For some time I noticed a pattern developing over a period of years. I’m embarrassed to say how long it took me to figure this out. But I did. Apparently I’m dense. I identified several key factors that lead me to one inescapable conclusion: The compliance officers I reported to were consistently in their 30s, relatively new to financial securities and knew nothing about insurance products, their tax advantages, their contractual imperatives and human physiology as it related to … [Read more...]
Corporate Courtship before Being Married to Company Compliance
Then the ultimate compliance officer came into my life when I changed broker/dealers. His nickname was Stalin, among our registered reps. His diatribe about over reviewing and editing of my communications were for my own protection. (But to me, it sounded more like sales prevention.) But that actually gave me some sense of solace. At that time, I only had a series 6. Compliance would check my language, make corrections and delete anything that wasn't kosher. Perfect! I wasn’t schooled in … [Read more...]
Their Way or the Highway
One of my compliance officers was incredibly pedantic in his delivery and unrelenting in his the consequences for noncompliance. He had come down to deliver the Ten Commandments, and I quaked at his presence. He paused for a moment and then, just when I thought he was done, he collected his composure as if he had gained new strength of purpose. Then he lit into us on strict rules of engagement on client communication and advertising. Client communication came in two forms: First; the … [Read more...]
Living in the Two Worlds of Insurance and Security Sales
One Monday morning at our weekly sales meeting, our sales manager told us we were all going to become security licensed to sell variable products. So, I enrolled in the Series 6 license class so I could sell variable products, including (but not really interested in) mutual funds. The series 6 preparation class was a boot camp gauntlet of regulations that made my life insurance training look like my Catholic kindergarten classes, which was no small feat. I started questioning my resolve to … [Read more...]
Carrier Brochures and Advertisement as Marketing Material
Although I drifted from many of those principles of my youth during the late 60s and early 70s, I returned to them like the prodigal son limping home from the experiences and experiments of those days. I returned to the straight and narrow, back to my respect for authority and obedience to the rule of law. I’ve carried those characteristics into my career. When I entered financial market through a career life insurance agency, the focus was the sale of life insurance. Back in the day, there … [Read more...]
Conditioned to Comply
At the beginning of my career my overseers used regulatory guardrails like a prison cell to isolate me and other insurance producers. And more to the fact, they had no facts as they gutted our advertising and client communication on insurance products and their related topics. I was raised in the pre-Vatican II era of the 1950s, spending part of my childhood in a parochial institution. Structure framed my daily life, which was regulated from the time I was awakened by Sister Lucette at 6 … [Read more...]
There is no Altruism, No Non Profit or Time to Pay It Forward
No one is altruistic. We’re not a nonprofit organization. Most advisers don’t have time to pay it forward. We all need to generate revenue. But when ethics and economics collide, it’s a moment that measures you as a human being. In that moment you experience a crisis of conscience. If you don’t act on your conscience in the moment of decision, the economics of your situation will rationalize another course of action that will benefit you at the expense of your client. The longer you … [Read more...]
If You Don’t Discipline Yourself, Someone Else Will Do It for You.
When I was a young boy I had a dormitory matron named Sister Lucette. She was known for her pithy platitudes and one liners. One such quip that was indelibly inscribed into my mind was, “if you don’t discipline yourself, someone else will do it for you.” So, if the insurance industry doesn’t discipline its own, you can be sure some legislators looking for a consumer cause to defend will do it for you. There will always be bad apples in every industry, who have no regard for best practices and … [Read more...]
First Do No Harm
The great medical axiom "Primum Non Nocere" translated is “first do no harm.” Surprisingly, it’s not in the original Hippocratic oath, but it’s maxim nevertheless. Much like the saying “do unto others as you would want them to do to you.” So when the Department of Labor introduced the Fiduciary Rule, which states the obvious “to work on the best interest of the client,” I was dumbfounded. First, I just assumed everyone’s practice was client centric. Secondly, I thought the sale of fixed … [Read more...]
When Contrition Finally Overrides Commissions
The few brave souls that desire to change their ways often request anonymity in their clandestine conversations with me as well as others who promote best practices. I don’t say that from a position of moral authority, just being a fraternal ear to my friends. It’s like operating a confessional. Interestingly, they need to purge their financial indiscretions and find a bit of relief in getting this weight off their chest. And keep in mind that most of their spouses are unaware of their financial … [Read more...]
