AGENCY PRINCIPALS: DONT PUT OFF PERPETUATION PLANNING! by Sharon Cunningham One of the most critical issues facing the Independent Agency System is the need to transfer s...

EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES by Carol Hammes One of the key elements in creating a team of employees dedicated to achieving agency objectives is to provide meaningful incentives...

IS AN ESOP FOR YOU? by Angela Bemiss Don't Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and It's All Small Stuff is an enjoyable little book that has spent a long time on the New York Times...

IS EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP RIGHT FOR YOUR AGENCY? PART I by Carol Hammes Offering your employees the opportunity for agency ownership can help attract and retain quality people. Independen...

IS EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP RIGHT FOR YOUR AGENCY? PART II by Carol Hammes Offering your employees the opportunity for agency ownership can help attract and retain quality people. Sooner or later,...

PRODUCER RELATIONS by Carol Hammes Despite tough market conditions and economic recessions, some insurance agencies are thriving. While the average agency has grown at an annual r...

THE ESOP AS A VEHICLE FOR SELLING AN INTEREST IN AN INSURANCE AGENCY by Francis Willmarth In the early 1960s, Mortimer Adler and Louis Kelso published the Capitalist Manifesto, a...

Insurance agents and brokers have good reason to feel slighted. Like being stuck outside the New Year's party without an invitation, agents have had many reasons for envy as investors in other sectors congratulated themselves for another incredible year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by a whopping 68% from 1996 to 1998, which was its strongest two-year performance since 1955. Even the insurance companies got invited to the party, with property and casualty insurers enjoying a 64% increase in value during the past two years.