Agency Operations

When FDR linked social security with retirement in the U.S. he adopted the retirement age used by Germany, 65 years old. Today our average life span is more than a…

Some brokers have been buying dozens of smaller agencies every year. Smaller agencies have been buying each other to supplement income and offset costs for the sake of growth and…

Parents are always parents and most parents never stop worrying about their children. Such worry, though, sometimes robs children of their success and happiness. In agencies, the parent/owner is often…

We recently received this question: “Are you aware of any firm that provides insurance company scorecards…something an agent may use to compare companies that he/she may wish to do business…

In March 2002, Ethics Awareness Month, we ran a contest with three ethical dilemmas, asking our newsletter readers to respond with their answers. Below is one of those questions, along with…

Time is running down! Of critical importance to agencies, companies and other financial institutions are the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). In this article, we’ll summarize some important…

In another article entitled “Binding Authority Weather Restrictions,” we discussed how nebulous (and onerous) some underwriting restrictions can be when they’re based on rapidly developing weather conditions. With the recent…

With the beating that many carriers have taken over the past few years in personal lines, it is more important than ever to improve loss ratios. In this article, our…

You’ve seen those headlines about unscrupulous corporate executives cooking the books. The passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is supposed to have forced many employers to take the ethical temperature of…

In March 2002, Ethics Awareness Month, we ran a contest with three ethical dilemmas, asking our newsletter readers to respond with their answers. Below is one of those questions, along with…