3rd Quarter 2009
4 Legislative Changes That Affect Your Business
Recent legislation, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has a significant impact on certain aspects of the group benefits business. Here are four big ones that could have a significant impact on you and your clients.
read more5 Financial Strength Questions to Ask
As an advisor, your most basic responsibility to your clients is to place their business with insurance carriers that are stable enough to meet their claim obligations in an uncertain economic environment. The first thing most people look at is a carrier’s financial strength ratings from the big rating agencies, like A.M. Best, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. But with ratings and market conditions changing daily, how can you dig deeper to ensure that you’re protecting your clients’ interests? Here are five questions to ask carriers to help you better understand their financials.
read moreNew Online Disability Planning Tool
The Council for Disability Awareness has released a new disability planning tool called the Personal Disability Quotient (PDQ). To help people realize the risk of disability, the council created a disability estimator designed to determine the percentage chance a person has of an illness or injury forcing them to miss work.
read moreProducer Connection is a quarterly online newsletter for Employee Benefits producers of The Standard. Subscribe now.
Bookmarks
The Standard is best known as a nationwide provider of employee benefits. What you may not know is that we have been offering retirement-planning products for 70 years. Providing for a secure retirement is one more way to build a strong business. Learn how you can Get More from Your Business Retirement Plan for you and your employees.
Crain’s Benefits Outlook
This new online publication from Crain Communication,Inc. is jointly written, edited and published by Business Insurance, Financial Week, Pensions & Investments and Workforce Management magazines. The website bills itself as “A survival guide for companies that sponsor benefit programs... designed to equip employers with the latest trends to control costs, boost productivity, and achieve a high rate on investments.“ Check out the Data Bank for useful benefits trends information.
Benchmark Surveys
JHA Announces 2008 U.S. Group Life and Disability Market Survey Results. These leading industry benchmark surveys cover Group Term Life, Short Term Disability (STD) and Long Term Disability (LTD). Learn more in the press release.