Sunday, December 5, 2010

December 2010

Well Friends... New year is just around the corner and it's now time to tick off all the new year's resolutions you made last year :) . Seems like an awkward situations right ?!!

Don't worry, we still have 26 more days to go... and if you are really serious about the resolutions you made last year and want to keep them no matter whatever it takes, it is time to show the world/yourself what you are capable of.

Two things mentioned above are worth introspecting...(and I have started realizing it myself as I write)

1. Is putting efforts in these last 26 days of year would resolve this real problem ? Wasn't the real issue more related to - making and following the schedule, making it as a habit, doing things on on-going basis.. ? Just by putting all the efforts at the end, would it really solve the underneath problem (of being lethargic, lazy) ?

2. Are the resolutions made for the world or for yourself ? Do you want to show it to the world or you want to show it to yourself and raise the bar for yourself?

Wake up Sid!!!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Kamlesh Rao, MVP

Hello Friends,

Glad to share that my friend Kamlesh Rao is now Microsoft's one of the most valuable professional (MVP).


Wow, such a great feeling to see his name as - Kamlesh Rao, MVP

This zest about having "MVP" next to our name started quite sometime back...(yes, even I was dreaming about it long back :)) but while it was just a dream for me, Kamlesh's dream was backed-up by hard work and burning desire.
I kind of moved away from it and Kamlesh pursued his dream all the way through... What a dedication!! I really admire that.

C-O-N-G--R-A-T-U-L-A-T-I-O-N-S KAMLESH !!!!!!

Here is the announcement: New MVPs Announced–October 2010

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Life Insurance Hiring Is Reborn

The hiring is not a response to positive results. In fact, sales of death benefits have been morbid in recent years. But insurance executives see potential in consumers rattled by the crisis and possible tax increases that would make life insurance an attractive hedge. And they need fresh bodies to make their case.

Read on: Life Insurance Hiring Is Reborn
Source: www.fins.com

CSC's Mobile Apps, Web 2.0 Software Extensions to Improve Life Insurance Customer Experience

CSC today announced the availability of mobile insurance enhancements and Web 2.0 and service-oriented architecture (SOA) extensions to its Customer Service Accelerator (csA) software to escalate insurance agent and policyholder self-service and improve the customer experience. A comprehensive customer service automation tool, csA combines a policyholder's contact history and policy portfolio in a single view for life insurance and annuity providers and orchestrates customer service workflow processes across a provider's diverse systems, locations and lines of business.

Read on: CSC's Mobile Apps
Source: www.marketwatch.com

Prudential, MetLife Are Japan Rivals as AIG Retreats

Prudential, which entered Japan in 1987, agreed to buy AIG’s Star Life Insurance and Edison Life Insurance units for $4.8 billion, AIG said in a statement today. MetLife expects to complete a $15.5 billion deal for American Life Insurance Co., known as Alico, on Nov. 1. Both firms sidestepped the worst of the financial crisis and are expanding in the world’s second- largest life-insurance market as bailed-out rivals retreat.

Read on: Prudential, MetLife Are Japan Rivals as AIG Retreats
Source: www.businessweek.com

Monday, September 13, 2010

40 Blog Posts About Common Life Insurance Myths and Misconceptions

Found this interesting link ....40 Blog Posts About Common Life Insurance Myths and Misconceptions
Good collection of myths!! Guess has collection of almost all the common myths.
Here is the complete list -

1. Saving You Money For Life A leading provider in term life insurance for people across the U.S. Dedicated to providing you with valuable information from experts on the topics of insurance, financial planning and personal finance.

2.
Life Insurance – 5 Common Myths & Misconceptions In this series of myths and misconceptions, highlight/demystify various false notions associated with Personal Finance.

3. Busting the top 6 Life Insurance myths These life insurance myths and misconceptions can result in too little coverage causing financial hardship for families suffering the loss of a loved one.

4. 7 myths surrounding life insurance Any mistake you make when buying a life insurance policy can have long-lasting consequences. And if your family is not provided for the way you intended, you won’t be around to fix it.

5. Five Common Myths About Life Insurance If you really want to provide for your family’s well-being, you’ll need more than that. The good news is that this extra coverage won’t set you back as much as you might think.

6. Top 10 Life Insurance Myths Discover the technical aspects of life insurance are far less difficult for most people to deal with than trying to get a handle on how much coverage they need and why.

7. The Top Ten Insurance Myths You Need to Know! Insurance is designed to protect one from catastrophic disasters. An insurance rule of thumb: If you can pay for the loss or damage without a financial hardship then pay it.

8. 7 Life Insurance Myths That Can Cost You The misunderstandings about life insurance cause many people to skip the coverage altogether, putting their families at great risk for financial hardship. Set the record straight on seven common myths about life insurance.

9. Dodge These Five Life Insurance Myths Term or whole life? Universal or variable? Decisions about what kind of life insurance is right for you — and whether you need insurance at all — may not be keeping you up at night.

10. Life Insurance Myths People who choose life insurance policies based on myths about insurance could end up making a costly decision.

11. Debunking Life Insurance Myths And Mistakes #1 Read about being underinsured with permanent life insurance may be the biggest single mistake that people make in buying life insurance.

12. 7 life insurance mistakes to avoid For most people, talking about life insurance sounds almost as fun as eating rotten fish. And while ignoring it can compound a family tragedy by turning it into a financial nightmare, more and more people are doing just that.

13. How (and Why) to Buy Life Insurance But getting life insurance simply because you think you might need it, without really understanding how much to get or the options you have is a mistake

14. 8 life insurance myths Would you drop a load of money on a new car but fail to learn how to operate it — and then lose track of where you put it? Of course not, but it happens all the time with life insurance

15. Four Life Insurance Myths for the Young Family Whether or not you work, your family will miss your contribution to the household if it disappears.

16. Myths about cash value life insurance Some of the things you will hear when an agent is trying to sell whole life, universal life, or variable life insurance.

17. Life Insurance Myths There are many myths surrounding life insurance, but ten in particular seem to be most common.

18. 4 Types Of Life Insurance Compared: Term Life, Whole Life, Variable Life, And Universal Life Life insurance is a confusing topic. You’ve got death benefits, life expectancy, surrender penalties, term risk, and any number of contract riders to obsess over and worry about.

19. Personal Finance Blog Many questions that you need answers to about life insurance are all here in this blog

20. Seven Insurance Myths That Can Cost You Much of what you’ve been told about insurance is flat wrong. And common misconceptions and half-truths about insurance can cost you serious money.

21. Buying Life Insurance: Debunking Myths and Mistakes All kinds of half-truths, myths, and common mistakes are associated with buying insurance.

22. Beware of Medicaid Myths Medicaid is the largest source of government funding for nursing home care. Despite what many people think, the government health care program for the elderly, Medicare, covers very few nursing home costs.

23. Clearing Up Insurance Myths Learn about the truth to life insurance benefits and what to beware of.

24. Debunk some common myths about life insurance Many people wouldn’t think twice about insuring the full value of their car or home. But when it comes to life insurance, 60% of families with dependant children do not have enough insurance to cover household expenses for a year if the family breadwinner was to die.

25. 12 Life Insurance Myths Here are a few life insurance myths that are commonly believed yet largely untrue.

26. Life Insurance Myths & More Life insurance isn’t exactly the kind of thing people like to talk about, but it is important. That’s why, when it comes to shopping for a good policy, it’s important to separate fact from fiction.

27. About InsureMe A free referral service that helps people find the most competitive insurance rates in the business.

28. Most Common Life Insurance Myths It is necessary to be educated about the realities of life insurance, and the myths that surround it.t

29. Know About Insurance Why people need Life Insurance in the first place. An insurance policy is primarily meant to protect the income of the family’s breadwinners.

30. Understanding Life Insurance From A-Z The best way to understand life insurance is to educate yourself. Buying a life insurance policy to fit your needs is easy once you avoid making decisions based on some of the most common myths surrounding life insurance.

31. Life Insurance – Myth versus Fact There is a lot of misinformation and outright myth when it comes to life insurance. Unfortunately, many people who would benefit from obtaining an affordable life insurance policy delay or avoid the issue simply because they don’t know the facts.

32. Five Common Myths About Life Insurance The majority of American households still are clueless when it comes to life insurance and are misled when the time comes to prepare for that time

33. Insurance myths There’s a few misconceptions about life insurance – like ‘insurers don’t pay claims’, or ‘insurance is too expensive’. Some people even think ‘insurance isn’t for me – I don’t need it!’

34. Biggest Life Insurance Myths Think you don’t need life insurance? Think again-we’ll dispel the biggest myths about coverage here.

35. Five Common Myths About Life Insurance American households do have some variety of life insurance. But some of us understand how to get the most out of it

36. Common misconceptions about life insurance policies dispelled. Life settlements* provide 300% of the cash surrender value on average.Most people don’t realize that there are options to giving up a life insurance policy or getting only the life insurance cash surrender value and 85% of all life insurance policies are never used.

37. 10 myths on life insurance Your questions are answered in this article about life insurance!

38. Nine Financial Planning Myths The Financial Planning Association reports that 86 percent of Americans believe financial planning is important to them personally, but less than half (46 percent) actually have developed a financial plan of their own.

39. Common life insurance myths In case you’re single, don’t plan to have children, have enough cash to cover your medical or funeral expenses, and don’t have any relatives depending on you financially, then this is mostly true.

40. Top 5 Life Insurance Myths Debunked Life Insurance is a very important step for the economic growth of any individual and this is one aspect that every working individual should give a lot of thought to. It insures economic security and in these very hectic times it is a must have.

Source: www.termlifeinsurance.org

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Reliance Life Insurance assets cross Rs. 15,000 crore

RLIC would be amongst the fastest private sector life insurance companies to cross this milestone in a span of less than 5 years”
That's what Mr. Malay Ghosh, President and Executive Director, Reliance Life Insurance says.
I would say, crossing figures is easy, what customer would look at is the quality and promptness of the service.

Read the complete article - Reliance Life Insurance assets cross Rs. 15,000 crore
source: www.orissadiary.com

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Globe Life Insurance Offers $50,000 Life Insurance for $1

Seems almost unrealistic .. but check out this site and see it yourself.

Quite funny .. when I visited Globe Life web site, I found following text for this scheme in the bottom of their site with the most faint shade of gray.
It read as follows -

"*$1 pays for the first three months children’s coverage, except in FL and MI where $1 pays for the first month of children’s coverage. Then the rate is based on your child’s present age and is guaranteed to stay the same for the rest of their life. †Policy Form #GWLC/GWLP, GWL2000 or GWLA000 *$1 pays for the first month’s adult coverage. Then the rate schedule is based on your current age and is
guaranteed for the life of the policy. ††Policy Form #GRTG or SRTCV **A.M. Best Company rating as of 6/10. For the latest rating, access http://www.ambest.com/."

Full story: Globe Life Insurance Offers $50,000 Life Insurance for $1
Source: http://www.damego.com/

Thursday, July 22, 2010

CSC Receives 'Positive' Ratings in Life Insurance Policy Administration MarketScope Report

CSC is one of 11 insurance software vendors whose 12 policy administration systems were evaluated by Gartner. No system received a higher rating than "Positive."
The fact that CSC signed five new policy administration systems deals in 2009 indicates insurers are looking to simplify their systems environment, speed and enhance support for new products and services, and improve customer service," said Michael W. Risley, president of CSC's Life Insurance and Annuity Division.

Read on:
CSC Receives 'Positive' Ratings in Life Insurance Policy Administration
Source:
www.marketwatch.com/

Monday, July 19, 2010

IRDA proposes tougher norms for agents

Jul. 18, 2010 (The Hindu Business Line) -- Hyderabad, July 18

Life insurance agents may lose their licences if the annual persistency ratio of their clients' policies is less than 50 per cent.

In an exposure draft on persistency in life insurance policies announced on Saturday, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority proposed norms for enhancing the performance of agents.

Conditions
It has proposed a minimum of 20 policies per agent a year and the first year premium income to be procured by an agent at Rs 1.5 lakh per annum.
If these two conditions were not met, the agent would have to achieve proportionately more in either one to make up for the shortfall in the other.
Spouses and close relatives of employees of insurers should not be engaged as agents.

Disincentive

Further, there should be a disincentive for lapse in the form of commission clawback by the insurer, on a proportionate basis, the draft said.

“These proposals would be a step forward in protecting the interests of policyholders, who stand to gain if persistency is high, both in terms of protection of life and profitability of the life insurance business,'' Mr A. Giridhar, Executive Director, IRDA, said.

Feedback on the proposals could be sent to the Authority on or before, July 31.
Persistency is the percentage of business retained without policy lapse or surrender.

Source: newsystocks.com