Integrity Marketing Group, LLC (“Integrity”), a leading distributor of life and health insurance, and provider of wealth management and retirement planning solutions, today announced it has partnered with MoneySmartMovement, a rapidly expanding independent marketing organization based in Dallas, TX, and led by Sheena and Matt Sapaula. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.

“It’s rare to find leaders as inspiring as Sheena and Matt—they are truly unique in building and sustaining great relationships,” shared Bryan W. Adams, co-founder and CEO of Integrity. “The MoneySmartMovement team brings an enthusiastic energy that resonates perfectly with our Integrity passion. As an Integrity partner, MoneySmartMovement is even better positioned to meet consumers’ holistic insurance needs by leveraging our resources and platforms. Integrity has created the industry’s best technology, products, plans and services across leading carriers to help dynamic agencies like MoneySmartMovement make a real impact on our industry. The strengths we each bring to the table will fuel incredible levels of growth, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome Sheena and Matt to Integrity!”

Recognizing a substantial gap in financial literacy nationwide, Sheena and Matt Sapaula use their complementary skill sets and expertise to increase consumers’ foundational understanding of financial principles. MoneySmartMovement provides life insurance and annuity products through an energetic and diverse team of agents nationwide. The agency helps consumers transform their lives by improving their financial literacy and educating them about principles of success. The Sapaulas and the MoneySmartMovement team are also instrumental in helping new associates realize the opportunities available through the insurance industry to transform their financial lives and form foundations for their futures.

“Integrity is an incredibly synergistic force that brings together carriers, customers and agents who share a fundamental desire to make people’s lives better,” said Sheena Sapaula, founder of MoneySmartMovement. “Together, we are acting on an all-encompassing vision of better protecting the life, health and wealth of families and offering greater opportunities and hope to the middle class. We want to help as many people as possible reach their financial stability goals, which can be a long-term commitment. To reach our milestones, we knew we needed a partner that would connect us to best-in-class resources as well as to other leading minds across the industry. We’ve experienced substantial success, and we’re nowhere near slowing down—I couldn’t be more optimistic about our future as an Integrity partner!”

“What I love about this business is that our time is devoted to helping others—from our agents striving to maximize their potential to the diverse clients we serve,” explained Matt Sapaula, founder of MoneySmartMovement. “At MoneySmartMovement, our mission is to transform the way people feel about and manage their financial independence goals. Our growth has always been built on creating relationships—and Integrity shares that focus. Just like MoneySmartMovement, Integrity is dedicated to building up leaders. This partnership offers us an abundance of resources and support, so we can better serve more people and develop the next generation of leaders. It’s a clear win-win for our employees, our producers and our clients, and our future has never been brighter.”

The Integrity suite of solutions offers transformative technology to help agents reach the pinnacle of their potential. Its state-of-the-art solutions include the LifeCENTER platform, which streamlines agents’ workflow and strengthens opportunities for deeper customer relationships through Ask Integrity™, Integrity’s AI-powered digital assistant. It also includes LeadCENTER, which fully integrates with LifeCENTER and offers agents actionable leads on demand. Integrity partners also increase their capacity to make data-driven decisions by leveraging the platform’s proprietary data and analytics and cutting-edge product development.

“Now more than ever, it’s crucial for American families to have a greater understanding of how decisions that affect their life, health and wealth all work together,” explained Patrick Bet-David, managing partner at Integrity. “Sheena and Matt understand that—and they’re incredibly driven to help the families they serve improve their financial literacy and make financial decisions that provide lasting security and peace of mind. Now that they’ve partnered with Integrity, Sheena, Matt and the entire MoneySmartMovement team will have access to the industry’s best technology and resources, as well as proven and respected thought leaders. The Integrity platform is built to promote growth, and I know it will provide unprecedented opportunities for MoneySmartMovement, its agents and their clients.”

Integrity and MoneySmartMovement share a vision of more holistic life, health and wealth protection for all American families. In bringing this concept to fruition, Integrity has assembled incredible leaders from across the insurance and financial services industries who are creating innovative strategies and solutions to help more Americans plan for the good days ahead. Through collaboration and partnership, these visionaries are expanding insurance and financial offerings, and improving processes for all stakeholders.

For more information about MoneySmartMovement’s partnership with Integrity, view a video at www.integrity.com/moneysmart.

Integrity, headquartered in Dallas, TX, is a leading distributor of life and health insurance, and provider of innovative solutions for wealth management and retirement planning. Through its broad partner network of agents and advisors, Integrity helps millions of Americans protect their life, health and wealth with a commitment to meet them wherever they are—in person, over the phone and online. Integrity’s proprietary, cutting-edge technology helps expand the insurance and financial planning experience for all stakeholders using an omnichannel approach. In addition, Integrity develops products with carrier partners and markets them compliantly through its nationwide distribution network. Providing best-in-class service to clients and consumers is at the center of Integrity’s holistic approach to life, health and wealth protection. The company and its partners focus on helping families and individuals prepare for the good days ahead, so they can make the most of what life brings. For more information, visit www.integrity.com.

MoneySmartMovement, headquartered in Dallas, TX, is a distinguished financial services agency at the forefront of leadership development and business scaling for insurance agents. With a network of over 6,000 diverse agents nationwide, MoneySmartMovement stands as one of the fastest-growing agencies in the U.S., committed to meeting the financial insurance needs of families and individuals. The agency serves thousands of Americans annually. For more information, visit www.moneysmartguy.com.

The National Association of Insurance Marketers (NAIM) was founded in 1990 as a national network of brokerage insurance agencies.

The Board of Directors recently voted to focus on expanding current production to become the premier network in employee benefits, including partial self-funding–level funding group medical, as well as group life, dental, short term disability, long term disability and voluntary products.

The group medical partial self-funding—level funding market is grossly under served by insurance agents, general agents as well as master general agents due to a lack of training, knowledge and understanding. The employer can save 20-30 percent on their premiums as well as getting back a portion of their premiums—unlike the fully insured market. The continued increase in pricing in the fully insured market at time of new enrollment, as well as renewal time, is the reason all new and renewal groups should be shown level funded plan options. Why lose a case to a trained insurance person in this market?

The Board has already secured a number of Super Managing General Agent contracts above regular General Agent (GA) and Managing General Agent (MGA), and others are being considered and will be announced soon.

Why would any MGA, GA agency or individual agent consider joining NAIM?

• Agencies keep their total independence, and their downline is protected.
• NAIM is well established in the marketplace.
• A new level commission profit center for your agency.
• Three-way calls to help you present the case with the company person, your customer and you on the call.
• Your agency is no longer out in the marketplace alone having to meet production requirements.
• Training of your staff and downline producers is provided, depending on their level of expertise, at no cost to you. This market is not that complicated to understand.
• NAIM has access to the entire insurance agents marketing list at minimal cost to you compared to purchasing it yourself.
• Providing immediate access to existing products and contracts in place.
• Members bring their insurance company contacts to NAIM to negotiate higher contract commissions for all members.
• Pooling of commissions provides immediate bonuses by carrier, based on minimal membership level.
• Provides networking with peers and insurance company officers on conference calls and meetings.
• Everyone will be considered for membership.

For more information contact Rick Stolz, CLU, Ch.FC, RHU, LUTCF, NAIM Chairman by phone at 800-561-1827. Email: marketing@naim.com. Web: http://naim.com.

It’s Official! LIBRA Insurance Partners is open for business! As of January 1, 2020, LifeMark Partners and BRAMCO Financial Resources are officially operating as LIBRA Insurance Partners. The united firm creates one of the leading insurance marketing organizations dedicated to serving independent insurance producers, brokers and financial institutions. LIBRA consists of 62 partner agencies, representing more than 20 percent of the market share in the independent brokerage space and making it one of the largest insurance marketing organizations in the country.

“We are officially operating as LIBRA Insurance Partners,” said William Shelow, CLU, ChFC, CPCU, LLIF, president and CEO of LIBRA Insurance Partners and formerly the president and CEO of LifeMark Partners. “Our partner agencies are now benefiting from the size, scale and combined resources of the united firm. This includes additional proprietary service offerings, unparalleled partnership, product expertise and access to industry-leading resources.”

Key business resources that LIBRA’s 62 partner agencies now have exclusive access to include:

• Vive, a 100 percent digital new business platform that allows agents to compare, submit and issue term policies in a matter of days without traditional underwriting and paperwork.
• The opportunity for ownership in their own reinsurance company to participate in the mortality experience of some of the business they write with key carriers—a unique opportunity within an insurance marketing organization.
• The Advisor Value Program, an industry-leading program that can help agencies recruit, retain and reward its top advisors, including agent ownership opportunities in the reinsurance company.
• Direct Access to Dedicated Medical Director, Dr. Robert Frank, providing assistance with medical condition inquiries, impairment questions, case review and carrier communications to assist with ratings and placement of difficult cases.
• QuoteShop, a proprietary resource to send quick quotes to multiple carriers at one time.

Additional resources include access to an exclusive per-person capacity program through Swiss RE; Wamberg Genomic Advisors’ Cancer GuardianTM program; LifeTrends® product insights; extensive underwriting support, training and guides; a business development consultant; and dedicated advanced sales resources.

“We are proud to bring our partners a robust offering of industry-leading resources as well as some of the most meaningful training events in the industry,” said Michael Hefferon, chief carrier strategy officer of LIBRA and formerly CEO of BRAMCO. “We look forward to working closely with our carriers in developing distribution strategies that will increase our business and improve the industry as a whole.”

“With our ‘strength of many and power of one’ culture, we believe we are creating synergy and opportunity within our organization to unite the best and brightest minds, sharing best practices and innovative ideas, and collectively working to drive our industry forward,” added Shelow.

LIBRA’s inaugural annual meeting for agency principals and carriers will take place March 1-4 at Trump National Doral in Miami. LIBRA is currently accepting new agency partners. For more information, visit www.LIBRAInsurancePartners.com.

LIBRA Insurance Partners is a leading insurance marketing organization dedicated to serving independent insurance producers, brokers and financial institutions. Formerly known as LifeMark Partners and BRAMCO Financial Resources, the united firm exists to leverage strategic relationships, expertise and innovation to expand life insurance distribution for the benefit of all stakeholders. LIBRA is dedicated to the ongoing development and enhancement of resources to help undeniably differentiate partner agencies from the competition. Affiliates benefit from our robust proprietary service offerings that are revolutionizing the industry, including expansive underwriting capabilities, advanced case design support, sales and product benchmarking tools, and turnkey sales and marketing systems. With unparalleled partnership, expertise and access to these industry-leading resources, LIBRA Insurance Partners provides affiliates The strength of many. The power of one. To learn more about the qualifications necessary to become a LIBRA partner, visit www.LIBRAInsurancePartners.com or call (410) 837-3022.

LifeMark Partners and BRAMCO Financial Resources have joined forces to create LIBRA Insurance Partners (LIBRA), a life insurance marketing organization with more than 60 affiliated partner agencies. The new firm is dedicated to serving independent insurance producers, brokers and financial institutions with life, annuity and linked benefit insurance distribution, with projected cumulative production of $1.7 billion in 2019.

“This is an exciting time for our industry,” said William (Bill) Shelow, CLU®, ChFC®, CPCU®, LLIF, president and CEO of LIBRA and formerly the president and CEO of LifeMark Partners. “The scale and influence that this partnership represents and the benefits of combining resources and intellectual capital is beyond anything this industry has seen before. LIBRA will redefine the future of life insurance distribution.”

LIBRA agency partners will gain established relationships with an expanded line up of affiliated carriers and reinsurers, dedicated underwriting teams, case design resources and direct access to high-level contacts to facilitate the processing of complex cases, a dedicated advanced marketing attorney and a dedicated medical director, streamlined new business processing, invitations to exclusive training resources and events, and more. LIBRA’s experienced staff also offers hands-on, objective and knowledgeable insights on case design and underwriting.

“We have shared a mutual respect and passion for life insurance education and distribution with LifeMark Partners,” said Michael Hefferon, CFO and chief carrier strategy officer of LIBRA and formerly CEO of BRAMCO. “By joining forces and working together, the potential for our teams and partner agencies is endless. We look forward to bringing in a new era in life insurance distribution.”

The company’s headquarters will remain at the LifeMark offices in Linthicum Heights, MD.

LIBRA Insurance Partners is an insurance marketing organization dedicated to serving independent insurance producers, brokers and financial institutions. Formerly known as LifeMark Partners and BRAMCO Financial Resources, the united firm exists to leverage strategic relationships, expertise and innovation to expand life insurance distribution for the benefit of all stakeholders. LIBRA Insurance Partners is dedicated to the ongoing development and enhancement of resources to differentiate partner agencies from the competition. Its firms benefit from robust proprietary service offerings, unparalleled partnership, product expertise and access to industry-leading resources. To learn more about becoming a LIBRA partner firm, visit www.LIBRAInsurancePartners.com or call 410-837-3022.

In response to fundamental changes in the insurance industry that are driven primarily by rapidly advancing information technology, BRAMCO Financial has partnered with Vive Solutions, LLC to re-launch Vive—a groundbreaking multi-carrier end-to-end term insurance platform. Vive offers a unified platform for quoting, product selection, direct order submission, tele-app, and automatic requirement fulfillment all the way through to policy delivery.

“The application process for term life products is onerous and clunky, not to mention costly—both in time and resources,” stated BRAMCO CEO Michael Hefferon. “Vive leverages direct carrier connections, driving paperless transactions and accelerated underwriting (AU) decisions, while raising advisor awareness of consumer value. Offering a technology-based workflow, Vive allows the insurance carrier to manage requirement procurement directly with the proposed insured, creating a streamlined application process for both the advisor and the client.”

Through Vive, advisors have the ability to access multiple quotes from partner carriers, initiate the tele-application process, obtain an AU decision, and, if necessary, initiate requirement procurement. In addition, the revolutionary Vive Score allows agents to evaluate products based upon the carrier’s financial ratings, conversion privileges, product features, and ability to offer AU—where the carrier offers accelerated underwriting with no exam, blood or physician statements required.

“Vive offers agents a direct, two-way connection to the industry’s top term carriers—it’s a big step beyond what used to be called “drop ticket.” Orders are submitted instantly and case status is received back directly. Agents can quote, compare, select and submit an order for term life insurance in just five minutes,” stated BSMG Principal and Vive Partner Jason Lea. “After a tele-interview with the client, carriers will make accelerated underwriting decisions in as little as 24 hours. It is a complete end-to-end term insurance solution for growing term insurance profitably.”

Vive is currently partnered with Legal & General, PacLife, Principal, Protective and Prudential and is available to financial services professionals exclusively through BRAMCO Financial Brokerage General Agency partners.

To learn more about Vive, visit www.getvive.com.