Benefits & Financial Services

Very few employees will leave your agency simply for more money. They will usually have other valid (to them) reasons that, when also combined with a higher salary, push them to seek employment elsewhere. If a review of the compensation survey results (from another Middleton letter) confirmed that your agency is paying people within a reasonable range of 'average,' the level of compensation should not be of major concern. What you do have to worry about is how you are paying those dollars and how your management philosophy and style complement the overall compensation administration plan.

DO BANKS OVERPAY FOR P/C AGENCIES? by James M. Campbell Since 1998, the banking industry has been the most active acquirer of Property/Casualty insurance agencies....

ETHICS IN LIFE INSURANCE AND RELATED FINANCIAL SERVICES by Samuel H. Weese, Ph.D., CLU, CPCU and Egnar F. Jensen In recent years, ethics has become a highly visible issue in the world of financial ...

At least 30,000 attorneys in the U.S. claim that they're practicing employment law. Statistically speaking, what holds true for any profession is true for employment lawyers: Half are above average and half are below average. How do you distinguish one from the other? How can you find out which lawyers or firms are in the top 5%? Don Phin discusses the questions you should be asking.

Paying attention to business is one of the major benefits of a recession. Ford figured it out. So did Starbucks by bringing back the founding CEO, closing nearly 1,000 marginal stores and most significantly introducing their own instant coffee. This could be a brilliant move. While proudly passing up their $4 cup of coffee, we take the instant stuff home and keep a little Starbucks in our lives.

FROM ESTATE TAX TRAP TO TAX VICTORY by Irving Blackman You hear it all the time: 'Tax law is too complicated.' Well, it is. My job is usually to explain complex tax law in understandable langu...

The April 14, 2004 deadline for HIPAA Privacy Rule has come and gone. Confusion still reigns...

Profit and control have been the driving themes of the manufacturing industry over the past 150 years. However, as we get deeper into the knowledge economy, we find both of these concepts evolving. The issue of profitability is turning into the issue of sustainability. The issue of control is turning into the issue of empowerment.

LIFE INSURANCE: AN AGENTS TUTORIAL by Richard Weber Compared with Homeowners or Auto, clients tend to have different expectations when it comes to their Life insurance. Will you ...

MAXIMIZE PROFITS WITH CONTINGENCY CONTRACTS by Chris Burand Make sure that youre getting all you can out of your contingencies. According to the Academy of Producer Insu...