By James Lunders, Insurance Agent

Insurance companies, the good ones that is, have built trusted relationships with their clients. There is a bond that occurs between the people of a community and those who help them in their hour of need.

Over the past few years these trusted insurance companies have moved toward helping their clients in other forms of finance and financial planning. Insurance companies are now big players in the banking and financial management arenas. They have taken a holistic approach to helping clients not only protect their wealth but grow it as well. Today you will find an article published by the Associated Press that addresses this very issue.

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007
(c) 2007. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Your insurance company is likely handling more than policies these days. Investments, retirement plans, even car loans and checking accounts have been added to some service portfolios as insurance companies expand into the traditional realm of banks.

Accelerating the trend are baby boomers looking to build their wealth before retirement.

Many traditional insurance companies — with slogans like Allstate’s “You’re In Good Hands” and State Farm’s “Like A Good Neighbor” — have cultivated relationships of trust in insurance. They appear to have succeeded in transferring that trust into banking and management of their customers’ retirement assets.

A Forbes magazine ranking of the nation’s top 25 financial services companies, based on 2006 revenue, included 10 insurance companies, including State Farm, MetLife, Allstate, Prudential Financial and New York Life Insurance.

Bloomington, Ill.-based State Farm Insurance Co., the nation’s largest auto and home insurer, branched out into banking in 1999 and into other financial services areas a few years later. Through its 17,800 insurance agents in the United States, the company offers mutual funds, savings accounts, even car and bank loans.

“When you purchase a new auto, you need to perhaps borrow some money to purchase the vehicle and then you need to buy some insurance. When you’re purchasing a new home, you need a loan, obviously, and you need insurance,” said State Farm spokesman Dick Luedke.

“It’s planning for your financial future and insurance is part of that and banking is part of that and investing is a huge part of that.”

State Farm, a mutual company therefore not publicly traded, still makes most of its profit from insurance. Banking and mutual funds make up just 2.6 percent of the company’s accounts.

Yet State Farm’s bank held $13.7 billion in assets as of June 30, according to the Department of Treasury, ranking in the top 1 percent of all U.S. banks based on total asset size. Its retail mutual funds business closed 2006 with nearly $3.9 billion in assets under management, a gain of about $1 billion last year, its fifth year in business.

Bob Hartwig, an economist and president of the New York-based Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit trade group, said many insurance companies have branched out to broaden their revenue stream.

“The traditional insurance industry is very cyclical and can have some very bad years, such as years when there are major catastrophes,” Hartwig said. “For decades, federal law prohibited insurers from getting into banking and financial services but that depression-era legislation was swept away in 1999. For the last eight to nine years, insurers have been able to get into this in a big way.”

Des Moines-based Principal Financial Group Inc., founded in 1897 as a mutual life insurance company serving bankers, took advantage of the regulatory changes to transform itself, becoming the nation’s leading 401(k) retirement plan provider.

Only a quarter of Principal’s operating profit still comes from individual life and health insurance. The rest comes from managing securities, real estate and other investments in the United States and abroad. The company provides asset management and retirement services in Argentina, Brazil, China, Chile, India and Mexico.

Principal CEO Barry Griswell said the insurance industry’s transformation is due to the attractiveness of the financial services industry.

“The fact that we have the aging of the population, we have a lot more wealth created in this country. We have more families in the higher income levels creating a lot more savings,” Griswell said in a September interview. “We have everybody positioning for the future of the baby boom generation as they really ramp up their retirement savings.”

The baby boom generation is Principal’s growing focus, he said.

“When they start retiring, those assets they’ve accumulated primarily out of 401k and others will flow largely into individual IRAs,” Griswell said. “So probably the one area we’re putting most emphasis on going forward … will be the retail mutual fund. We currently have $50 billion in assets under management. I would like to see that get to $100 billion fairly soon.”

The trend is not expected to peak for many years, he said. Baby boomers are just nearing retirement, and those born at the peak of the boom in 1957 still have a decade or more of work ahead of them.

By James Lunders, Agent

Do you have a finished basement? Do you store valuable things in your basement? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you owe it to yourself to do two things this year as spring approaches. First, schedule some time to meet with your insurance agent for a review of your homeowners policy. In addition to making sure you have enough coverage to replace your home and personal property, make sure you are covered for the right things. In this case, the peril of “Backup of Sewer and Drain.” The basic homeowners policy in the state of Iowa does not normally cover this peril. It can be covered with a relatively inexpensive endorsement. Should your basement become filled with water due to the backup of your sewer line or the failure of your sump pump, you can get valuable coverage with this endorsement to help you recover. That brings us to the second thing you need to do as spring nears. Check your sump pump to make sure it is in working order. Due to freezing temperatures your sump pump does not often need to run all winter long. As things begin to warm and thaw in the spring, sometimes the sump pump is needed to do double duty. In addition to making sure your sump pump works, you want to make sure it is serviced on a regular basis and cleaned properly so it can do its job when needed.

Here is a helpful link to learn more about maintaining your sump pump.

You can also get a water alarm to alert your household of a water intrusion from the drain or sump pump.  This is another inexpensive step you can take to avoid the  inconvenience that comes with a water loss.  Water Alarms are available at most Home Improvement Centers:

Click Here for an Example of a Water Alarm

No one likes to have water in their basement. Make sure you have done all you can to prevent it from happening and make sure your insurance agent has you covered in the event it happens anyway.

By  James Lunders, Insurance Agent
Wake up, America! A financial crisis could be looming for which you are not prepared. This is the loud and clear conclusion of a recent Roper study about long-term care which shows that most Americans have done little to prepare for what could be one of the largest expenses they’ll ever face – their long-term care. The American Society on Aging (ASA) released the study.

“This study is a real wake-up call for people to start thinking about long-term care,” said ASA’s Jim Emerman. “People need to take the first step of getting some guidance about their long-term care needs. Careful planning can help preserve your options and protect your assets if you ever need long-term care in a nursing home, an assisted living facility or even in your own home.”

But the Roper study of people 45 and older shows how few are actually taking that important first step. More than four in five (86 percent) of the people surveyed said it was important they have enough money to be able to choose a long-term care setting if they or a loved one needs it. But only 37 percent have actually started saving money to cover those costs.1

At the same time, while the overwhelming majority (89 percent) believes it’s important or very important to have some type of private or government coverage for long-term care, only 17 percent have bought insurance that specifically provides it.2

Long-term care is for people who need help taking care of themselves after an injury, illness, stroke or disease. While most people think of it simply as moving into a nursing home, it can also include having a healthcare aide come to your home or staying in an assisted living facility. Surprisingly, 40% of the people who need long-term care are actually quite young, working adults under the age of 65 who need help after an accident or an injury.3

Why aren’t people planning for this vital need? After all, we plan for retirement, for college and other important things. The survey, which was funded by State Farm4, found considerable confusion about long-term care. For example, almost half the people surveyed mistakenly believe their health insurance or disability insurance will pay for long-term care. Others are not aware that Medicaid will only cover long-term care if you’ve used up almost all your financial resources. And, in the most telling comments of all, half said since they won’t need long-term care until they’re older, so there’s no need to think about it now.5 It’s time to wake up and change that way of thinking.

Given the fact that 71.8% of people over the age of 65 will need some form of long-term care, families need to consider long-term care insurance as part of their financial plan. Long-term care insurance can help protect assets, preserve choices and provide independence.

Families should at least be discussing their individual needs with someone they trust.

1 The Roper survey findings will be posted on statefarm.com® at www.statefarm.com.
2 Study conducted by Roper ASW, August 2002. Released by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and the American Society on Agency (ASA), April 2003.
3 GAO analysis of information from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Institute for Health Policy studies at the University of California, San Francisco. As cited in, “Long-term Care: Current Issues and Future Directions, General Accounting
Office Report to the Chairman, Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senate.” (GAO/HEHS-95-109). April 13, 1995: pg. 7. The level of coverage provided by long-term care insurance depends on the type of policy you purchase. Some types of care received may not be covered by long-term care insurance.

By James Lunders, Insurance Agent

When people get ready to walk across a public road, they usually look both ways first to see if any motor vehicles are coming. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case with animals, including certain large ones. Too often, the result is a motorist’s nightmare: a collision with a deer, moose or elk. The animal usually comes out second-best in this type of close encounter, but the toll on vehicles and their occupants can also be substantial.

Each year, more than 150 people die in animal-vehicle collisions, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says. The Insurance Information Institute estimates some 1.5 million such collisions cause about over $1 billion in damage annually. While animal-vehicle collisions can happen any time of year, fall is the peak season for deer-car crashes. That’s mainly because autumn is both mating season and hunting season, so deer are more active and more likely to roam beyond their normal territory.

No foolproof way has been found to keep deer, moose and elk off highways and away from vehicles. Deer whistles have their advocates, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says there’s no scientific evidence to support claims they work as intended. Some studies suggest roadside reflectors – designed to reflect light from vehicle headlamps and cause deer to “freeze” rather than cross the road – reduce crash frequency to some extent.

There are ways you can lessen an unplanned meeting with a deer, moose or elk. Here’s how:

•  Be aware of your surroundings. Pay attention to “deer crossing” signs. Look well down the road and far off to each side. At night, use your high beams if possible to illuminate the road’s edges. Be especially watchful in areas near woods and water. If you see one deer, there may be several others nearby.

•  Be particularly alert at dusk and dawn, when these animals venture out to feed.

•  If you see a deer, moose or elk on or near the roadway and think you have time to avoid hitting it, reduce your speed, tap your brakes to warn other drivers and sound your horn. Deer tend to fixate on headlights, so flashing them may cause the animal to move. If there’s no vehicle close behind you, brake hard.

•  If a collision seems inevitable, don’t swerve to avoid the animal; your risk of injury may be greater if you do. Hit it, but control the vehicle. Report the crash to the police.

•  Always obey the speed limit and wear safety belts.

Being alert at all times while driving is your best defense against any type of accident.