The featured speaker, Charles Ratner, the National Director of Personal Insurance Counseling for Ernst & Young. Charles will talk about the use of life insurance in charitable giving, outlining the respective benefits to the donor and the organization, the theshold guidelines that charitable organizations must establish for planned giving with life insurance, selected planning techniques with life insurance, and a suggested framework for organizations to assess the economic and tax implications of these techniques.

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Heckerling 2010 ReCap

Again, the buzz at this year Heckerling Conference was about the importance of the overall concept of being a Fiduciary.  More than one attorney who admitted being in the TOLI business (or wanting to enter it) was not clear on the requirements under UPIA especially section 7.  The other hot conversations were about the ability to use “independent” research to fulfill the obligations under the act and where to find that research.  Although there were other providers of “policy review services” none of them could point to the arms-length manner in which they provided their services and advice.  The overall tone was that companies large and small offering these services were ultimately in it to sell life insurance.  THEInsuranceAdvisor.COM was considered a breath of fresh air as the only thing we were “selling” was the access to independent, third party research.

As we reported in Issue 03 of THEInsuranceAdvisor.COM e-newsletter, there were 4 sessions that looked particularly of interest, and to visit THEInsuranceAdvisor.COM booth to discuss afterwards. The session on “Life Insurance and the Economic Downturn – Applying Universal Truths to Variable Circumstances, the Whole (Life) Story”
Presenters: Lawrence Brody, Mary Ann Mancini, Charles L. Ratner and Randy L. Zipse, was particularly relevant as the description of the program in the Institute Schedule states that “This program will explain what types of insurance products are available, how they work, their advantages and disadvantages, and how, working with a client’s insurance professional, to develop a methodology to help a client design and select an appropriate product.” Click Here for a brief recap of the session as reported by Gene Zuspann of ABAnet.org.

Also the session Fiduciaries and Their Lawyers: Tempting Targets in Troubled Times presented by Randall W. Roth. This very informative session highlighted several issues facing fiduciaries and the attorneys who represent them. One preliminary issue to ask is who has a fiduciary duty. Even a broker could be considered a fiduciary if he/she exceeds his or her contractual obligations.

A very important consideration when in litigation is not what the facts are, but what you can prove with evidence. A Confidential Policy Evaluator (CPE) report is the best evidence to have in your file of helping to fulfill your fiduciary duty, better than any other evidence such as agent notes or policy comparisons. Click here to read the ABAnet.org report.

With the recently decided case of Cochran vs KeyBank suggests that developing a systematic approach for carrier selection is not only a sound business practice; it will also assist insurance brokers in limiting exposure to professional liability and future errors-and-omissions claims.

THEInsuranceAdvisor.COM itself was mentioned in both Report #11 & #16 in the 2010 Heckerling Report done by ABAnet.org . Reporters: Gene Zuspann & Craig Dreyer

“Have you dialed into TheInsuranceAdvisor.com yet?? If not, you ought to. They have a Newsletter that comes from Barry Flagg that they push out to their subscribers periodically. In the January 2010 issue (Volume 10, Issue 3) they covered the highlights of the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants (AICPA_ Conference highlights. In addition, they invited Heckerling participants to visit them at Boot 301 to enter a drawing for a chance to win a R/C Hummer (a 1:6 scale model that is - who did win it anyway?) and to find out how they related to four of the presentations that were given, including the Charting New Paths and the Q&A.”

THEInsuranceAdvisor.COM provides the empirical pricing and performance research essential to any complete investigation of life insurance policy suitability (as defined by FINRA or the Prudent Investor Act) and which can then lead to independent and objective suitability determinations.  While due care is an emerging field, and while there is room for a difference of opinion in some areas, THEInsuranceAdvisor.COM goes well beyond overly-simplified comparisons of comingled and hypothetical policy values to better protect and/or compete against those misleading Policy Comparison, Policy Audit and/or Policy Evaluation systems or services.

Use the Confidential Policy Evaluator (CPE) Research Reports to determine the appropriateness of pricing, the reasonableness of performance expectations for invested assets underlying policy cash values, and overall suitability for you(r) clients' policies based on the 5 factors of suitability.  Click here and get up to 3 Confidential Policy Evaluator (CPE) research reports under our NO-Risk trial subscription.