Dakota Advisor
Winter 2012
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Presidents
Message
by Pat Saltsman, CLTC
Journey ……
A mouse looked through the crack in the
wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food
might this contain?” the mouse wondered. He was devastated to
discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse
proclaimed this warning:
“There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!”
The chicken clucked and scratched raised
her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave
concern to you, but it is of no consequences to me. I cannot be
bothered by it.”
The mouse turned to the pig and told him,
“There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the
house!” The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr.
Mouse but there is nothing I can do about it but pray…. Be
assured you are in my prayers.”
The mouse turned to the cow and said,
“There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!” The
cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you but it’s no skin
off my nose.”
So the mouse returned to the house, head
down and dejected to face the farmer’s mousetrap…… Alone……
That very night a sound was heard
throughout the house --- the sound of a mousetrap catching its
prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the
darkness, she did not see it. It was a venomous snake whose
tail was caught in the trap.
The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The
farmer rushed her to the hospital. When she returned home she
still had a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh
chicken soup. So the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard
for the soup’s main ingredient.
But his wife’s sickness continued.
Friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To
feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. But alas, the farmer’s
wife did not get well. She died.
So many people came for her funeral that
the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for
all of them. And the mouse looked upon it all from his crack in
the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear of someone
facing a problem and you think it doesn’t concern you,
remember…..
When one on us is threatened, we are all at
risk. We are all involved in this journey.
I hear so many times that the issues
facing us in Congress don’t concern some agents as they don’t
sell this or that, and being NAIFA is an advocacy group, there
is no reason to join. I don’t understand that reasoning.
Watching Congress slowly change our things in our industry and
companies paying less commission or removing them all together
worries me. It may not affect you now but I can assure you at
some point it will.
So how do we protect our careers? How do
we have a say in what goes on? Join NAIFA…. We are your
voice.
Right about now you are all saying (the 2
of you that are probably reading this) but we have joined NAIFA
so I am preaching to the choir. You are right, but I am asking
that you take the responsibility to recruit other agents to join
NAIFA. Numbers speaks volumes and we need numbers.
We have been very successful statewide in
issues that have arisen in the past. Many of us have spent
numerous hours talking to legislators and time on the hill in
committee hearings and on the floor before they vote. Thank God
for those people and their time given. But we need more people
to be involved and not leave it to those few.
But if the agents you approach can’t give
of their time, I ask that they give $40/month (average monthly
membership) to insure their career, so they give us more
VOICE…… After all, we are insurance agents protecting people’s
lives and livelihood. Shouldn’t we protect our careers, which
is our livelihood? It only makes good sense.
January 17 has been declared Recruit an
Agent Day in the state of ND. I am asking that every one of
you, ask ONE prospective agent to join the association that
cares about their career.
We have 14 new members so far this year.
I would love to see at least 25-30 more statewide. Please, just
ask your fellow agent to take out and insurance policy on their
career and join their local NAIFA association.
Do NOT forget, the state convention is in
Grand Forks this year. I am looking forward to attending as it
is promised to be a good time. They have been working very hard
getting ready so lets show our support and attend the convention
on May 2-4, 2012.
Make it a great year!!
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[Sponsor]
NAIFA-ND 2012 State Convention
Do you cautiously step in to test the water
or head straight for the diving board??
By attending our “Life Guards
on Duty” NAIFA-ND Convention at the Ramada Inn in Grand Forks
May 2nd to the 4th, 2012 we will provide the tools to
help you stay afloat of your business in these sinking times.
NAIFA - North Valley (Grand
Forks) is working hard to get you a lineup of speakers that will
take you from a cautious step to the mighty cannonball. So get
your suits ready, mark the dates and get ready to bring home the
gold!!
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LOCAL
ASSOCIATION REPORTS
NAIFA
- North Valley
by Shari Hanson,
President
The last quarter of 2011 was great. In
October we hosted the Insurance Commissioner’s Forum. We felt
we had fairly good attendance. November we had Howard Cossovar
speak at our monthly meeting on Social Security, Medicare, SSI
and Survivor benefits.
December our meeting was dedicated to the
convention planning with Nancy and Pat in attendance which
helped us with budget and agenda. We also had Bruce Gjovig from
the UND Center of Innovation. It is amazing at what they do at
that center. They help bring new inventions to fruition and
small businesses with their business plans. It was very
interesting the businesses that have been started out of there
and what it they have panned for Grand Forks!
January we are focusing on finalizing our
speakers for convention and working on booth sponsorship. Our
speaker at our January meeting will be from the Grand Forks
Convention Bureau. We are also going out on the 17th
for the membership blitz.
Once again State Convention is on May 2-4th.
We are very excited we have some great speakers lined up and
some fun. You won’t want to miss it.
NAIFA – Missouri Slope
by John Power, President
MSAIFA meets the third Monday of each
month at the Bismarck Elks club with lunch beginning @ 11:30am.
We’ve had great speakers so far this year and are looking
forward to good presentations in 2012 also. Our chapter
attained the State IFAPAC goals for 2011. We added 6 new
members so far this year…way to go Membership!! We’ll also be
presenting the various awards at our January 16th
monthly meeting. Best wishes for a great 2012 to all the
chapter and members!
NAIFA – Minot
by Jim Simons, President
The Minot Association continues to excel.
We had 3 great meetings this quarter. In October we hosted our
Legislative Forum where seven members of our North Dakota
Legislator attended. There was interesting discussion of the
prior legislative session and the upcoming special session in
November 2011. In November we presented a program in a box on
Linked Benefits that was very informative. In December we had a
mini CE Blitz where Melisa Hauer the ND Insurance Department
General Counsel presented two hours of CE on Ethics. For our
membership meeting that followed we had Marilyn Kruithof a local
CPA come in and talk about tax changes for 2012. In January we
will be visiting a local nursing home where we will have a
presentation from the director and have a discussion on Long
Term Care Insurance along with lunch and a tour of the
facility. February will have training on P&C to include a
discussion on Flood Insurance. In March we will have the local
director from Social Security come in to brief. We are very
proud that we sponsored a charitable program where we raised
funds to provide Christmas Gifts for a local family. We
recruited three new members this quarter. Welcome to Mike
Braun, Al Schon and Gary Goldade. We are trying hard to finish
the year a net plus one.
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 NAIFA-ND
President Pat Saltsman presenting a check for $2,450 to NAIFA-Minot
for the members that were victims of the flood. Thank you
NAIFA members for your contributions!!
.Health
Care Reform Review Committee
by Norbert Mayer
The ND
Legislative Interim “Health Care Reform Review Committee” was
tasked with the responsibility of creating a “ND Health Care
Exchange” to comply with the Federal Affordable Care Act. Under
the leadership of chairman, Representative George Keiser and
with valuable input from our NAIFA-ND member and committee
member Representative Jim Kasper they came up with an excellent
plan to be operated by a Board of Directors and to be housed in
the ND Office of Management and Budget.
A licensed
insurance producer was to be a member of the Board and another
producer was to be named to the advisory committee. Insurance
producers were to be involved in educating and enrolling North
Dakotan’s into the most appropriate insurance plan.
During the
November Special Legislative Session this committee was
complimented for a job well done, but because there is such a
strong sentiment to not have a Federal Health Care Plan, the ND
House of Representatives did not adopt this plan.
If the
Affordable Care Act is declared unconstitutional or deleted by
the Congress and the President, no harm has been done. If
portions of the plan, requiring the establishment of Health Care
Exchanges remain, we no doubt will have to accept the federally
established plan, because the plan has to be operational by
January 1, 2014 and capable of enrolling members as early as
October of 2013.
Thank you to
NAIFA-ND members Dave Middaugh and Rep. Jim Kasper, who spent a
great deal of time attending and providing input at committee
meetings, and all who attended some of the committee meetings,
the Special Legislative Session, or contacted members of the ND
Legislature soliciting support for this bill.
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APIC
by Jim Simons, Chair
Here we are in 2012. This year we have the
opportunity to elect a President of the United States, a new
Senator and a new member of Congress from North Dakota. We also
will elect members for the ND house and Senate from the even
districts as well as some statewide positions. With the new
redistricting, we need each local to update their APIC contact
lists. Please get to Nancy as soon as possible. I also need
your APIC plans for the year. I leave at the end of the month
to attend the NAIFA IFAPAC/IFAPIC training to be held in
Washington DC. I have already scheduled appointments with our
three members of congress. I will complete a report on my trip
and provide to Nancy and Pat. If anyone wants a copy, just let
me know. The North Dakota Democrats and Republicans are having
their conventions this spring. I highly recommend NAIFA members
attend. If you are a delegate, you will decide who the
candidates are for your party. What a better way to establish a
relationship with a political leader, than attending the
convention and supporting them. Don’t forget to put May 2-4 on
your calendars to attend the NAIFA-ND Convention in Grand
Forks. We hope to have a legislative panel and discuss many
topics relative to the regulations that affect our profession.
See you there!!!
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Membership
by Marc Siverson, Chair
The last three months the participation in our monthly calls has
been less than productive. The first call was 80% attended.
The average has probably dropped to 40% attendance since that
first call. Some people have never participated.
Some of the ideas used include:
Hold a drawing among potential members to win a
rather substantial prize
Take two or three current members and target former
or lapsed members to rejoin, or simply sign up brand new
prospects.
Remind non NAIFA members & prospects of some of the
fights that we have been involved in to keep our industry
strong, provide value to our clients and allow us to make a
living.
The one day Membership Blitz is scheduled for
01/17/2012.
The members that have called in to the conference calls have
been enthusiastic and willing to share ideas. I still haven’t
been able to crack the code on the NAIFA Website to show our
membership numbers and whether we are up or down. Someone
smarter than me needs to give me a clue. The info is shown
under Member Net, but I don’t see a total tally showing losses
or gains.
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NAIFA-North Dakota - 1811 East Thayer Avenue - Bismarck, ND 58501 (701) 258-9525
info@naifa-nd.org
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