2015 November/December Professional Development

I think you would agree with me that we live and work in dynamic times.  This is why we always need to be considering the coming challenges and opportunities in front of us.  The new program known as NAIFA 20/20 addresses the future success of insurance and financial advisors.  It will lie in their ability to redefine and reinvent the value they bring to their clients, as a trusted advisor, in 2020 and beyond. The retirement of baby boomers, the growth of the middle market, the changing face of the traditional family and the use of technology are among the factors that significantly affect who advisors’ clients are and what products advisors will need to guide their clients to secure financial futures.

NAIFA 20/20 is available for you to participate in and stimulate your thinking.  The second way to get your practice moving forward is through Continuing Education.  Besides being a requirement, it’s what you need to do to stay relevant.  As the saying goes, if you aren’t learning and expanding your knowledge, you are working with old information.

LUTCF is new and retooled, with courses that are more relevant to the society around you.  This new program has changed the format to three classes instead of the former five course curriculum.  The ability to become an instructor has also been relaxed from the prior stringent requirements.  Go to the NAIFA.org website and look into either starting a class in your local, or doing the courses online.  This is the best way to develop your local associations, by giving the members a reason to meet and develop.

Finally, if you haven’t heard about LILI, it’s a class that meets monthly that will challenge you to grow and develop a tremendous self-understanding.  We have encouraged all locals to send at least one student a year to this class.  If you wish to offer or use a scholarship to offset the expense of this course, I encourage you to do that as well.  You will be grateful that you did.

If you need some help, contact anyone in a leadership role, in your local or the State.  Best wishes to you and your development in this fantastic career. 

Roger McDowell, LUTCF