What the (bleep) is going on with our economy?

If this question plagues you, keeps you up at night, and/or tests your otherwise sound understanding of our financial system, you’re not alone, says New York Times economist David Leonhardt (“Can’t Grasp Credit Crisis? Join the Club,” March 19).

“I’m here to urge you not to feel sheepish,” Leonhardt says. “This may not be entirely comforting, but your confusion is shared by many people who are in the middle of the crisis.”

Yeah, not so comforting. It’s a muddle, for sure, but Leonhardt is one of the few econo-journalists who can make sense of the mess.

Leonhardt sets out to answer this question: “So how is it that a mess concentrated in one part of the mortgage business — subprime loans — has frozen the credit markets, sent stock markets gyrating, caused the collapse of Bear Stearns, left the economy on the brink of the worst recession in a generation and forced the Federal Reserve to take its boldest action since the Depression?”

Answer: Basically, everyone—from Joe Sixpack to Alan Greenspan to Gordon Gekko—jumped on the housing bandwagon with the silly assumption that home prices would continue to soar into the sky indefinitely. With this faulty notion, people—even normally conservative bank executives—exposed themselves to too much risk. Here’s the money quote:

The American home seemed like such a sure bet that a huge portion of the global financial system ended up owning a piece of it. Last summer, many policy makers were hoping that the crisis wouldn’t spread to traditional banks, like Citibank, because they had sold off the underlying mortgages to investors. But it turned out that many banks had also sold complex insurance policies on the mortgage debt. That left them on the hook when homeowners who had taken out a wishful-thinking mortgage could no longer get out of it by flipping their house for a profit.

Read the article.

Posted by Jeb Foster at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Sometimes we cast too wide of a net. Divide and conquer by carving out a niche for yourself, whether it's servicing boomers, college kids, women—or selling only certain types of policies. Try pouring your time and energy into a niche group and see where you end up. You might be happily surprised with the results.

Stephanie Diamond: Not Everyone is Your Customer

Related Agent Blog posts:
How Pinko Marketing Can Help Your Insurance Business
Women-Only Insurance: A New Niche?
13M Gen Y'ers without Health Insurance

Posted by Megan Mahan at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

It's true, according to Finnish researchers who have compared a speeding ticket database with that of all the trading portfolios in Finnish households. From the Consumerist:

Their findings suggest that for these speeders, a sensible long-term investment strategy simply isn't interesting enough for them. They crave the thrill and excitement of churning over their investments more frequently. Each successive speeding ticket and investor received correlated to an 11 percent increase in their portfolio turnover.

According to the findings, people sporting sensation seeking traits can generate behaviors including risky sexual behavior, frequent career changes, drug and alcohol abuse, gambling, and participation in extreme types of sports like bungee jumping or sky diving. Which kind of implies that speedy motorists—at least in Finland—may be of greater risk to insurers than originally thought. :)

Sensation Seeking, Overconfidence and Trading Activity

Posted by Megan Mahan at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Back in 2006, Jeb reported that Mariah Carey took out an insurance policy on her legs:

The thing that lends the body-part-insurance publicity stunt a modicum of credibility is that these stars really do owe a chunk of their paychecks to certain anatomical assets. Although it smacks of self-promotion, the practice has a certain amount of logic behind it.

Which is interesting considering that I've just learned that Tom Jones recently insured his chest hair to the tune of $7 million.**

For a second I wondered how Tom Jones's chest hair positively impacted his timeless career. Then I quickly turned my attention to more important things, like this compilation of Carlton Banks dancing to Tom Jones.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

**This Friday Fun fact was brought to you by holycrapfacts

Posted by Megan Mahan at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Thankfully, 37Signals (creator of various business web applications like Basecamp, which is what we marketing folks use at InsureMe) sheds some light on setting up credit card processing online. Because paying insurance premiums online via PayPal just isn't going to cut it.

Jason, kicks things off by telling us about merchant accounts:

First off, we have a merchant account. A merchant account is needed to accept credit cards. Every business that accepts credit cards needs to have a merchant account.

As you begin your search for a vendor, Jason recommends looking for a reputable company with good rates (they currently use account through Chase bank). While the rates might not make a big difference in the early stages of your business, they will affect your bottom line if your daily volume picks up.

The caveat: Getting a merchant account could provide a challenge. Take 37Signal's experience when they were developing Basecamp:

Continue reading "For the Indie Agent: Processing Credit Cards Online" »

Posted by Megan Mahan at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
 

The Insurance Information Institute (III) reports that a total of $3.2 billion was lost to phishing attacks in 2007. Victims lost $886 on average.

[Jargon decoder: Phishing is a practice wherein fraudsters acquire personal information, usually through e-mail, by masking as legitimate businesses or organizations.]

Judging by my own inbox, it seems that phishermen are getting savvier—or at least more aggressive. The number of e-mails I get that are purportedly from eBay has climbed 68 percent (by my own unofficial guesstimate). The III marshals some evidence to support my estimate: 3.6 million people were duped in 2007, up from 2.3 million in the previous year.

So, agents, if anyone asks for sensitive information over e-mail, don’t give it up, no matter how legit things look. E-mail doesn’t offer the same kind of encryption strength that a secure web site does.

Most, if not all, legitimate online entities know this and will not ask for personal information over e-mail. Pass the word to your friends, family members and clients.

Posted by Jeb Foster at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
 

We've spent a large chunk of this week brainstorming new video ideas and creating scripts. Part of what we're doing involves ad spots and YouTube, which I'm sure some of you have been thinking about too.

So, for this Friday's post, I thought I'd have you watch a few of my favorite Trigon health insurance commercials. They're good clean fun, and when you look at the frequency with which these videos are viewed, you can only imagine the positive affect they've had on the Trigon brand.

Check 'em out, mull 'em over, and have a great weekend!

Posted by Megan Mahan at 03:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

This week, the Senate received a warning: global warming is stirring up health problems and will continue to worsen.

Witnesses at the hearing cited the 35,000 deaths in the 2003 European heat wave, the spread of the West Nile virus to 47 states (unseen in the U.S. eight years ago), and most recently the droughts, heat waves, and massive wildfires.

Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that it's not a question of whether there will be ill health effects from global warming, but of who, when, where and how.

The director also presented a CDC chart showing that rising temperatures are likely to affect public health not only in the form of heat waves, but of severe weather, increased air pollution, water contamination and disease, and disruptions to food supply—yielding increases in cardiovascular disease, malaria and dengue, among other afflictions.

We've seen the property-casualty industry start to react to global warming; will the health and life industry follow suit?

[Related]: Lloyd's: Denial Not Just a River in Egypt

Posted by Megan Mahan at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
 

This week, entrepreneurial blog Springwise featured a new site in the UK which allows consumers to share rants and raves about their insurers.

Zuzzid is a forum of sorts, which not only allows registered users to share their experiences, but also totals all the shared experiences to rank British insurers. A price engine also compiles collective data, presenting users with general premium prices for different insurance types.

Somewhat surprisingly, the site belongs to UK insurer, Norwich Union, a company which is of course evaluated by Zuzzid users. Seems like a dangerous move, right?

Continue reading "Zuzzid: Sharing Rants & Raves about Insurers" »

Posted by Megan Mahan at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Are you as nervous as re-insurers about global climate change?

When the people who are paid to assess and manage risk start openly panicking about the perils of climate change, you know that the excrement isn’t far from hitting the air conditioning.

Reinsurers, the people who insure the insurance companies, are the folks who have the most on the line. And they’re starting to get nervous. "At Lloyds, we feel the effects of extreme weather more than most," Peter Levene, chairman of Lloyds of London, said in March. "We don't just live with risk -- we have to pick up the pieces afterwards." Lloyds predicts a hurricane will hit the US with twice the destructive price tag as Katrina and will thus bankrupt 40 insurers.

We’d do well to look at their anxiety as the canary in the coal mine. After all, reinsurers aren’t treehugging doomsday prophets.

Many have the vague feeling that maybe the weather is going to get flukier as the climate changes—and maybe even a little balmier. They think the climate, particularly something as innocuous as a 1 or 2 degree change in average temperature, doesn’t affect their lives. It reminds me of how people probably reacted to the stock market crash of 1929. “I don’t own stock, so what’s the big deal?”

The stakes really couldn’t be higher, particularly for you insurance agents. Take it from Lloyd: "The insurance industry must start actively adjusting in response to greenhouse gas trends if it is to survive."

If it is to survive. I hate to freak you out, Agent Blog reader, but we've got a pretty freaky situation on our hands.

Posted by Jeb Foster at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

It's not the type of reportage you expect from a business magazine, but Bloomberg Markets' cover story for this month has this rather brazen headline: "The Insurance Hoax: Property insurers use secret tactics to cheat customers out of payments--as profits break records."

You might expect such a provocative headline from a left-leaning magazine like, say, The Nation or Harper's.

Indeed, the head of the Insurance Information Institute, Robert Hartwig, promptly wrote a long missive to the editor, taking issue with the story's tone and lambasting the authors' basic math skills.

Continue reading "Is Insurance a "Hoax"?" »

Posted by Jeb Foster at 08:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
 

I hate to say it, Agent Blog reader, but your job just got a little harder. Maybe it’s time to get into law. Or journalism. Perhaps you ought to run for that open congressional seat next November.

If you’ve noticed that people are already suspicious of you and your insurance industry ilk, then the news that Progressive used a private investigator to spy on a couple in a church support group will just make them more wary.

Here’s a sample of what will likely be a constant refrain for the next few days:

Just when you thought insurance companies couldn't get any sleazier, Progressive Insurance got caught sending private eyes to infiltrate and secretly record an Atlanta area church support group in hopes of digging up dirt to discredit a church couple involved in a car accident lawsuit. [Consumerist]

Continue reading "Progressive Caught Snooping in Church Basement" »

Posted by Jeb Foster at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Medicare will no longer pay for illnesses, infections, or injuries resulting from hospital errors, according to a new rule announced just this month. The initiative is aimed at improving the accuracy of Medicare's payment for hospital patients receiving acute care, as well as to encourage hospitals to improve the quality of their services.

Bob Vineyard over at InsureBlog muses about the decision, saying:

On one hand, I agree. Why should the taxpayer pay for things where the hospital (or other negligent party) is clearly liable.

On the other hand, who is going to decide the liability issue? Are the hospitals going to readily admit their wrong? Will the patient be caught in the middle?

The AP article states that hospitals will be expected to pick up the tab for care related to incidents that could have been prevented. Mismatched blood transfusions, operations on the wrong body parts, that sort of thing. Private insurers are also expected to instantiate the same rule.

At first blush, this seems fair. Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for medical mistakes—neither should the patient. I guess what isn't clear to me is how the new rule will protect patients from accruing these extra costs. If no one's watching as the hospital charges me $50 for two ibuprofen, who's going to be watching if I'm charged an exorbitant amount of money to cover the vascular damage from a catheter?

Hopefully you experts in the health insurance industry can enlighten me. :)

Posted by Megan Mahan at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Happy Friday, Agent Blog readers!

We've had some meaty posts this week, ranging from search engine optimization to guerrilla marketing. So for today, I thought I'd post a video from our archives, entitled "The Dos and Don'ts of Selling Insurance."

See you back here on Monday!

Posted by Megan Mahan at 03:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Boy, I'm a sucker for innovation in this industry. That's because:

(1) It's tough not to reinvent the insurance wheel; and
(2) Not very many organizations put enough emphasis on it

Earlier this week, I learned about Safeco's new Teensurance program through Springwise.com, one of my favorite global entrepreneurial blogs, and it fits the innovative bill.

If you're assuming at this point that Teensurance is auto insurance for teens, you'd be right. But Teensurance goes above and beyond the normal auto insurance policy, using:

• GPS technology to keep an eye on youngsters and encourage safe driving
• The "Safety Beacon" that unlocks doors, provides curfew and speed limit reminders, and more
• 24/7 roadside assistance
• Resources for parents and teens

The features and benefits are numerous. I'm impressed. Check it out here and get inspired for new ideas for your agency.

Posted by Megan Mahan at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

You're about to embark on a recap of The ABCs of SEO, as published in the May issue of the TAAR Report. Read part one of this article here.

Creating web sites that are search engine-friendly means determining what the search engine likes. Back in the mid-90s, it was fairly easy to figure out what made the search engines happy. As a result, the web experienced widespread SEO abuse, and users couldn’t find the timely, trustworthy information they were seeking.

To curb this abuse, Google built a bigger, better algorithm. The new algorithm took into account various factors and characteristics of the web pages it indexed. Soon, other search engines like Yahoo and MSN adapted similar algorithms to keep organic search results as pure and relevant to its users as possible.

Today, site owners aim to work with these algorithms to increase their site rank. Working with the algorithms is difficult for two reasons:

Continue reading "The ABCs of SEO: Part Two" »

Posted by Megan Mahan at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Breaking with Tradition, California Physician Group Lists Prices for Procedures

California’s largest private physician practice posted prices for 58 medical procedures on its web site, a move that the LA Times says “puts a significant crack in the ages-old reluctance by doctors and other medical providers to let consumers comparison shop for services such as chest X-rays, baby vaccinations and Pap smears.”

According to the this study by the Kaiser Foundation, consumer-directed health care plans haven’t gained traction nor lived up to their cost-saving promise because consumers have scant resources when it comes to smart health care shopping. The most basic element of smart shopping—comparing prices—is incredibly difficult and time consuming. So, this story from California is a heartening development, both for consumers and for proponents of consumer-driven health plans like HSAs. Let’s hope that more health care providers follow suit.

Funeral Insurance: an Alternative to Life Insurance?

According this story in the Times, burial insurance is gaining in popularity among people who don’t want or can’t afford life insurance. “[Lower-income people] see holding burial insurance as a point of pride, as well as security. They want a dignified funeral for themselves and their kin, and they have seen the crushing debts left by funerals that may cost well over $5,000.” Steven J. Dubner, of “Freakonomics” fame, thinks it’s a bad investment. Got an opinion? Put it in below.

Dentists: Give Us Your (Not) Poor…

By now you’ve probably heard about the story of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver, who died from a brain infection that started out as a tooth infection. Driver’s mother had tried in vain to find a dentist for her son. Turns out most dentists don’t want to take patients covered under Medicare. This trenchant article from Slate.com explains why. (Hint: Our head-in-the-clouds congress that doesn’t want to admit that our public health insurance system rations medical care for the poor.)

Posted by Jeb Foster at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

The Bad News
According to a recent study by the Wharton School of Business and the Verde Group, bad customer service can really really hurt:

Here are the key findings from their study of 1,000 American consumers:

One in three dissatisfied customers will share their experience with friends, family and coworkers.

Unhappy customers will tell four people on average.

Fifty percent of those who hear about such negative experiences won’t shop at that establishment in the future.

When all else is equal, if you have two stores selling the same thing, the one with better customer service will have 30-40 percent more sales.

Worse still, unhappy customers will embellish their stories. “In the retelling of the story we become more animated and we color the story a bit more,” Paula Courtney, head of the Verde Group, told NPR recently. “What starts off as you had a rude person at a store could, by the time you tell the story for the fifth time, become ‘the employee was abusive.’ That’s why negative word of mouth is so powerful.”

Continue reading "The High Cost of Bad Customer Service" »

Posted by Jeb Foster at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Good News for Agents, Bad News for Robots: Consumers Still Prefer the Human Element

A study for IBM reveals that 75 percent of insurance consumers prefer working with an agent. Phew…[Link]

Billions of dollars in fire-related losses in the last 20 years have insurers demanding a new level of consumer accountability. [Link]

Study: More Consumers Interested in Long-Term Care Insurance

Yet one big hurdle remains: many still think it’s too expensive. [Link]

Posted by Jeb Foster at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Some recent headlines of note:

“Three Doctors Held in Health Insurance Scam”

The three docs stand accused of performing 1,000 unnecessary procedures on 940 patients and billing insurance cos. roughly $30 million.

"We're talking about doctors who were real-life body snatchers," said Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas. [L.A. Times]

Continue reading "News Roundup" »

Posted by Jeb Foster at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

I had a bit of déja vu after hearing about the hurricane predictions from 2007. The consensus: we'll have a "very active" hurricane season. But unlike last year's predictions, this year's have some teeth by way of figures.

The atmospheric science experts at Colorado State said there's now a 74 percent probability that at least one minor hurricane will make landfall along the U.S. coast.

Furthermore, the CSU team said we're likely to see:

• 9 hurricanes
• 17 named storms
• 85 named storm days
• 40 hurricane days
• 5 intense hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5)
• 11 intense hurricane days

According to this Insurance Journal report, El Nino is once again the basis for annual hurricane predictions. The above figures have increased since December, "due largely to the rapid dissipation of El Nino which as occurred over the past couple of months."

Check out the IJ article here, and be sure to scroll down to read the comments. After last year's uneventful storm season, it would appear that some folks are pretty skeptical of said scientists. I've got some doubts of my own. I mean, we can't even get a decent weekly weather forecast in Denver. :)

Posted by Megan Mahan at 01:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

The Insurance Journal’s readership engages in a Cold War-era battle of ideas, complete with red-baiting!

The battle started yesterday when the Journal ran a story on State Farm chief Ed Rust’s 82 percent pay raise.

The reader comments that flooded in were what you call flaming. Some expressed moral outrage over inflated executive salaries while others offered a spirited defense of our free-market, “greed is good” capitalist system. And a few commentators simply lamented the possibility that the pay raise would damage the insurance industry’s already injured reputation.

Here are just two of the many white-hot comments:

This is sick. State Farm is rasing rates across the board because of increased risk, however, even when they paid all the hurricane claims they still made 3 BILLION DOLLARS.

SICK. SICK. SICK. IT IS CRIMINAL. [Posted By: Angry]

Don't try this, Rust has put out the goods, He deserves what he is paid. No Apologies. Welcome to the free market system, not the Free Ride system. If you want socialism, move to another country, get your commie butt the #### our of here! [Posted By: Rocket Man]

Read all of the comments here. And feel free to flame away in our comments section below, but keep it PG-rated please.

(For a definition of flaming, click here.)

Posted by Jeb Foster at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

Industry changes have only just begun, according to Allstate Chairman Edward M. Liddy. Liddy, who spoke at a recent AM Best conference in California, identified some key changes that will drive industry going forward.

Of these key changes, I was most struck by the following:

• The continued move toward "tiered pricing," which would give insurers the ability to differentiate between their best and worst risks, and price them accordingly.
• A larger emphasis on marketing and advertising. Branding and communications can help give insurers the edge when they can't compete on price alone.
• Servicing aging Americans. "This places a premium on the trusted advisor role," said Liddy.
• Providing greater consumer choice by increasing the flexibility of insurance policies.
• Using technology to enable distribution and compete locally.

Judging by the overview, Allstate's getting the idea. I'm curious to see if competing insurers will act nimbly enough to do just that—compete.

Check out the full story courtesy of A.M. Best or Insurance News Net (article access is subscription-based; apologies!)

(Photo from Flickr under Creative Commons)

Posted by Megan Mahan at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

That's a crazy headline, no?

I spotted this story on Digg.com this morning, which notes that the Thames Valley (UK) police have programmed Homer Simpson's infamous "D'oh!" into their on-board computers. Homer will sound off upon spotting an uninsured driver.

The automatic plate readers also say, "Here's Johnny!" (à la Jack Nicholson from The Shining) when turning up a stolen car, and Dan Aykroyd's famous, “People like this are a menace to decent society," when spotting a car linked to a crime.

Cops say the catch phrases quicken their reaction time.

I'm not totally sure about that, but I'm a fan of anything that makes the work day more interesting. :)

Posted by Megan Mahan at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

State Farm won't write any new lines of home and commercial insurance in Mississippi, following a the legal battle over damage claims from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

As you may recall, the claims stemmed the controversy over decimated homes that were insured against wind, but not flood.

State Farm Senior VP, Brice Trippel, issued a statement this afternoon saying, "It is no longer prudent for us to take on additional risk in a legal and business environment that is becoming more unpredictable."

According to a Reuters report (made available by CNN Money here), State Farm currently insures more than 30 percent of Mississippi homeowners. The insurer will continue to serve current policyholders and write new auto business but will leave the possibility of nonrenewals open if the situation worsens.

The situation for State Farm has a lot to do with legal fees, of course. "Hurricanes can be insured against, but litigation can't," noted Robert Hartwig who is the head of the Insurance Information Institute. "Those costs are extremely high."

State Farm joins their major competitor, Allstate, along with Nationwide Financial Services and American International Group in cutting back on writing new policies in coastal areas.

Pretty crazy stuff. With the socioeconomic infrastructure seeming to crumble along the coast, it makes you wonder how much longer folks will be able to sustain livelihood down there.

Check out the full story via CNN Money

Photo from Flickr under Creative Commons license

Posted by Megan Mahan at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
 

There’s no question; the health-insurance industry is floundering—millions uninsured, ever-increasing premiums accompanied by less comprehensive coverage.

And although President Bush’s health proposal has its critics, it addresses an issue that has long plagued Americans, particularly the 47 million uninsured.

His proposal, while vastly different from former President Clinton’s attempt at health-care reform, has one similarity. It guarantees to upend a health-insurance system that has covered most Americans for the last 60 years.

And even though change is inevitable, especially the reform of a faulty system, it has the tendency to incite fear and doubt.

But let’s not jump to partisan conclusions just yet.

The state of affairs…for now

The least expensive, most popular way to purchase health insurance is tax free through an employer. If an individual contributes, he or she is covered, regardless of health or age.

Because many partake in their employers’ health insurance program, the majority of uninsured Americans comprise lower-income families, children and minorities. However, in recent years the issue has ceased being one of socio-economic status or race and begun to affect middle-class Americans, many of whom are self employed or working for small businesses that don’t offer health insurance.

The uninsured masses either purchase individual health insurance, with no tax deductions, or remain uninsured and possibly dependent on government programs, such as Medicaid.

Continue reading "A (Hopefully) Objective Look at Health-Care Reform" »

Posted by maribeth neelis at 05:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

Every once in a while I read something that inspires the belief that things are going to be OK, that the apocalypse is not actually at hand.

The most recent morale-boosting article came from the Insurance Journal under the unlikely headline “R.I. High Court Throws out Lawsuit Based on Bad Job Reference.”

Not being a court watcher or follower of Rhode Island news, I nearly ignored the story. But the idea of a lawsuit based on a bad job reference caught my attention, so I followed the link.

Here the lede from the story:

Rhode Island's highest court this week dismissed a lawsuit filed by a licensed nurse who sued her former boss over a bad job reference.

Here’s the follow-up graf:

Paula Kevorkian said Judith Glass, her former supervisor at the Pawtuxet Village Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, wrote a defamatory and malicious reference when she described Kevorkian as having "unacceptable work practice habits.''

Yes, the nurse’s name is Kevorkian. And the reason for the bad reference from her former supervisor? “Kevorkian was suspended from work for three days in April 1994 for allegedly failing to give patients their necessary medications, according to the court's 12-page ruling.”

I swear I’m not making this up.

The Rhode Island court, in its wisdom, threw out the case, saying Glass was qualified to make such statements about Kevorkian and was not motivated by malice or ill will. She was just being honest. And who knows? Maybe she thought people’s lives depended on this woman not being in a position to dispense vital medication.

So the court made the right move and didn’t set a precedent that would have likely resulted in the cessation of the entire enterprise of reference writing. Well done, Rhode Island.

Yet in looking through the comments on the article, it seems as if many employers were already skittish about writing references for their former workers. That’s a shame.

Other people who posted comments focused on the plaintiff’s unfortunate surname. To whom commenter Todd Hitler replied, “What’s wrong with her name?” :)

Posted by Jeb Foster at 09:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
 

According to an article via the Insurance Journal today, Mutual of Omaha has its sights set on market expansion—namely, banking.

The near 100-year old company could potentially market the new offerings to its existing policyholders. Which, at the end of 2005, included 1.5 million individual policyholders and more than 13,500 employer groups.

Mutual of Omaha president and CEO Jeff Schmid said the new offering would "be a base for extending electronic banking across the country."

The operative word for the move, however, is "diversify." By involving themselves in the banking market, Schmid added that they could broaden Mutual's horizons for the future:

"We have the ability to build a company that complements Mutual over the next 10 or 20 years, that really has so much in common from a financial services standpoint."

While the article notes that about three dozen other U.S. insurers have made the same move, I have yet to catch wind of it. Think in ten years we'll all be banking with our insurer? Seems sort of strange, but not that far-fetched.

Personally, as a customer of Mutual of Omaha, I'll be interested to see how they position the added feature to existing policyholders.

Photo from Flickr under Creative Commons license

Posted by Megan Mahan at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
 

The female workforce has grown from 18.4 million in 1950 to 65.7 million in 2005 with women now comprising 46.4 percent of the labor force.

However, certain fields continue to be male dominated—engineering, aviation, construction. And after speaking with a few former insurance agents, I got the impression that