Tuesday, April 14, 2015

2015 March/April Legislation



Life Insurance Industry and OIC Representatives Urge Passage of OIC Request Legislation Modernizing Life Insurance Reserve Requirements

Although the House Appropriations Committee failed to consider and approve SB 5180 before the April 7 deadline for passage, House leaders have advised the OIC that the bill is not dead. The House Business & Financial Services Committee previously approved a "Do Pass" recommendation for SB 5180, and the bill was referred to the House Appropriations Committee for consideration of fiscal issues. With a deadline for fiscal committee approval on Tuesday, April 7, industry representatives, together with the OIC unsuccessfully urged key members of the House Appropriations Committee to put the bill on an agenda in time for it to be approved before Tuesday’s deadline. Unfortunately, the bill was not scheduled for a hearing before the committee, nor was it brought to a vote. The OIC expressed concern about this development to House leaders, and they were advised that the bill is not dead. House leaders have the option to simply "relieve the committee" of the bill and place it in the House Rules Committee or directly on the House Floor Calendar. The OIC believes that is exactly what will happen in the next day or two.

The measure was introduced at the request of Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler to adopt the NAIC updates to the Standard Valuation and Standard Nonforfeiture laws, including a new approach based on principle-based reserves, and passed the Senate on March 5 on a final vote of 49-0. At the hearing on the measure the American Council of Life Insurers, Allstate, American Family Insurance, and USAA testified in support of the bill. The OIC also spoke in favor of the bill.

2015 March/April LILI

“WANTED:  LILI Candidates for Class of 2015”


Do you want to take your business
to the NEXT level? 

 
Ø  Current 2015 NAIFA Washington State Leaders that are LILI Graduates:  8 of the 11!

Ø  70 percent of LILI graduates report a measurable increase in the growth of their business.

 
The Leadership in Life Institute (LILI) curriculum is based on the leadership writings of Stephen Covey, John Maxwell, Jim Collins, and Kouzes & Posner.

What Will You Gain as a NAIFA LILI Graduate?

1.    Creative and effective methods to develop and execute a business plan

2.    Tools and techniques that enhance your practice

3.    Increased productivity

4.    Enhanced personal vision and mission statements and guiding principles

5.    Improved professional and personal relationships

6.    Increased understanding of one's self

7.    Long-lasting bonds with classmates and LILI Alumni


Friday, April 10, 2015

2015 March/April Past President's Message


I Learned It All In Kindergarten

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but right there in the sandbox at nursery school.

These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Flush. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody… Learn some and think some, and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some…

When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together…

Think of what a better world it would be if we all – the whole world – had cookies and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them, and cleaned up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.”

                                              -Robert Fulghum

2015 March/April Advocacy



Senate and House Approve Competing Budget Proposals for 2015-2017 Biennium

Within only few hours of each other, the House and Senate separately approved competing budget plans for the 2015-2017 biennium. The House approved a $39 billion spending plan that will require $1.5 billion in increased taxes. The Senate approved a $38 billion operating budget that does not include tax hikes. The House approved its plan on Thursday, April 2, and the Senate countered with its proposal a few hours later, with action on a series of budget-related bills keeping the Senate working until nearly 4:00 a.m. on Friday morning.

Negotiations to find common ground will be difficult. Senate leaders have indicated that they won’t take the House-passed spending plan seriously until the House approves the taxes that support the spending increases. On the other hand, House leaders argue that the Senate-passed spending plan is more than $40 million short of balancing. With the 2015 Legislative Session scheduled to adjourn on April 26, efforts to find an agreement on the budget will move into high gear.


2015 March/April National Committeeman


SO…YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO…

          YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO…

                   MAYBE THE TIME IS NOW…

Hey, you have been working hard in a very tough profession for a long time now in a very stressful position: that of building as an entrepreneur in the life, health, retirement planning, and client advisory business.  You have had to put in long hours while wrestling two completely different alligators. 
The first is the “learn it from the bottom up” approach that you had to take a blank calendar and fill it with appointments and activity that would allow you to ask the right questions of the right people, people of character, and then design and present financial solutions to generate an income to pay for you and your family to live.
The second was the constant schooling and retraining that was essential to keeping up in this crazy, ever changing world of tax, legal, regulatory and insurance product design and everything that goes with it. 
Ever feel like a one armed paper hanger?  Ever had a stressful day?  Week?  Year?  Sure; me too.