused on training and development for the life insurance industry. They called it the Association of Life Agency Officers (ALAO).

In 1921, the Education Committee of the ALAO established what eventually became the Life Insurance Sale Research Bureau (LISRB). This organization conducted independent research for insurers. Thirteen charter member companies underwrote a budget of $7,000. That year, the first selection and statistical reports were published and distributed to members.

Fast forward to 1945, the ALAO and LISRB merged to become the Life Insurance Agency Management Association, which had 160 members when the merger took effect.

In 1971, the organization’s name changed to Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association (LIMRA). The membership had grown to 304 companies in the United States, 60 in Canada, and 176 international members in 39 countries.

A little more than a decade later (1982), the name was changed to LIMRA International in an ongoing effort to recognize its international members, and in 1994 Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association was dropped.

In 2008, LIMRA International merged with LOMA under the umbrella of LL Global, and in 2010, LIMRA International dropped “International” from its name.

Robert Kerzner, president and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global, said, “At a time when so many things are fleeting, LIMRA has endured and grown to meet the ever-changing needs of our members. We look forward to supporting our members for many years to come.”

3in4 Need More Bus Tour Ends
Marion Somers, PhD (Dr. Marion), official spokesperson for the 3in4 Need More campaign, completed her cross-country long term care awareness tour on August 26, in Irvine, CA.

Dr. Marion had this to say about the final ceremony: “The tour’s last stop was in Orange County at Monarch Healthcare. Tony Prince coordinated a lovely gathering, where people were honored for their contributions to senior care…

“Nine weeks is a long time to travel and be away from family and friends. Having said that, I am still looking forward to the next bus tour. I know how important the impact of this knowledge can be on individuals, families, communities, and our state and federal government.”

Established in 2010, the 3in4 Need More campaign provides an opportunity for all LTC insurance specialists, insurance carriers, industry vendors, policyholders, financial institutions, politicians, employers and associations to come together to educate the public that long term care will affect 3 out of 4 of us.

For more information about the organization, go to www.3in4NeedMore.com.

Well here we are, entering the last quarter of 2011. Are your sales where you hoped they would be? Or…are you scrambling to catch up?

LIMRA has just published the results of a study they conducted on the underinsured households in the United States. The new report, “Trillion Dollar Baby Growing Up,” estimates that life insurance sales would increase $9.5 trillion if the 48 million underinsured households bought the amount of life insurance coverage they said they needed.

To arrive at these numbers, LIMRA calculated the size of the underinsured market based on (1) the number of U.S. households that readily admit they are underinsured and (2) the number of households that think they might buy life insurance in the next 12 months.

The study found that there are more Generation X households thinking of buying life insurance than Generations Y and baby boomers. While the likelihood of buying life insurance does not vary by income level, the results of the study concluded that there are more than double the number of households with incomes of $35,000 to $99,900 (17 million) that are likely to buy life insurance.

So what keeps these underinsured consumers from buying life insurance? LIMRA’s study revealed three important factors:

• Competing financial priorities: Con­sumers need help in figuring out how to fit life insurance premium into their budgets—especially during this tough economy.

• Lack of knowledge: The 44 percent who said they need life insurance also said that they haven’t bought because they don’t know how much or what to buy and worry about making the wrong decision.

• Procrastination and reluctance to initiate buying: More than one-third of these consumers say they have not been contacted by an agent.

Clearly, there is a large market interested in buying life insurance, and now you know who they are!

Now, do you need some guidance on what to sell? LIMRA’s research says that combination products jumped 62 percent in 2010, reaching $1.2 billion.

Over the past few years, most of the growth in the combination product market has come from linked benefit products. In fact, linked benefit products grew 60 percent last year, representing 45 percent of policies sold.

LIMRA found that buyers in their sixties continue to be the biggest portion of in-force policies. However, acceleration products are gaining traction in the younger market and with higher face amount policies. The overall trend in average face amount has steadily increased for acceleration products, but stayed level for linked benefit products.

According to the study, female policy owners account for almost 65 percent of in-force policies. The biggest gap between genders occurs between issue ages 75 and 79.

So now all you need are fresh ideas about prospecting and marketing with more details about products. In this “Agent Practice Inventory” issue you will find a cache of articles that should be useful when planning your fourth quarter sales strategy!

September is Life Insurance Awareness Month

This month is the one time each year when the insurance industry comes together in a national advertising campaign to remind Americans of the need to include life insurance in their financial plans.

Life Insurance Awareness Month (LIAM) is your opportunity to talk to clients and prospects about their life insurance needs. At this time of financial turmoil in our country and the world, the need couldn’t be greater. 

If you haven’t already started thinking about how you can use LIAM as an opportunity to reach more people in your community, go to the LIFE Foundation’s website for ideas. There you will find  a variety of excellent promotional tools priced quite reasonably.  For example, there is a graphically pleasing Life Insurance Needs Worksheet; there are several eight-page booklets that cover such topics as what a consumer needs to know about life insurance and how a financial professional can help build a long term financial strategy.

Beyond the promotional tools that are for sale, there are free downloadable flyers, eCards and embeddable videos, various themed marketing toolkits, a social media planning toolkit and more (www.life-line.org/life-insurance-awareness-month-company-toolkit/).

The LIFE Foundation can provide everything  you  need to leverage this marketing opportunity! [SAC]

On Friday, August 12, the 3 in 4 Need More campaign spokesperson, Marion Somers, PhD, rolled into Kansas City in her souped-up 1960s-era Greyhound bus with the mission to provide the local community with much needed information about long term care insurance.

Setting up in Kansas City’s historic Union Station, this leg of the tour was sponsored by Wendy Rinehart, who is director of worksite solutions at LTC Financial Partners.

Dr. Somers—or Dr. Marion, as she is referred to in the campaign—is a well-known geriatric care manager, caregiver, author, speaker and eldercare authority. During the last few weeks she has been interviewed by local media, spoke to various groups and visited eldercare facilities.

In her blog (which can be found at http://drmarion.com/blog), she says, “As always, I derive much satisfaction from the time after a lecture or talk, when people speak to me on a more personal level, discussing their own situations…I like to know that not only are the professional needs of my audience satisfied, but that if they have individual concerns, this time to…give them some guidance makes…the lectures more successful…”

The 3 in 4 Need More nationwide summer-long mission, which is about halfway through its eight-week schedule, began in New York City’s Times Square and will end in Orange County, CA. The tour’s goal is to increase awareness about long term care insurance and services such as nursing home stays, assisted living and home health aides, all of which can cost an individual thousands of dollars each month.

Colonel (retired) John W. (Bill) Felton, III, died June 21, 2011, after a courageous 19-year battle with cancer.

Born in Knoxville, TN, Bill entered the insurance industry in 1960, after graduating from the University of Tennessee, and worked with Manhattan Life for many years. He was a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table and very active in local and national insurance associations.

Bill founded the Tennessee Brokerage Agency, Knoxville, TN, and truly loved brokerage and NAILBA. In fact, he wrote several articles for Broker World during the last two decades about the brokerage market and about the important role that NAILBA had in developing the viability of brokerage.

Felton served as chairman of NAILBA’s Charitable Foundation and, in 2008, the foundation named a grant in his honor, recognizing his tireless efforts to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate. The Felton Grant will always be the largest of the NAILBA Charitable Foundation grants.

His distinguished insurance career was just one facet of this multi-talented individual. Bill’s first great experience in life was the military, in which he was a highly respected soldier/officer; he retired as a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. He didn’t just serve our country, his commitment expanded beyond that—he tirelessly served on the board of directors of his alma mater, Kemper Military Academy.

One of Bill’s great projects began in an American military cemetery in Europe. After returning home from that trip to Normandy, France in 1999, he began almost a decade of work gathering the support of Knoxville citizens, politicians, Tennessee congressmen and the state of Tennessee to establish a memorial in honor of veterans from 34 area counties who died in conflicts starting with World War I. Because of Bill’s tireless efforts, the $2.5 million East Tennessee Veterans Memorial was dedicated in November 2008.

Bill was also an active member of several civic associations including the Rotary Club of Knoxville, where he was recognized as the Rotarian of the Year.

Bill’s business legacy lives on with his children—two of whom have become successful brokerage general agents. There was no prouder father than Bill when his son John became a member of the board of directors and subsequently chairman of NAILBA. In another article Bill wrote for Broker World about his decision to retire, he had this to say about his two children who joined the family business and followed in his footsteps: “…he [John] is one of the best friends I’ll ever have, who loves me in spite of my many faults…I am beyond proud of what he and his sister stand for in the business.”

Bill is survived by his wife, Elizabeth C. Felton; three children, Karen L. Felton, Katherine F. Trousdale, and John W. Felton, IV; and four grandchildren.

One of Bill’s many fans in NAILBA said, “The Colonel loved his country and was always the first one to step up to the plate when it came to helping other people. He was and will continue to be an inspiration to me in both those areas.”

Bill was always upbeat, kind and filled everyone he met with laughter. If you knew him, you probably have heard him say, “In the military there’s an old saying: ‘If it works, don’t fix it; if it’s dirty, paint it; if it moves, salute it.’ ”

That’s exactly how Bill approached life, and he certainly is to be saluted for his legacy. His accomplishments in life were many, and he will be missed greatly by those of us who had the opportunity to know him. [SAC]

The 3 in 4 Need More national summer cross-country bus tour was officially introduced in New York’s Times Square on May 24.

A 1950s-era bus, branded with the 3 in 4 Need More logo, pulled into Times Square as morning commuters were starting their day. Classical music by Juilliard students began, followed by a “flash mob” of seemingly disabled senior citizens who suddenly abandoned their crutches to begin dancing joyfully.

Following the dancers Jonas Roeser, who also serves as president of the 3in4 Association, which runs the 3 in 4 Need More campaign, explained the point of the flash mob.

Roeser told the gathered crowd, “Millions of Americans, as they get older and live longer, will need help with the tasks of daily living—ongoing care beyond the scope of regular health insurance or Medicare. Most people don’t know that, so we’re kicking off a summer-long awareness campaign where we’ll be traveling the country to educate Americans about planning for their long term care needs.”

Marion Somers, PhD, who is the official spokesperson of this cross-country campaign, followed Roeser to announce the 20-city bus tour. Dr. Somers—or Dr. Marion, as she is referred to in the campaign—is a recognized visionary and thought leader in the elder field, with more than 30 years of experience as a geriatric care manager, caregiver, author, speaker, and teacher of all things elder and eldercare.

As part of the campaign there will be a contest for people who submit their “care” stories through the 3 in 4 Need More website. At the end of the bus tour, Dr. Marion will announce the winner, who will receive an in-home makeover (grab bars, ramps, elder-safe products) as well as a seven-day cruise—all worth approximately $50,000.

Another element of the tour is cementing brand identity with Americans at each stopover by casting the 3 in 4 Need More logo on buildings, national monuments (where approval has been provided), natural land formations (e.g., the Grand Canyon) and other iconic structures (e.g., Golden Gate bridge). This will be done via a logo projector and throw lenses operated from the bus. The intent is to create newsworthy stories and images that will draw more attention to the campaign’s goal of educating the public about the need for long term care insurance.

For more information on the 3in4 Association, call 888-874-2870 or email contact@3in4needmore.com.

The 3in4 Association is a 502(c)(4) non-profit corporation. Donations may be deductible as business expenses, but are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

Everyone in the insurance industry should join the organization, take advantage of the promotional materials available, and stay informed on the progress the tour is making in educating consumers about the need for long term care. The 20-city tour officially began on June 27 and will end on August 26 (for a complete itinerary, go to page 70).

Long term care insurance has been the “read headed stepchild” of the insurance industry for far too many years. However, its status seems to be improving. According to industry statistics, sales increased during 2010. This fact is confirmed in the research for Broker World’s 2011 Individual Long Term Care Survey . The survey specifically interprets individual sales numbers and presents a comprehensive overview of products and companies in the individual market.

Be sure to check back next month when Broker World will publish the first annual Multi-Life Long Term Care Insurance Survey. The multi-life market has been a growing portion of LTC insurance sales, and this new survey will compare detailed sales distributions of the multi-life market to corresponding sales distributions for other LTC insurance policies sold.

With all the attention on long term care in this month’s issue, please don’t overlook the life insurance focus section (beginning on page 10) because  you will miss some excellent product and marketing wisdom! [SAC]