It’s perhaps hard to believe, but the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) is turning 125 next year. The association is marking this incredible milestone with a yearlong celebration starting with this September’s NAIFA 2014 Career Conference and Annual Meeting in San Diego.
Seventy insurance agents gathered in Boston in 1890 to form the National Association of Life Underwriters (NALU), NAIFA’s previous incarnation, creating the foundation for what would become the nation’s largest group of insurance and financial advisors, with significant influence in Congress and all 50 statehouses. NAIFA uses this influence to provide a favorable business environment for its members and their clients, working to make sure their interests are protected and advanced. NAIFA has helped thousands of agents and advisors succeed, providing them with sales techniques, business best practices, product knowledge and other resources, as well as the opportunity to take advantage of the informal mentoring process of interacting with veteran agents who’ve enjoyed great success.
During the conference, attendees will have the opportunity to celebrate important NAIFA victories and participate in a variety of anniversary events. The association has created a 125th anniversary website which includes a digital timeline of NAIFA’s government relations victories and other major milestones.
To further their commitment to their members and the insurance industry as a whole, NAIFA has teamed with GAMA International to publish Advisor 2020, which uses extensive research to plot a blueprint of how NAIFA members can thrive in changing market conditions in the coming years. NAIFA has also worked with the College for Financial Planning to revitalize and modernize the Life Underwriters Training Council Fellow program, launching the LUTCF designation’s updated curriculum during this September’s NAIFA conference.
NAIFA’s President-Elect Juli McNeely, CFP, CLU, LUTCF, states, “The real message I hope everyone takes away from our 125th anniversary is that because of our strong history, NAIFA is perfectly positioned to help our members take on the challenges of the future.”
NAIFA state and local associations can celebrate along with NAIFA–National and share photos, video and other media on the anniversary website. To take part in the anniversary celebration, visit www.naifa125.org.
I came into the (trade press) business in 1983 and had the privilege of competing in what I would call the greatest era of the insurance trade press. Many were the friendly conversations with truly admirable competitors like Chuck Hirsch and Larry Albright of Life Insurance Selling, and Jack Bobo, Dave Carson and Joe Razza of NALU’s publication Life Association News. During his acceptance speech for NAILBA’s most prestigious award, the Douglass H. Mooers Award of Excellence, Bill Howard took special care to thank these men for helping build and strengthen the industry’s positive attitude toward the trade press, which he believed allowed him to join their ranks with Broker World.
I paid lip service to those sentiments for a number of years, but viewed LAN and NALU as the bastion of the career agent and thus just a less deserving competitor for the advertising dollar targeted to the independent agent. In my case, years and experience have, thankfully, eroded my ignorant bias and have developed in me a true appreciation of the great value of industry associations—in this particular case NALU/NAIFA.
Many are the benefits our industry as a whole receives from the efforts of NAIFA and its members, some of which are alluded to above. But the one I really want to hammer on now is the tremendous advantage I believe newer agents receive simply by interacting with those who’ve been successful for a long time in the insurance business—interactions that take place at local NAIFA meetings throughout the country. I think the career companies were right in virtually mandating NALU membership for their agents, particularly new ones. I believe new agents increase their chances of success by placing themselves in proximity to successful agents at NAIFA meetings. I further believe that the brokerage community is chiefly to blame if there is the perception that NAIFA membership is skewed toward and to the benefit of career agents. Independent agents are actively sought for NAIFA membership—including advertising in the pages of this magazine.
There is much buzz in our industry regarding the “new agent crisis”and the aging of the insurance agent field force. I happen to belong to an unrelated group that strongly suggests that those with many years of experience diligently stay involved to pass along their experience to those new to the group.
I believe the gift of your time and experience shared at your local, state and national NAIFA functions should be viewed as a grateful obligation to the honorable career that has given you so much. Mentoring new agents either casually, during interactions at local NAIFA functions, or formally, as exit strategy partners to insure the well-being of your loyal clients and their dependents, surely must be a firm step in the right direction to at least solving the new agent failure component of the graying of our industry. You can become a part of NAIFA by joining today at www.naifa.org. [SPH]
