Round the table magazine . september - October 2014

Be an irresistible leader 12 | Retain and motivate staff 20 | 2015 leaders take office 43
ROUND the
TABLE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE MILLION DOLLAR ROUND TABLE | SEPT/OCT 2014
Caroline A.
Banks, APFS
2015 MDRT PRESIDENT
the

contents
WEB EXTRAS
www.mdrt.org
n WEB EXCLUSIVE
Read about a U.S. veteran’s benefit
in “Aid and Attendance” available
only on www.roundthetable.org.
n ARCHIVED WEBINARS
Learn about the topics of business
continuation, study groups and
business processes by viewing
archived versions of recent webi-nars
on www.mdrt.org/connect.
n WHOLE PERSON QUIZ
Highlight imbalances in your life
to target for change in the Whole
Person section at www.mdrt.org/
WholePerson.
ROUND THE TABLE | SEPT/OCT 2014 | VOL 42, ISSUE 5
PRACTICE
7 IDEAS
10 WHEN SECOND IS BEST
Create a prospecting system
that allows you to step in when a
potential client becomes unhappy
with their advisor.
12 IRRESISTIBLE LEADERSHIP
Engage with your staff and build
an environment of trust by follow-ing
14
three steps.
14 CALLING ALL AGES
Connecting with individuals ages
20 to 90 requires understanding
the good, the bad and the ugly
about each generation.
18 TIPS & TECHNOLOGY
20 RETAIN AND MOTIVATE
Knowing what your employees
want can encourage their long-term
commitment to your
business.
22 THE ADVISOR’S PLAN
Why successful financial advisors
don’t follow their own business
continuation advice.
24 THE OTHER SIDE
A producer shares a timeless
message of not losing yourself
in work.
PEOPLE
26 IDEAS
28 AT THE LEADING EDGE
MDRT President Banks stays
ahead of the curve to meet chal-lenges
and accept opportunities
head-on.
32 TARGETED EDUCATION
Christensen found success in the
senior market through intense
focus on their needs.
34 IMPLEMENT FOR IMPACT
Multiple sources of ideas help
Clairmont build systems to sustain
and grow his practice.
36 SETTING A FINANCIAL PATH
Shub looks to protect his clients
from the type of financial losses
he’s seen firsthand.
38 TO BE VALUABLE
Two members in Taiwan encourage
MDRT members to work together.
40 Q&A: JOHN L. GILFOIL, CLU, CFP
28

32
34
IN EVERY ISSUE
2 WELCOME
5 IN THE NEWS
6 IN MEMORIAM
55 TRUE TALES
56 LOOKING BACK
ON THE COVER
MDRT President Caroline
A. Banks, APFS, is photo-graphed
in London, England.
Photos by: Nicholas Liseiko
INSIDE MDRT
42 IDEAS
43 MEET YOUR LEADERS
The 2015 Executive Committee,
Management Council and commit-tee
Chairs are announced.
46 2015 MCC CHAIRS ANNOUNCED
The worldwide network of regional
contacts for current and prospec-tive
members is announced.
47 MDRT FOUNDATION
The new MDRT Foundation Presi-dent
and officers announced.
50 INSTANT ACCESS
Unlock the best of the Annual
Meeting in the MDRT Video
Club today.
52 1971 PRESIDENT:
RICHARD G. BOWERS SR., CLU
MDRT’s 1971 President died
July 17. Learn about his achieve-ments
within MDRT.
54 EXPANDED SERVICES
A new director is named, while
a longtime employee takes on a
new challenge.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014 | ROUNDtheTABLE.ORG 1
46
I have a high implementation
quotient, you would say.
— Tim Clairmont, Page 34

WELCOME
Looking forward
It’s a pleasure to introduce you to this newly redesigned issue of
Round the Table. As you flip through the pages, you’ll find every-thing
you love about your MDRT magazine, but with an updated
look that is easier to navigate.
We’ve structured each issue in three main sections:
1. Practice. Turn to this section for ideas you can put into practice. We
are committed to serving producers at every career stage. Whether you’re
hungry for prospecting ideas, technology tips or strategies for managing
your practice, or you’re seeking a partner to help you grow or pass on
your business, you’ll find answers here you can implement today.
2. People. The techniques and success stories on these pages are from
individuals just like you who have achieved success in this profession.
They tell us how they got where they are, how they engaged a new mar-ket,
or how they manage to both lead a successful business and incorpo-rate
balance as a Whole Person.
3. Inside MDRT. We’ll remind you of the benefits you receive as a
member of the Round Table, including the resources and programs
planned for you.
We hope these changes will improve the way you read each issue and
help you glean the best of what your fellow MDRT members have to offer.
In this issue, meet your new MDRT President on Page 28. Caroline
Banks begins her year in office by unveiling MDRT’s strategic plan, ex-plaining
the organization’s guiding principles and how they will shape
the long-term direction for the Round Table.
Beginning with the next issue, members of the MDRT Executive
Committee (see their bios on Page 43) will discuss the Round Table’s
future in their editorial at the front of the magazine. They will explain
how they’re taking steps today to achieve MDRT’s long-term goals.
Our digital presence has a new look, as well. Visit us online at
www.roundthetable.org to read this issue and access special content only
available there.
While the content in this magazine is ultimately funneled through
MDRT headquarters in Park Ridge, Illinois, the ideas come from all
of you around the globe. The words on the following pages are yours.
Please, let us know if we’re meeting your needs and if you have sugges-tions
for what else you’d like to see. We look forward to your input.
Kathryn Furtaw Keuneke, CAE
Editor
Editor@mdrt.org
Thank you for reading,
2 ROUNDtheTABLE.ORG | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014
10 12
MICHAEL MORROW,
CFP has found that
individuals who already
have a relationship with
another advisor are
still strong prospects.
In “When second is
best,” he explains how
to market to them,
knowing they will likely
one day be ready to
switch over to you.
Morrow is a seven-year
MDRT member from
Thunder Bay, Ontario,
Canada. Contact him
at michael@ideas
foradvisors.com.
ALESIA LATSON
thinks leaders should
create a trusting envi-ronment.
leadership,” she
describes simple ways
to increase employee
engagement. Latson
is founder of Latson
Leadership Group,
a consulting firm in
Boston, Massachusetts.
Contact Latson at
alesia@latsonleader
shipgroup.com or visit
www.latsonleadership
group.com.
22 55
PAUL WHITE, PH.D.
explains that few
advisors have done
succession planning
for their own business.
In “The advisor’s plan,”
he proposes an action
plan for advisors.
Based in Wichita,
Kansas, White serves
as a family business
coach to develop and
execute wealth trans-fer
plans, and diminish
tension around busi-ness
succession issues.
Contact him at paul@
drpaulwhite.com.
In “Irresist-ible
MEREDITH GAIL FINE
has seen what can
happen to a family
without life insurance.
In “A simple policy,”
Fine shares her first-hand
experience of
helping a friend make
ends meet after the
unfortunate passing
of her husband, who
lacked life insurance.
Fine is a two-year
MDRT member from
New York, New York.
Reach her at meredith
.fine@axa-advisors.com.

ROUNDt heTABLE
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE MILLION DOLLAR ROUND TABLE
Editorial Staff
EDITOR: Kathryn Furtaw Keuneke, CAE
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Scott Rogers
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Abby Puchner
ART DIRECTOR: Brandon Lane
COVER DESIGN: Michael Dorich
Editorial Team
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Stephen P. Stahr, CAE
STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR:
Pamela Brown, CMP, CAE
MEDIA RELATIONS COORDINATOR: Jennifer Schimka
MDRT Executive Committee
PRESIDENT: Caroline A. Banks, APFS
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT: Michelle L. Hoesly, CLU, ChFC
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT: Brian D. Heckert, CLU, ChFC
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT: Mark J. Hanna, CLU, ChFC
SECRETARY: James Douglas Pittman, CLU, CFP
To contact editorial office:
MAIL: MDRT, 325 West Touhy Avenue,
Park Ridge, Illinois 60068 USA
PHONE: +1 847.692.6378 Fax: +1 847.518.8921
EMAIL: editor@mdrt.org
WEBSITE: www.roundthetable.org
Round the Table (ISSN-0161-7125) is published bimonthly by the
Million Dollar Round Table, 325 West Touhy Avenue, Park Ridge,
Illinois 60068 USA. Subscription rate is included in MDRT mem-bership
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POSTMASTER, send address corrections to Round the Table, 325
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© 2014 Million Dollar Round Table.
Round the Table is published for the use of Million Dollar Round
Table members. All rights reserved. Round the Table is not to be
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is any portion of it to be reproduced without the express, prior
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Round the Table is provided as an educational and information-al
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insurance and security regulations and compliance departments,
pertaining to the use of any new sales material with clients.
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14 20 20
BRYCE SANDERS
shares tips for com-municating
with all
generations in “Calling
all ages.” As president
of Perceptive Business
Solutions Inc. in New
Hope, Pennsylvania,
Sanders provides high-net-
worth client acqui-sition
training to the
field. He is the author
of the book “Capti-vating
the Wealthy
Investor.” Contact him
through his website:
www.perceptivebusi
ness.com.
DIANE L. MCCURDY, CFP, EPC and THEODORE
S. RUSINOFF, CFP have learned that the best
employees are worth fighting for. In “Retain and
motivate,” they provide 10 ways to encourage
your staff to make a long-term commitment
to your business. McCurdy is a 32-year MDRT
member from Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada, with 16 Court of the Table and five
Top of the Table qualifications. Rusinoff is a
seven-year MDRT member from Hudson, Ohio,
with one Court of the Table and three Top of the
Table qualifications. They both were members of
the 2014 Staff Operations Committee. Contact
McCurdy at diane@mccurdyfinancial.com and
Rusinoff at trusinoff@gmail.com.
HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY?
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to read the digital edition and
enjoy Web-exclusive content.

MDRT
CALENDAR
IN t h e NEWS
member news | awards | calendar | in memoriam
Mark your calendar
to include these
important dates:
September 17
Top of the Table Annual
Meeting begins in San
Francisco, California
November 1
MDRT membership
applications mailed
March 1, 2015
Completed MDRT
membership applica-tion
must be mailed to
MDRT, postmarked on or
before this date, to avoid
$200 additional fee
June 14, 2015
MDRT Annual Meeting
begins in New Orleans,
Louisiana
COVER PHOTO
Scott Roger Lebin, RFC, a 14-year MDRT member from
Geneva, Illinois, was featured on the cover of the July
2014 issue of Retirement Advisor magazine. In the
article, Lebin shared how he’s learned the value of
maintaining perspective and remaining engaged in
life, and how he’s passed these lessons to his clients.
Linn honored
Gail Linn, CFP, LUTCF, a
10-year MDRT member
from New York, New York,
was named one of the
“20 Women in Insurance
You Need to Know” by
LifeHealthPro.com, along
with six other MDRT mem-bers.
The article identified
women for their thought
leadership, contributions
and successes. Linn was
mistakenly left out of this
announcement in the
January/February 2014 issue
of Round the Table.
Wealth manager
of the year
John T. Cross, a 37-year
MDRT member from
Hertfordshire, England, was
named the wealth manager
of 2014 by the City of Lon-don
Wealth Management
Awards. These awards rec-ognize
and promote quality
of service from wealth man-agers
and stockbrokers.
Satoskar profiled
Rajesh Satoskar, an 11-year
MDRT member from Mum-bai,
India, was featured in
the May 30 issue of Forbes
India magazine. Satoskar
is profiled in this special
edition of the magazine
focusing on the business
leaders of India. In this
article, Satoskar shared how
the growing life insurance
industry in India is trans-forming
the lives of millions
across the country.

IN THE NEWS
IN MEMORIAM
Richard G. Bowers Sr., CLU
Keokuk, Iowa
Age: 94, MDRT: 58 years
(See Page 52)
William H. Craddock, CLU,
ChFC
Charlottesville, Virginia
Thomas C. Cundy
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
John M. De Borde III, CLU, ChFC
Atlanta, Georgia
Robert L. Deets, CLU, ChFC
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Cleo F. Edwards, CLU, ChFC
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Colin M. Govan, CLU
Hampton, Virginia
Earl R. Hamm Jr., CLU, ChFC
Eastlake, Ohio
Mina Isa
Jakarta, Indonesia
Yoshimasa Kato, TLC
Tokyo, Japan
Buddy Leake, CLU
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Donald R. Martin
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
Sidney M. Miller, CLU
New York, New York
Abe Woodson
San Mateo, California
Best places
to work
McTigue Financial Group,
run by John W. McTigue,
CLU, a 31-year MDRT mem-ber
from Chicago, Illinois,
was named the seventh-best
place to work in Chicago
by Crain’s Chicago Busi-ness.
McTigue’s agency
was selected for allowing
its employees to forge their
own careers while receiv-ing
ample assistance when
needed.
Keystone Award
Brian E. Worrell, LUTCF, a
nine-year MDRT member
from Wyomissing, Penn-sylvania,
received the 2014
Keystone Award, presented
by the National Association
of Insurance and Financial
Advisors–Pennsylvania
(NAIFA–PA). The Keystone
Award is NAIFA–PA’s high-est
honor and is presented
each year to a member in
recognition of their service
to the association and their
work on behalf of the insur-ance
industry.
Passion after work
Seymour Petrovsky, CLU, a 52-year MDRT member
and the 1991 MDRT President from Prescott, Arizo-na,
was profiled in The Daily Courier, a newspaper in
Prescott, for his work raising defibrillator awareness.
In the article, Petrovsky’s efforts from the past several
years as a volunteer for the Prescott Citizens on Patrol
are detailed as he worked with the fire department to
mark where all the defibrillators are in most public and
business locations so that dispatchers would be able to
direct those in need to their location.

When you see a client
for the first time, what’s
going through his mind
is, You’re going to sell me,
and I don’t want to buy
anything. So, the first task
is to disarm your prospec-tive
clients. I tell all of
my clients within the first
10 minutes: “Look, I’ve
got lots of products and
services to offer you. I ha-ven’t
any idea which ones
LIKE A PLUMBER
are of any benefit to you, and I wouldn’t insult you by trying
to tell you which one it is at this stage of the game.
“I’m a little bit like a plumber. A plumber walks into your
house with a big bag. He doesn’t empty the bag on the table
and start selling you bits and pieces from his bag. Not at all.
He puts the bag on the floor and has a conversation with you.
‘What’s the problem? Where’s the problem? It is upstairs?’
When you’ve ascertained the problem, he takes the correct
tool and fixes the problem. Is that right? That’s exactly what I
do. I’ve got all kinds of products and services to offer, but until I
know what’s of benefit to you, there’s no conversation. Do you
mind if I ask you a lot of questions today? I won’t give you any
answers, but I’ll use that as a platform for our next meeting.”
— Barry Rebuck, TEP, EPC, Markham, Ontario, Canada,
23-year MDRT member
RETIREMENT = GRADUATION
USES FOR LIFE INSURANCE
This question helps to point out the need for life insurance:
“Would you mind if I asked you a question? Can you think of any
circumstances when someone has died, when the beneficiaries
would have been better off without the life insurance?”
Nobody ever can. In every case, the beneficiaries either used
it for income, paid off a debt, educated their children or — in
the worst-case scenario, where their own personal needs were
already taken care of — they gave the money to charity.
— Brian H. Ashe, CLU, Lisle, Illinois, 2000 MDRT President and
43-year member
“I will not recommend something you
cannot afford, and I will not recom-mend
something you do not need.”
Very simple, but it makes a big impact.
— Hitesh P. Parikh, Chalfont, Pennsylvania, 3-year MDRT member
COMPRESS YOUR TIME FRAME
This is an idea I heard many
years ago that has really
helped me in my career.
Consider what you would like
to accomplish 10 years from
now. Think about that, and
then shorten the time frame
to two years. That exercise
got me thinking in a big way
from a long-term, then short-term
perspective. By com-pressing
the time frame, you
can accomplish your goals
much more quickly, and you
also stretch your mind.
I added another step. If you
incorporate the seven parts of
MDRT’s Whole Person philos-ophy
into your planning, then
you’re planning for your life.
— Julian H. Good Jr., CLU,
ChFC, Metairie, Louisiana,
2011 MDRT President and
31-year member
When clients stop work,
they are actually gradu-ating
to a new lifestyle.
So, I’ve taken the word
“retirement” out of my
vocabulary, replacing it
with “graduation.” I’ll ask
clients: “How are you
going to graduate when
you stop work? Are
you going to graduate
with first-class honors?
Will you graduate with
distinction, or just barely
get a pass and have to
rely on Social Security?”
— Anthony J. Carlyon,
FAFA, F Fin, Cronulla,
New South Wales,
Australia, 24-year MDRT
member

I learned early in my career that the client is forming an opin-ion
of you every step of the way. They’re forming an opinion
before they do business with you, and even afterward.
After the first meeting, I go into my office and write them
a handwritten note on a personal card that has my name
on it. It says something like, “It was a pleasure meeting
with you this morning. I welcome the opportunity to be of
service in helping you plan for your financial legacy. I look
forward to following up next week. Have a great weekend.”
The key here is “welcome the opportunity to be of ser-vice.”
That’s huge. It reinforces that they’re getting helped
and there is service. The note is handwritten, there’s a
stamp, and everything is signed and mailed out the day
of the meeting. They get the card the next day, so in their
mind, the relationship is solidified.
— Evan Fabricant, Glen Allen, Virginia, 4-year MDRT member
MINDSTORMING
I have used a technique
called mindstorming to
solve problems I can’t
seem to get my arms
around.
The idea is to find a
quiet place where you
will be undisturbed.
At the top of a pad
of paper, write down
whatever your challenge
is. An example might
be, “How can I get
more clients?” Write the
numbers 1–20 down the
page. Write 20 answers
to that problem, setting
all judgment aside. The
first few are going to
be easy to think of, but
do not leave that room
until you have come up
with 20 ideas. What I’ve
found is right around
No. 13 or 15, you’ll get
the aha moment you’ve
been searching for.
— Katherine L. Hurley,
Falls Church, Virginia,
4-year MDRT member
Ask clients: “If there’s
one thing I could be
doing better, what
would that be?”
— Larry J. Glanz,
Farmington, Michigan,
16-year MDRT member
EDUCATE FIRST
Did anybody teach you
anything about life insur-ance
when you were in high
school or in college? The
answer is no. You learned
about life insurance when
you came into the life
insurance business. There-fore,
what do you think
your client knows about life
insurance? Most likely noth-ing.
Instead of trying to sell
immediately, I try to educate
and explain what life insur-ance
is and how it works.
This builds my prospects’
confidence in me, and they
understand I have a concern
for their future.
— Lawrence G. Katz, CLU,
ChFC, Houston, Texas, 58-year
MDRT member
HANDWRITTEN NOTE
IDEAS HAVE VALUE
When I am explaining our fee structure to prospects or clients,
I explain it this way: “We charge a fee for our advice because
ideas have value. Does that sound fair enough?”
The answer is always yes. No one will disagree with the
statement that ideas have value. I just started charging fees this
year and have had absolutely no pushback when explaining we
charge for our advice because our ideas have value.
— John J. Demboski, CFP, Santa Barbara, California, 10-year
MDRT member

Waiting in the wings 10 | 3 keys to leadership 12 | Communicate by generation 14 | Tips & Technology 18
Staff motivation tips 20 | Continuing your business 22 | Whole Person circa 1947 24
in
PRACTICE
EMPLOYEES DISENGAGED
13% of employees across
142 countries feel engaged
in their jobs. Actively disen-gaged
workers — those who
are potentially hostile to their
organizations — outnumber
engaged employees by nearly
2-to-1.
Source: “State of the Global
Workplace,” Gallup, 2013
SAVINGS SHORTFALL
57% of middle-market
American households
(69% of households
with children) don’t
save regularly.
Source: “U.S. Consumers Today: The
Middle Market,” LIMRA, 2014
LIFE INSURANCE OWNER-SHIP
BY GENERATION
Fewer Gen Y consumers own
individual life insurance (34%)
than Gen X consumers (45%).
More than half of baby boom-ers
report owning individual life
insurance (52%).
Source: “U.S. Consumers:
The Generations,” LIMRA, 2014
STRONGER TOGETHER
Producers are
more profitable
in ensemble rather
than solo practices.
Source: MDRT Bottom Line Survey,
2012

PRACTICE
Create a prospecting system that allows
you to step in when a potential client
becomes unhappy with their advisor.
BY MICHAEL MORROW, CFP
Whether you are a seasoned advisor
or new to the industry, nothing is
more important than attracting a
steady stream of prospects. We all have to put
ourselves in front of the public to ensure the
success of our practice. Prospecting is necessary
to a growing, thriving business in our profes-sion,
as we aim to create long-term clients. For
that reason, we need to be comfortable with the
uncomfortable. For many of us, approaching
unfamiliar people and asking for their business
takes us out of our comfort zone — especially if
we’re rejected. The sooner we can accept realis-tic
expectations, the better off we’ll be.
As advisors, we tend to be impatient if we
don’t land the prospect within a couple of at-tempts.
We often are ready to move on. However
prospecting requires motivation, dedication
and perseverance. With initial contact, there is
always the possibility of the prospect already
having a financial advisor, but don’t give up.
Your goal should be to get permission to stay in
touch with them. You can simply say, “I’m really
glad you are happy with your current advisor,
but would it be OK to stay in touch with you
in case something changes?” Your expectation
should be to get permission to stay in touch, not
get an appointment. This expectation will make
the process easier for you.
Once you have their approval, they join the
prospect pipeline. You can begin to slowly
demonstrate the added value your practice
gives, which they may not be receiving from
their advisor. This is easy, inexpensive and
effective. You’ll begin to be viewed as advisor
No. 2, and your efforts will continually test the
satisfaction level with their current advisor.
If they become unhappy with the services
MASTERFILE/ IKON IMAGES
When second is BEST

“We are happy
to be waiting
in the wings
and hope
when the need
arises, you
will call us.”
they are receiving from their current advisor,
they know you’ll be available to help, and then
they’ll be on their way to seeing what an excep-tional
organization you have. The belief that
time is the only deterrent to becoming their
primary advisor will garner the enthusiasm
necessary for success.
You need to stay dedicated and patient,
but also stay in contact with the prospect in a
non-aggressive way. Don’t overload them with
too much information or consistently reach out,
as this can push them away. There are many
strategies to help you get and keep your name in
front of your desired prospects. Mail financial
publications, send newsletters and email blasts,
or hold worksite workshops. To effectively pros-pect,
you must do your research and understand
what they want, how they feel and what matters
most to them. Be ready to educate, not sell. The
attention you give and the way you correspond
will help you stand out.
Systematic process
Prospecting is both an art form and a science.
Having systematic and planned prospecting
processes will garner the best results. Plan your
efforts to avoid procrastination and simple for-getfulness.
Choose your strategy, and place it in
your prospecting calendar. Consider adding the
following to your current processes:
n Hard-copy mailings. Fewer businesses are
mailing paper, so the ones that do get noticed.
Stand out with hard-copy newsletters, industry
magazines, term rate sheets, handwritten cards,
company fliers or postcards.
n Social media. Social media platforms are an
easy and cost-effective way to connect with pros-pects
and provide an ideal environment for social-izing,
sharing information and providing insight.
You can also research your prospect and learn
what could start great conversations. Connect on
LinkedIn, join groups they’re in and participate.
Follow them on Twitter. Become an active voice by
commenting, sharing or liking their posts.
n Email. Another cost-effective way to reach
prospects, email provides instant access for
them to learn about your company with embed-ded
links to your website. This method allows
you to know how your marketing efforts are
working with email metrics. You can tell if they
opened your email, clicked through to your
website and what they did once they got there.
Newsletters, industry updates, term rate sheets,
blog posts or even a general email message are
all effective email prospecting methods.
n Wow. Take your prospecting methods to a
new level and really impress by presenting them
books on finance, coffee for the office, restaurant
gift cards and movie passes.
These strategies will slowly create a wedge
between the prospect and their current advisor.
You want the prospect to think of you first when
their needs and expectations are not met. Re-cently,
I was in a position to find a new general
insurance broker. There was no one waiting in
the wings, no advisor No. 2 for me to turn to.
If a broker had been marketing to me all along,
I would have called them. My theory on being
advisor No. 2 was solidified.
Your ability to grow your business is based on
starting new relationships through prospecting.
New relationships need to be nurtured, and con-sistent
nurturing will open opportunities. Con-sistent
nurturing proves that you are different
from your peers who have given up. Effective
prospecting can be predicted by numbers; that
is, if you provide consistent value as advisor
No. 2 to 100 prospects, in five years how many
will have become clients? What result would
make your efforts worthwhile?
The next time a prospect tells you they are
currently satisfied with their advisor, say, “We
are happy to be waiting in the wings and hope
when the need arises, you will call us.” Don’t get
discouraged if this happens. Focus on providing
value and nurturing the relationship, and believe
in the potential positive outcomes of our efforts.
We need to be confident approaching people
in our community or business sphere who could
benefit from our services. Having lasting prospect
relationships is part of running our business.
There is no single best technique to prospect, but
from my experience, I have found if I can’t be an
immediate advisor, positioning myself as advisor
No. 2 has led to great success. RTT

Irresistible leadership
Engage with your staff and build an
environment of trust by following three steps.
BY ALESIA LATSON
PHOTO CREDIT
PRACTICE
“This is just a listening meeting. For 15 minutes,
I just want to hear your ideas, your concerns or
anything else you’d like to share.” Then, let them
talk. Don’t interrupt or dominate the conversa-tion.
In fact, only speak when the other person
asks you a question. The rest of the time, just
listen and take notes. After the person is done
talking, paraphrase what you heard. Taking only
15 minutes out of your day to listen will help you
forge a greater connection with your staff and
make a huge difference in employee engagement.
2. Disagree with grace
Disagreements at work are inevitable. The key is
how you handle them. Too often, leaders come
across as harsh when they disagree, inadver-tently
making employees feel inferior or that
their ideas are without merit. So rather than
abruptly tell people things like, “No, that will
never work,” or “You obviously don’t understand
the full situation,” when you disagree with them,
start by acknowledging and validating the other
person’s perspective.
This requires you to listen attentively and then
legitimize the other person’s point of view. It is
Leadership is a tough job. Not only do you
have to be adept at managing multiple
priorities, you also have to possess expert
people skills. After all, regardless of industry, a
leader is only as good as his or her team. Without
the buy-in and respect of your employees, you’ll
have a difficult time accomplishing the organi-zation’s
goals. The challenge, then, is figuring
out how to be irresistible to your team — how to
create the conditions by which people can’t resist
your message and vision, and therefore want to
align and partner with you.
Becoming irresistible requires that you attract
and connect with people, which naturally
results in trust and loyalty. That’s why the key
for any leader is to create the conditions and ex-periences
by which people want to engage with
you. Following are the top three ways to build
engagement with your staff.
1. Build rapport
The best way to build rapport with people is to
simply listen to them. When people feel listened
to, they are more likely to trust you and are more
eager to engage with you. To make listening a
priority in your role, start doing monthly listening
tours. These do not have to be long sessions — 15
minutes is enough. The point is to actually sched-ule
time where you meet with people informally
and just let them talk.
At the beginning of the meeting, tell them,

most effective when you can provide at least three
points of validation — that’s how the person is
more likely to feel like you actually heard what
they said. So, for example, if someone offers an
idea for increasing profits that you think is too
risky and won’t work, you could say something
like, “I see that your proposal is a reflection of
your commitment to finding viable options that
will increase our profitability (first validation). It’s
evident you’ve put a lot of effort into taking a look
at the numbers (second validation). And, you’ve of-fered
a compelling business case for us to consider
(third validation). We’re aligned in that we’re both
looking for a committed solution. Where we differ
is in how aggressive the plan should be and how
much risk we should take on. Maybe that’s some-thing
we can talk about.” Remember, the magic
number is three points of validation.
At this point, you can ask some open-ended
questions to get a better idea of the employee’s
thinking, or you can agree to disagree. But it’s the
validation that enables you to disagree with grace.
Now, rather than shutting down the conversa-tion,
you’re engaging the employee. This is what
creates irresistibility. When the employee walks
away from that meeting, they may not have got-ten
what they wanted, but they weren’t defeated.
And that’s huge to the engagement factor.
3. Offer acknowledgment and praise
Too often, leaders are so busy, stressed and
overwhelmed that they forget to acknowledge
people. But human beings crave acknowledg-ment
and want to feel like they are making a
meaningful difference in some way. Offering
acknowledgment and praise goes a long way to
building engagement.
Acknowledging someone doesn’t mean gushing
over them and touting unwarranted superlatives.
It’s also not about empty phrases like “Good job.”
Offering acknowledgment and praise works best
when you’re factual and pointing out specifics
that made an impact. For example, instead of tell-ing
someone, “You did a good job on that report,”
which lacks any type of facts or specifics, you
could say, “I wanted to compliment you on your
report. It detailed the topic in a clear way, gave a
strong call to action at the end, and was visually
very appealing in the layout.” The more specific
you can be with your praise, the more meaning-ful
it is for the employee. In addition to making
the person feel important, your words are giving
them clear feedback on what success looks like so
they can duplicate it in the future.
Remember that acknowledgment and praise
should occur frequently. You can offer a word of
acknowledgment in passing at the water cooler.
Often, it’s those little interactions that leave a
lasting impression.
Attract the best
If you want to be one of those leaders that people
can’t seem to resist — the kind of leader who
has loyal employees and a strong environment
of trust — then you need to focus on these three
employee engagement practices. Not only will
your current employees find you irresistible, but
you’ll also have a steady stream of eager poten-tial
employees (the best of the best) who want to
work with you. Ultimately, the more engagement
and partnership you have with your team, the
more rewarding the work experience will be
for everyone. That’s when the organization will
experience true and lasting success. RTT
The more
specific you
can be with
your praise,
the more
meaningful it
is for the
employee.
JETTA PRODUCTIONS/BLEND IMAGES/CORBIS

PRACTICE
Calling all ages LAUGHING STOCK/CORBIS
Connecting with individuals ages
20 to 90 requires understanding
the good, the bad and the ugly
about each generation.
BY BRYCE SANDERS
Should you ask for a referral via email or in
person? Is texting an acceptable form of
client contact? The rules for communica-tion
in the business world are changing. What is
acceptable to you might not be preferable to your
prospects or clients. Often, these distinctions
change from generation to generation. Although
exceptions exist, certain communication chan-nels
are more comfortable for people in specific
age groups. Before we market to prospects or
ask existing clients for referrals, we need to
understand what differentiates them from other
generations — especially our own.
Every generation has defining characteristics.
The good are the positive perceptions. The bad
are the negatives attributed to them. The ugly are
the vexing problems they face, areas where you
might be able to help. Once you understand this
background, it becomes easier to determine your
approach.
Silent generation: 1925–1945
People born in this period are approximately 70
to 90 years old today. There are about 55 million
of them, surprisingly not all retired. Many are
continuously reinventing themselves.
The good: They came of age during America’s
great postwar age of prosperity, the 1950s and
1960s. Many served in World War II or the Korean
War. This taught them the importance of chain of
command. They often worked at the same compa-ny
their entire working life. Unions played a large
role in the workforce. People were well-paid. The
GI Bill provided an excellent education at minimal
cost. They live comfortably in retirement with
defined-benefit pension plans.

The bad: They have a real concern about
losing money. Most live a comfortable lifestyle;
growth isn’t an issue. Their nest egg is their
safety net. This rational aversion to risk means
growth investments aren’t as attractive.
The ugly: They worry about their health. The
2011 PBS story “How Much Do We Spend on
End-of-Life Care?” explains “Nearly one-third
of terminally ill patients with insurance used up
most or all of their savings to cover uninsured
medical expenses such as home care.”
Let’s assume they are healthy optimists. Then
it’s likely intergenerational wealth transfer is
their major concern; estate planning gets their
attention. They may want to provide a college ed-ucation
for their grandchildren and great-grand-children.
If they were traditional bond buyers,
replacing lost income in a low-interest-rate
environment might be their major concern.
How do they get information? They grew up
getting letters and phone calls, but many seniors
are very comfortable with email. They watch
lots of television.
Reaching prospects: They open their mail
and react well to personalized letters. They are
brand-aware. They expect a high level of service.
Try to get them talking about the quality of their
current advisory relationship.
Reaching clients: You call and meet face-to-face
regularly. If your age is near theirs, they
may be concerned you will retire soon. Talk
about your succession plan. They have friends
whose advisor has retired or takes them for
granted. Would they introduce you?
Reaching family: Talk face-to-face. Lean on
the reputation of your firm. They might dwell
on a huge issue. If you know the issue, meet
privately, acknowledge it weighs on their mind,
you’ve thought long and hard about it. You
might have a solution.
Baby boomers: 1946–1964
In the U.S., GIs returned from World War II and
immediately focused attention on having babies.
There are about 76 million baby boomers about
50 to 70 years old.
The good: They grew up in prosperous times.
Real estate appreciation has been their friend.
Many are wealthy, active and physically fit. They
saw John F. Kennedy assassinated, Woodstock
and the Vietnam War. They danced to rock ’n’
roll and the Beatles. They wanted to change the
world. They are well-educated — college was
cheap. Many enjoyed lifetime employment.
The bad: A 2009 Zogby poll of boomers indi-cated
42 percent of respondents felt consumer-ism
and self-indulgence are their legacy. Other
studies imply baby boomers are micromanagers,
focus on material success and put work first.
The ugly: Recent corporate layoffs have come
at the worst time for boomers. They are deplet-ing
their savings after being laid off. Fortunately,
most boomers are still working. Your 50- to
70-year-old prospect is very worried about their
retirement. They probably have a 401(k) at
work. They should collect Social Security. That’s
not enough. It’s likely they will be focused on
putting money aside in tax-deferred vehicles.
Long-term care is a concern, too. They may have
“boomerang kids” who left the nest and re-turned
home because of the tough job market.
How do they get information? They read mail
and answer the phone; however, email was a major
technology leap for this generation. They access it
on desktops, smartphones or tablets. The benefit
and downside to email is it’s so easy and cheap.
They are inundated, so paper mail stands out.
Reaching prospects: Go for personal intro-ductions.
At this stage of their life, they are
wired in and know everybody. They won’t act as
your press agent, but they can easily arrange so-cial
introductions. Show them short lists of local
people. “This is the type of person I may be able
to help.” Or “This is the type of person I want to
know,” followed by, “Would you introduce me?”
Reaching clients: Face-to-face reviews. They
have spent their working life being accountable
and reporting actual versus target numbers.
They expect the same. Set expectations. Focus
their attention on progress to goals.
Reaching family: The best route is an articulate
family member who is already a client. Every-one
needs to know what you do. Without much
prompting, they can help make this happen. Be
respected as a problem solver. Layoffs or impend-ing
retirements are fertile fields for referrals.
Everyone
needs
to know
what you
do. With-out
much
prompting,
they can
help make
this happen.
>>

Generation X: 1960–1980
The generation following the baby boomers are
now ages 35 to 55. The U.S. census counts about
82.1 million.
The good: Their high-earning, dual-income
parents gave them a pretty good life. They are
well-educated, physically active, and spend
the most time of any generation volunteering
and giving back. While baby boomers wanted
to change the world, Gen Xers are OK working
within the system. They are entrepreneurs.
The bad: They are likely the first recent
generation to have less earning power than their
parents at the same stage of life. Their employ-er
loyalty is significantly reduced. They can be
considered apathetic and angry.
The ugly: As they pass their 45th birthday, re-tirement
issues keep them awake at night. They
aren’t making the money their parents did, yet
they plan to send their children to college. What
if something happens to them? Life insurance
fills a need.
How do they get information? Smartphones
are preferred to landlines. They are more com-fortable
with texting than previous generations.
They were around for social media but didn’t
grow up with it.
Reaching prospects: If they have problems
saving for retirement or college education, they
talk about it with peers. Advisors need to listen
and position themselves as problem solvers.
Your friends need to be able to explain what you
do and why you are good at it.
Reaching clients: They often prefer “coach-es”
to “advisors.” They want collaboration, not
instruction. Although they communicate by text,
you can’t do business that way. Can texting let
them know you need to talk or see them?
Reaching family: If you are a similar age, you
faced similar problems. Sit down, peer to peer,
to explain you are concerned about the college
education issue and found a solution. Recognize
they face a similar issue. What are they doing
about it?
Generation Y: 1980–2000
They are often called millennials or Generation
Me. There are about 88.5 million out there.
PRACTICE
The good: They are civic-minded and aware
of environmental issues like global warming.
They see injustice in the world. Wealth is im-portant
to them.
The bad: They are often called self-absorbed
or entitled. “Trophy kids” were often pushed by
their parents to excel in sports and academics.
Their job prospects are significantly lower than
their parents or grandparents. This requires
higher education and advanced degrees.
The ugly: They need to accumulate wealth be-cause
it will be necessary to educate their children
and make the down payment to get on the proper-ty
ladder. They may be headed back to school.
How do they get information? They came
of age along with technology and the Internet.
Having ditched their landline phone, they rely
on their cell phones. They text a lot. They are
less trusting of brands than their parents or
grandparents. They prefer peer reviews, going
to sites like TripAdvisor, Angie’s List and Zagat.
Social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook
play a big role.
Reaching prospects: Social media channels
can tell you who knows who, allowing you to
ask for personal introductions to people you
know. These can be business-specific, assum-ing
the need is apparent. Raising people’s
awareness of what you do is important. Unfor-tunately,
members of this generation often feel
information, advice and transactions should
be free.
Reaching clients: Like Generation X, they
want coaching and collaboration, not advisors
telling them what to do. You must meet face-to-face
at least once a year. Focus their attention on
their portfolio. In the meantime, phone con-versations
are fine. You need to hear their voice
confirming trading instructions or get a physical
signature on documents.
Reaching family: If they respect wealth, intro-ductions
from wealthy relatives are important.
These Gen Y folks are likely younger than you.
They respect success. Remember: People love to
buy; they dislike being sold.
Regardless of age, gaining name recognition
and getting on the radar is key. Reach out to
them enough, and they’ll know who you are. RTT
These Gen Y
folks are likely
younger than
you. They
respect
success.

VanNess Ave., California
Streets & Market
GAIN A N EW P erspective
AN EXCLUSIVE
BENEFIT OF TOP OF THE
TABLE MEMBERSHIP
www. mdrt.org/ tot 20 14
September 17–20, 2014

TIPS & TECHNOLOGY
life hacks | apps | time-savers
Track your valuables
While it’s useful to download a smartphone app that can track your device
should it go missing, the fact is many of us misplace more items than just our
phones — what about belongings like keys, purses, wallets, luggage or other
non-electronics? TrackR, developed by Phone Halo, has put together a suite
of easily portable products compatible with iOS and Android systems that
cut down on time-intensive scavenger hunts for such lost items by wirelessly
transmitting to your phone or tablet from the item’s location:
n The Wallet TrackR device takes up a space a few credit cards thick, easily
fitting inside any wallet. Boasting a two-year battery life, you have the option
of purchasing up to four devices — starting at $30 for one.
n For smaller items like keys, TrackR manufactures a circular tracker with
double-sided adhesive you can easily affix to key rings, remote controls and
more.
n The inSite product offering pairs both features from the above two — a
slightly smaller device that fits in your wallet but also includes the option for
a key ring.
Often, though, we don’t even realize when we have lost an
item until hours later. TrackR mitigates this issue via its net-work
ON-THE-GO TEMPERATURE AUTOMATION
of users. If another TrackR walks by your misplaced
item, the app notifies you and pinpoints its location.
A single device can track up to 10 items, with sev-eral
options for customizing sounds, appearance and
more. Visit the Google Play and Android stores
to download the app. Learn more or order TrackR
devices at www.thetrakr.com.
The Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat With Voice Control offers
users a unique way to adjust your home temperature settings remotely.
Besides offering simply another option to adjust your home tempera-ture,
the device alerts the user to extreme temperature changes in the
home, boasts a voice activation component and gathers information
about other settings in the environment, like humidity, local weather
conditions and more.
The Smart Thermostat is perfect for keeping tabs on vacation
homes or ensuring pets are comfortable, and is offered in a
full-color display. Users can set up alerts for filter changes,
extreme temperature fluctuations and more from any Wi-Fi-enabled
location.
Take advantage of the device’s range of programmable
modes to save on energy costs and enjoy ultimate home
comfort. The Smart Thermostat is available for $299 through
Honeywell’s website, http://wifithermostat.com.

What’s in
a hashtag?
BY DAVID BRAITHWAITE, DIP PFS,
2014 SOCIAL MEDIA COMMITTEE MEMBER
This year in Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
at the MDRT Annual Meeting, we saw
the largest number of tweets and Ins-tagram
pictures ever at one of our meet-ings.
Social Media has really exploded
for MDRT. From having been a part of
the MDRtweet team for the past few
years, and proudly serving on the Social
Media Committee, I am a firm fan of
social media being used for MDRT and
also within your business.
Using a hashtag lately has become —
in some cases — overused, and not
used correctly with people seemingly
just writing long sentences such as
#hategettingupinthemorning. The idea
of a hashtag is to group tweets under
one subject, in the case of MDRT, by
using #MDRT2014. You can then search
for that hashtag and view all the tweets
using this hashtag together. By using
a hashtag properly, we can see all the
tweets made in relation to that subject,
in one place, by people who we are
connected to, along with those who ar-en’t
part of our network. It’s a common
bond.
To put some figures to it all, at the
time of writing, members who used the
hashtag #MDRT2014 in their tweets
reached 8,758 people, and appeared on
people’s timelines over 9,063 times.
Head over to Twitter, and type
#MDRT2014 into the search box to
relive everyone’s experiences and com-ments
from the Annual Meeting this
year and beyond.
Focused time
With multiple electronic gadgets and other interruptions, it can be difficult to
maintain focus on any one task until completion. An old technique from the late
1980s builds a framework for marking tasks off your to-do list.
Francesco Cirillo created the Pomodoro Technique time management method
nearly 30 years ago, named after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer he used. The
idea is to commit 25 minutes to a task without allowing any other distractions.
When the 25 minutes are up, you are allowed a five-minute break before taking
Selfie help
A selfie is simple to take with a smartphone if you’re hoping to capture a photo of
yourself and maybe one other person. If you want to get the whole family or group
of friends, though, you’ll need additional
equipment.
The company iLuv Creative Technol-ogy
makes a smartphone case, Selfy,
with a built-in wireless camera remote
just for these occasions. The case is
designed with flat sides, allowing the
phone to be propped on a table or
desk to capture the moment.
Selfy cases are available for $50 for
iPhone and Samsung S5. Visit www.iluv
.com/selfy to learn more or purchase a
case in black or pink.
on the next task. Four 25-minute “pomo-dori”
complete a set, which earns a
break of 15 to 30 minutes.
The frequent breaks are
intended to keep your mind
focused and fresh, while the
timer forces you to manage
distractions.
Today, free Web- and app-based
timers are available at
http://tomato-timer.com,
http://tomatoi.st/lmow and
http://www.focusboosterapp.com.

PRACTICE
Retain and motivate
Knowing what your employees want can encourage their
long-term commitment to your business.
BY DIANE L. MCCURDY, CFP, EPC, AND THEODORE S. RUSINOFF, CFP
A motivated
employee
wants to
participate and
be heard.
One of the top requirements for a successful,
financially healthy company is to retain its
key employees. It is very costly to hire and
train employees, and then the employee might leave
— or worse yet, stay, and not be fully committed.
We take care to hire the best talent, so the
ideal outcome is to have the employee stay for
many years. For employees to make a long-term
commitment with the company, you must give
them a compelling reason to stay.
Employers have numerous options to retain
talent. Following are 10 ways to show apprecia-tion
for your employees’ hard work and incen-tivize
them to stay with your business.
1. Increase responsibility. Give employees
responsibilities that encourage them
to grow and develop new skills. Provide the
training and education that allows this to hap-pen.
Pay for all or part of the education, based
on their successful completion. If your firm is
larger, try to hire from within your company.
Promote employees who have taken on addi-tional
responsibilities.
2. Show appreciation. Employees need
to know they are respected and valued.
Often, stressed employers say things that are
not respectful or encouraging to the employee.
Remember to think quickly, but speak slowly.
Listening to your employees is a good way to
keep them from disengaging.
When employees do things right, acknowledge
their actions to develop and maintain a positive
workplace. Your clients will feel the positive envi-ronment
and want to do business with you.
3. Offer monetary rewards. Tie part of
your employees’ compensation to the
company’s overall performance. This helps to
align the employee’s day-to-day work with the
company’s financial goals and profit. If the com-pany
grows, so does the employee — a win-win.
4. Provide a benefits package. Offer
competitive benefits, including group
health insurance and retirement benefits. Ask other
MDRT members in your country what their em-ployees
find competitive or valuable. Communicate
the value of those benefits to your employees.
5. Think individually. Get to know your
employees’ individual interests to deter-mine
what is important to them. Select rewards
such as tickets to sporting events, public recogni-

Know your employees’ interests, and select rewards they will enjoy.
tion, lunches, handwritten thank-you notes,
flowers, gift cards or support of their favorite
charity.
Small, group perks are important, too.
For example, you can provide pizza once a
month, designate a jeans day and so on.
6. Offer time off and flexibility.
Understand your employees’
individual needs and the value their talent
brings to the firm. Flex time or extra days
off might be difficult for a smaller firm to
offer, but try to be as flexible as possible,
and provide reasons when a specific request
might not work. Can you give them their birth-days
off? Can they work shorter days (compen-sation
adjusted) if they have children they need
to pick up from school?
7. Conduct stay interviews. It is just as im-portant
to conduct stay interviews with
your longer-tenured employees as it is to conduct
exit interviews. Why are your employees staying?
What is important to them? Why did they come
to work for your firm? What would make them
leave? What would they like to see changed or
improved? Use this information to strengthen
your employee retention strategies.
8. Welcome employee input. Employers
must create an environment where
employees want to contribute their ideas, talent
and experience. A motivated employee wants
to participate and be heard. It is important for
the employer to listen to the employee and
let them contribute and feel valued. Create an
environment where employees feel comfortable
to speak freely, even on matters outside their job
description.
9. Define expectations. Having clearly
defined job descriptions might seem
obvious, but this step is often overlooked. It is
very frustrating for employees if they do not
know what is expected of them. Employees
need to know the company’s mission statement,
values and goals. It is important to communicate
if they change, as the employees are watching to
see if the company they work for is sticking to
their mandate and commitment.
10. Coaching staff. Your employees need
one-on-one time with a direct su-pervisor.
If you cannot devote time to them, you
need to have someone in place who can fill that
role on a regular basis. Ultimately, your employ-ees
still want to know they have access to the
boss when needed.
In general, employees must feel rewarded,
appreciated and recognized. Although monetary
rewards are not the only motivating factor, they
are a critical component. Work is about the money,
and almost every employee and employer wants
more. Treating your employees well will retain
and attract the best and brightest to your firm. RTT
WHEN TO HIRE By Richard J. Presky, LUTCF, CLU
When is it time to hire a new employee? Consider the following scenari-os
when adding to your staff:
Expand your business. As your business expands, your staff must
expand with it to ensure the work is completed efficiently. Otherwise, you
might have to pitch in where your time is not well-spent. A rule of thumb
that has worked for me is to have one employee with every $250,000 my
business earns in commissions. Each year, when you are mapping out your
annual business plan, take expansion into consideration.
Fill the gaps. When someone leaves or retires, there is an obvious
gap to fill with a new hire. Sometimes, gaps are present for less-obvious
reasons. If you notice tasks or areas of responsibility that aren’t well-cov-ered,
consider hiring another person to handle them.
Quality of service. To keep your clients happy and generate new
clients, you must provide excellent service. If the quality of service within
your business is deteriorating, consider whether it’s because your current
employees have too much on their plate. Hiring additional help can cause
everyone’s quality of work to improve.

PRACTICE
The advisor’s
PLAN
Why successful financial advisors
don’t follow their own business
continuation advice.
BY PAUL WHITE, PH.D.
Having worked alongside numerous financial advi-sors
for nearly 20 years, it has become evident that
their lives often illustrate the proverb, “The cob-bler’s
children have no shoes.” That is, while many financially
successful financial advisors are quite proficient in assisting
other business owners in developing a successful business
succession plan, a large percentage of them are delinquent in
developing their own business succession plan.
Why is this? As a psychologist who serves as a family coach
to assist business leaders and their families in developing
wealth transfer and business succession plans, the primary
challenges are clearly nonfinancial in nature. The fiscal issues
almost always can be addressed. What is left to be resolved
are the myriad of relational, family dynamics and personal
meaning issues.
Three challenges stand out that cause financial advisors to
delay putting together even a minimal plan:
1. You are busy
Here is the dilemma: Until you become disabled or die, you
will almost certainly always be busy, and the planning needs to
occur before this happens.
As Stephen Covey so brilliantly communicated in his quad-rant
of activities, planning falls into the “important but not
urgent” quadrant. The process (and the results) are import-ant
— they need to occur. But, they are not urgent, so they are
continually put off until some life event thrusts them into the
realm of urgency.
2. It takes mental and emotional energy over time
Facts need to be gathered. Some parts are complicated. You
need to sit down and become clear about your goals for the
business, for your spouse, for your employees and for your fami-ly.
This type of work doesn’t happen in 10-minute snippets or
even a three-hour session of intense focus. So, for the planning
to get done, it takes a commitment of time, energy and actions
over time. That type of process is more difficult to complete.
3. It involves other people
I’m not talking about your broker-dealer or insurance carrier,
although their involvement is important. What you decide
about the future of your business will affect your employ-ees
— especially any partners or managers you have — along
with your spouse and family, whether or not they are actively
involved in your professional practice. As a result, it is critical
to involve them and get their input.
Following are the relationally based issues that often arise
during discussions about the future of the business:

The worst thing
you can do
regarding your
business suc-cession
plan is
to think about
it but not take
any action.
have no clue what life after work looks like. So
we don’t want to think about not working. The
problem is — this really puts your business, your
family and your employees at risk should some-thing
unfortunate happen to you.
One solution is to create a life transfer plan. A
lot of people live a long time — longer than they
are able to work. So, think through a business
succession plan assuming you will live for an-other
20 to 30 years, but may not be able to carry
all the responsibilities you do now.
Action steps
The worst thing you can do regarding your
business succession plan is to think about it but
not take any action. Why? Because by thinking
about it, you can deceive yourself into believing
you’ve actually done something and have begun
to address the issues. Following are potential
action steps I encourage you to take:
Talk with your spouse, key employees, and
involved family members. Start by telling them
you understand you need to do some business
succession planning.
Identify an expert to coach you through
the process, which includes:
n Thinking through the relevant issues that
need to be considered
n Helping you design a process that includes
all relevant individuals
n Keeping you on task over time
n Assisting you, your staff and your advisors
with getting the needed tasks completed
Begin to talk to the others involved. Start
by finding out what they want, and hear their
perspectives. They may not be honest if they
hear what you want first and their thoughts
differ from yours.
Use your coach to help you work the plan,
step by step. Get some aspect completed, for
example, what happens if you die in the near
future. Don’t get bogged down by the apparent
complexities. Take it a piece at a time.
You have completed several large, compli-cated
projects over your career. Don’t let your
future, your family, and your employees suffer as
a result of not taking care of your future busi-ness
planning. RTT
Your future financial security. How will you
be able to monetize the value of the company’s
reputation and client base? Who you are now
and what decisions you make will significantly
impact you in the future.
What does your spouse or significant other
think? How does the decision impact them?
What do they desire for your future life togeth-er?
What do they wish for you?
How does the current management struc-ture
intertwine with your plan? Do you have
someone who is ready to manage the business
without your day-to-day involvement? If not,
have you sought counsel on potential solutions?
Fairness among stakeholders. When family
members (or long-term key employees) are in-volved
in the business, how do you make things
fair? How do you transfer equivalent wealth to
non-involved family members (especially if you
continue to live to a ripe, old age)? How do you
reward the “sweat equity” of those family mem-bers
who have worked long and hard for several
years, often for minimal financial gain? How do
you treat long-term employees fairly?
These key questions have to be answered
before you can move forward in addressing the
other related business and financial issues. But
there are two more challenges to overcome.
Uncertainties cause fear
Business succession planning is difficult be-cause
there are uncertainties. You don’t know
how long your health will be good, when your
adult son or daughter will be able to manage
the business, or any of the other numerous is-sues.
Most astute business leaders learn how to
assess and manage the risk associated with the
unknown. But when it is your business, your
financial future, and your family and employ-ees
involved, the decisions take on far more
personal relevance. As a result, the decisions
often are more difficult to make — thus, they
get delayed.
Finally, business succession planning is
sometimes avoided because you have no idea
what you would do if you didn’t work. For many
of us, our work becomes our identity. We love
it. We feel alive when we are successful. But we

PRACTICE
The other side
A producer shares a timeless message of not losing yourself in work.
BY SCOTT ROGERS
Many times, I have asked myself the
question: “What is the chief essential
skill to success in this business?”
Is it technical ability? Is it hard work? Is it
planning or time control? Yes, it is all of those,
but they alone are not the answers, because we
must also have something inside us that makes
people like to do business with us. That some-thing
is the warm glow of friendship and real
interest that radiates from the heart. Yes, this is
an important element to success.
A friend of mine recently said, “You can’t get
life insurance success out of a textbook.” And
taking this thought one step further, you and I
know there is no business where success is so
dependent on “state of mind” as is our business.
Our state of mind is what goes on deep down
inside. It is the controlling factor in how far we
go in this business of ours.
One night last July, I heard a down-to-earth
talk by an outstanding professor from the Uni-versity
of California. Much to the surprise of his
hard-boiled audience, his subject was: “Let’s go
over to the other side.” That subject could open
up many lines of thought.
For example, many salesmen possess a dual
personality. You have seen the type — a Dr. Jekyl
and Mr. Hyde. All day long, he has a big smile
and a sales personality turned on full steam,
but when he comes home at night, off goes the
personality faucet and in walks Mr. Grouch to
a wife who has had a rough job chasing young-sters
all day, cleaning the house, cooking meals,
washing and looking forward to his homecom-ing,
thinking it may be different. Her reward is
At the 1947 MDRT Annual Meeting in Swampscott, Massachusetts, Fred A.
McMaster, CLU, spoke to members about the importance of balancing work
and family life. More than just maintaining a proper balance, this 27-year MDRT
member from Newport Beach, California, made the case that members need to
give the same attention to their loved ones that they give to their clients.

Many
salesmen
possess
a dual
personality.
the same old grouch that left her in the morning.
With birthdays, flowers, getting busy, consid-eration
of our wives — yes — let’s go over to the
other side.
Then there are the kids. We tell clients all
about their children. We use the stories and
word pictures of Carroll Day and other great
men of this business as we talk about little red
wagons, little shoes, about Santa Claus put-ting
checks on future Christmas trees, about
his choosing a “W” for Wellesley or a “W” for
Woolworth for his daughter. Yes, we tell other
men all about that sort of thing, but it likewise
applies to us.
Have you ever tip-toed into your nursery at
night? Have you looked at that precious little
bundle of life lying there? Have you ever stood
there, looking down at that little fellow and
thrilled with pride as you have kind of thrown
out your chest and said to yourself: “Gee, he sure
looks like me.” Yes, in our own lives, I guess we
sort of take the credit for everything.
Let me tell you a true story about this taking
credit. My eyes are blue; my wife is a charming
brunette with beautiful dark brown eyes, and
our two lovely daughters also have big brown
eyes. Do you know what I once said to my wife?
“Honey, I know where our girls get their big
brown eyes.” She looked at me expectantly,
naturally thinking me to be the gallant husband,
but dumb me, I said, “Our girls get their brown
eyes from my Aunt Nell.” She’s my father’s sister
and 84 years old. See what I mean? Let’s go over
to the other side!
Yes, we tell other men about their kids who
worship the ground those dads walk on. Don’t
you suppose our kids feel the same way about
us? Have you ever had the feeling as you have
gone off at night to some meeting — and how
dry and boring some of these meetings are, or as
you have gone to make a call, or for a Saturday
or Sunday playing golf — have you ever felt as I
have felt?
“Gosh, maybe I should have stayed home with
these kids of mine,” I’ll think. But we shrug our
shoulders and excuse ourselves by saying, “This
is for business.”
I believe your wife and mine, yours kids and
mine — our families — I believe we are their
hero, just as Mr. Prospect is the hero we paint
him to be. Let’s go over to the other side with
our families. You fellows here are undoubtedly
on that side now. I know a wife and children
who have placed their dad on a pedestal, and
this man tells me his biggest job is not to treat
his family like the big shot they believe him to
be; his big job is just to be a humble regular sort
of husband and dad. So again, I say, let’s go over
to the other side and be a regular sort of a fellow
with our families. RTT

CELEBRATE NEW LIFE
The addition of a new family member to a health insurance pol-icy
brings opportunities for new life insurance sales. In my firm,
we do both life and health insurance. As you may be familiar,
when a new family member is born, their inclusion in the health
policy isn’t always automatic. In some cases, it requires some
paperwork to be completed. At least, an identification card must
be issued and delivered.
I always deliver this identification card personally and take
the opportunity to talk about life insurance. In my experience,
the timing is just right to bring this up. Because I already have
most of their information on file (because of the health insurance
policy), I take with me sample quotes for life insurance.
If they already have life insurance, the conversation starts by
suggesting a review of their current beneficiaries. This can lead
to a review of the current face amount and subsequent increase.
Remember, service always leads to new sales.
— Ana Sofia Rodriguez, Panama City, Panama, 9-year MDRT
member
Recently, as part of our appointment confirmation process,
we began asking our clients to bring in a family photo for
our records.
The idea came from our desire to humanize our client
files. I get to see the look in the client’s eyes, and I get to
hear their appreciation. But, our office team doesn’t benefit
from those experiences. They might get the occasional note,
comment or email, but the advisor basks in the warmth.
With our new client relationship management software,
however, a photo displays when we open the client’s file.
This way, folks in the office can put a face to a name and
deepen their relationships with clients.
It has worked very well for us. We even started designing
the office visit around collages of these photos, which I refer
to as our Wall of Fame. We’ve included articles written about
our clients, various media clips and photos of their families.
Our clients are thrilled we are not all about numbers and
money — that we remember who we’re really working for:
their families.
— Andrew C. Lord, CLU, ChFC, Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
26-year MDRT member
PERSONAL TOUCH
For the last few years,
my firm has been using
online webinar software
to connect with our
clients more frequently
for investment reviews.
Recently, to begin our
Web meetings, we
started displaying photos
of our advisors and staff
during exciting life events
(weddings, births, vaca-tions,
etc.). Unexpectedly,
our clients began sending
us pictures to share their
own families and experi-ences.
This small adjust-ment
to our presentation
method has further en-hanced
our firm’s image
and motto of “Planning
Made Personal.”
— William T. Spencer III,
CFP, Sudbury, Massa-chusetts,
7-year MDRT
member
FIRST IMPRESSION
“Interacting with
prospects in the
presence of their
family brings better
and faster results.”
— Brij Bhooshan Chandhoke,
Kalyan, India, 12-year MDRT
member
First impressions are often
lasting impressions. When
a new client comes to the
office, our staff greets them.
Once they are welcomed and
seated, I approach and make
a very positive, pleasant com-ment
to the staff, out of sight
but within hearing distance.
For example, I might say,
“Thank you for taking care of
Bob and Sue. Everything is all
set, and they are so pleased.”
First impressions can be
made by listening, as well
as seeing. The warm, gentle
comment has just reduced
their stress and formed a very
positive first impression. We
are off to a good start.
— Nan M. Zimdars, CFP, CLU,
Madison, Wisconsin, 32-year
MDRT member
FAMILY PHOTOS

our PEOPLE
2015 MDRT President 28 | Success in senior market 32 | Be a sponge for ideas 34
Financial disaster firsthand 36 | Members in Taiwan 38 | Quick business tips 40
SETTING THE COURSE
“Decisions made and actions
taken during the next two
to three years will have a
significant impact for the
next several decades.”
— Caroline A. Banks, APFS,
MDRT President
MEMBERSHIP STATS
Taiwan is home
to 2,114 MDRT
members.
HAVE A PLAN
“If you don’t know what
you want, you’re not
going to get it.”
— Jennifer P. Mann, MBA, CFP,
speaking about the benefits of study
groups in the ConneXion Zone at the
2014 Annual Meeting
WHOLE PERSON BEGINNING
Philosopher
Dr. Mortimer J.
Adler first introduced
MDRT members to
the Whole Person
concept at the 1961
Annual Meeting in
Bal Harbour, Florida.

| FEATURE NAME | At the leading edge
MDRT President Banks stays
ahead of the curve to meet
challenges and accept
opportunities head-on.
BY KATHRYN FURTAW KEUNEKE, CAE
NICHOLAS LISEIKO

| FEATURE NAME |
Caroline A. Banks,
APFS, considers
herself lucky to have
found her calling in life. The
25-year MDRT member from
London, England, joined the
financial services profession
at the urging of her brother in
1986 after her previous em-ployer,
Canada Dry, relocated.
The journey was difficult,
as Banks navigated through
stock market crashes, and reg-ulatory
and legislative change.
But, through it all, she has
managed to maintain lasting
success — and continues to
achieve more.
Banks has become a leader
in U.K. financial services, and
she is ready to guide MDRT as
it embraces new ways of pro-viding
its members value to
retain relevance in a changing
world.
As a newcomer to the finan-cial
services profession, Banks
spent a year teaching herself
the basics of the business by
working through case studies
— nontraditional training, but
the way she knew she would
learn best. Following the stock
market crash in 1987, Banks
was working hard, but despite
her best efforts, her produc-tion
was not keeping pace.
Needing a new approach,
she ventured out of the office
to soak up knowledge from
others. She finally gained
momentum and developed a
specialty in pensions in the
early 1990s, providing the
basis for her Independent
Financial Adviser of the Year
award in 1994. The award
gave her the confidence she
needed to go out on her own
and establish Caroline Banks
and Associates, a boutique
firm with a focus on corporate
pension work.
In a nation where regula-tory
change has encouraged
many advisors to leave the The Caroline Banks and Associates team
>>

TIME TO UNWIND
business during the last couple
of years, Banks is a leader in
the profession. Rather than
dwell on these new challenges,
she has found the silver lining
of new opportunities. Today,
her firm — with a focus on
holistic financial planning — is
one of about 400 in the U.K.
with corporate Chartered
Financial Planners status.
She also holds some of the
highest-ranking U.K. financial
planning designations — as an
individual Chartered Finan-cial
Planner, Associate of the
Personal Finance Society,
and affiliate of the worldwide
Society of Trust and Estate
Practitioners — far exceeding
the minimum credentials ad-visors
must retain in the new
legislative environment. The
standards of advice in the U.K.
have been raised, and Banks
aims to stay far above the
requirements, ensuring her
firm is trusted and her clients
receive the best advice.
This dedication to achiev-ing
high levels within the
profession opened a door for
Banks just when she needed
it. Following the departure of
a key staff member from her
firm at the end of 2012, Banks
increased her level of support
staff, but continued to seek
a longer-term solution that
would allow her firm to remain
independent and provide the
same level of service, while
also complying with the new
regulatory requirements that
took effect in January 2013. She
recently decided to become a
member of an exclusive net-work
that only accepts mem-bers
at chartered status — an
important distinction for Banks.
“For a small company to be
independent is becoming even
more difficult because of the
hours of due diligence to meet
the regulators’ requirements
of independence,” Banks ex-plained.
“But, it’s a huge part
of who I am to want to remain
completely independent.”
The relationship with the
firm, which was finalized in
June, ultimately allows Banks
“
and her staff to spend more
time on client-facing work,
and less time on backroom
operations. “It takes out layers
of complexity,” Banks said. “I
can drop some of the admin-istration
on the business so I
can go back to what I’m best
at: meeting with clients.”
Banks has found a safe place
in MDRT when it comes to the
change facing this profession.
It both provides the inspira-tion
and motivation to remind
advisors why they do what they
do, and offers access to other
high-achieving professionals
who have encountered similar
situations and prevailed.
With a time-consuming schedule of running a
successful business and serving as a member of the
Executive Committee, Banks has learned to sched-ule
time for health and relaxation. “There’s a lot of
clutter going on,” she said.
Banks is committed to exercising most days of the
week, including regular appointments for Pilates,
yoga and weight training. Time with her loved ones
is added to the weekly schedule, as well. Most
Sundays, Banks cooks a family dinner, when she and
her husband, David Rogers, are joined by his adult
daughter, Rebecca, and their granddaughter, Roxie, 9,
and any other family members who wish to come.
Banks’ home is her sanctuary — a 400-year-old
thatched-roof cottage she bought in 1982. When the
hour-long train ride separating her home from her
office in the West End of London is not enough to
disconnect from the stresses of everyday life, Banks
and Rogers escape to Menorca, one of the Balearic
Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
If you are
ready to
listen, MDRT
has something
to offer.
”
Banks with
stepdaughter,
Rebecca, and
granddaughter,
Roxie

MDRT’s focus on devel-oping
as a person — and as a
businessperson — is some-thing
Banks said she can’t get
anywhere else. She remem-bers
being blown away by her
first MDRT Annual Meeting
in 1990 in San Francisco,
California. If you are ready
to listen, she said, MDRT has
something to offer, wheth-er
it’s a tip to improve your
personal life or a technique to
use in your business.
MDRT’s strategic
initiatives
As Banks takes office Sep-tember
1 as MDRT’s 89th
President, her role is to lead
the organization’s efforts to
deliver value to MDRT’s glob-al
membership — a charge
Banks said is being negoti-ated
by an ongoing strategic
planning effort. The planning
process has been long and
intense, involving member
input from around the globe
via surveys, in-person and
virtual brainstorming ses-sions,
as well as discussions
with industry partners. “The
process to get where we have
has been quite extraordinary,”
Banks said.
The strategic planning pro-cess
provides the organization
clear direction and clear focus
through a set of five principles:
1. Organizational indepen-dence
— steadfast adher-ence
to MDRT’s best interests
2. Highest standard of
excellence — offering the
best to the most accomplished
3. Value and self-worth to
the member — providing
personal and business devel-opment
opportunities
4. Member connectivity —
sharing common experi-ences
and unique insights
5. Ethical behavior —
behaving professionally
with the highest standards
“Every decision made is
tested against MDRT’s guiding
principles,” Banks explained.
“It’s a yes or no: Does it meet
that standard?
“Decisions made and actions
taken during the next two
to three years will have a
significant impact for the next
several decades. The strategic
planning we are undertaking
aims to ensure the decisions
are the correct ones.”
One of the big questions
behind the strategic planning
effort is how to enhance value
to members in ways that are
relevant to them. “It is our re-sponsibility
to ensure MDRT
remains relevant in each of
our lives, whoever we are
and wherever we are from,”
she said during her Annual
Meeting address from Main
Platform.
The first step is a new plat-form
for delivering relevant
content for members that is
accessible any time, any day on
the redesigned MDRT web-site,
expected to launch before
the close of 2014.
“We will continue to pro-mote
success and achievement
through connecting people
and ideas,” Banks said in June
from Main Platform. “We will
provide ongoing innovative
experiences. We will help
further develop meaningful
relationships. We will provide
more opportunities to develop
our global leaders, and all the
time ensure we enhance and
never compromise our brand,
known worldwide for excel-lence:
MDRT.” RTT
Banks and her husband, David Rogers

PEOPLE
TARGETED
education
Christensen found success in the senior
market through intense focus on their needs.
BY ELIZABETH FUHRMAN
W. Robin Christensen, FICF,
LUTCF, believes he is best-suited
to work with people 60 and older,
and the reason is not without intention.
At his first MDRT Annual Meeting in 2003,
the 12-year MDRT member from Pensacola,
Florida, sat down with a few members who
were eager to help him improve business. One
emphasized the importance of specializing in
a marketplace. Christensen realized he already
had a natural focus on seniors, but he took his
fellow member’s advice to get properly educated
on the market — before his competition did.
Christensen became certified in areas of
retirement income, long-term care and work-ing
with seniors. He took a course on Social
Security planning and also on the veteran’s Aid
and Attendance benefit. He regularly attends
senior-related conferences around the country.
Christensen also listens to the CDs from MDRT
Annual Meetings — where he gets his best ideas
to deal with the senior market.
“If you are going to be in the senior market-place,
to do a good job for them, you need to be
educated,” Christensen said. “You need to be ed-ucated
in Social Security, the veteran’s benefit,
in Medicaid planning and income planning.”
Today, 95 percent of Christensen’s clients are
60 and older. He primarily deals in fixed annu-ities
and life insurance, and he has found his
niche in pre- and post-retirement planning.
Retirement planning gives Christensen plenty
to talk about with his clients, from legal issues
including durable power of attorney and health
care surrogates, along with tax issues, individual
retirement arrangements and required minimum
distributions. Christensen brings in a board-cer-tified
elder law attorney and a certified public
accountant if necessary for his clients.
His clients’ top concern is to be financial-ly
independent by having a secure income to
match their lifestyle income. Many of them are
also concerned about protecting and preserving
assets for their family.
His extensive knowledge about their specific
needs maintains their loyalty.
MDRT PARTICIPATION LEADS TO SUCCESS
Interacting with other members at an Annual Meeting helped Christensen
learn the power of specializing, ultimately leading to his success in the
senior market. Listening to Annual Meeting tapes on topics of interest to his
market helps him continue to grow his business.
Today, he encourages other MDRT members to go to Annual Meetings
and participate.
“I was told that was something I should do from somebody I like and
respect, and that’s what I did,” he said. “That has paid off big dividends. If
you are going to stay in the business, you want to volunteer. You want to
serve MDRT any way they ask you to because you will meet friends.”

ant information to share and that he will be in
contact. If the referral is someone the client
says would be a good prospect but doesn’t know
well, Christensen mails a letter to let the referral
know he does business with the client and to let
him know if he can be of service.
Christensen also markets himself by sending
direct mail letters informing potential clients
of a benefit they might not be aware of and lets
them know someone will follow up by phone.
He employs a person to make the calls to sched-ule
phone appointments. In a 15- to 20-minute
phone call, Christensen can qualify the poten-tial
client, find out about assets and discover
whether they are nice. Christensen also employs
someone to process of all the applications.
In addition, the elder law attorney and cer-tified
public account Christensen works with
refer him because he refers them.
“I try to be referable,” he said. “I let people
know that I’ve put their practice up there and
given them access to my clients. I know they are
really on the same page with me and put their
people first.”
Moving forward, Christensen plans to contin-ue
his focus on the senior market, but he intends
to also include those who are 55 and older.
“Once you learn about the senior market and
understand it, retirees are very respectful of
your time,” he said. “They are very loyal.”
Christensen’s clients continue to come to him
for advice because they trust him, and he puts
their best interests first.
“If you are educating, organizing, serving
and helping people, you are going to get their
business,” he said. “Doing beneficiary audits,
putting their affairs in order and talking about
the wills, about the durable power of attorney,
Medicaid and the veteran’s benefit, along with
doing proactive planning, is what makes people
want to do business with you.” RTT
Elizabeth Fuhrman is a freelance writer and editor.
“The education is what makes clients come
back because they know that I know what their
circumstances are and what they will be in the
future,” he said. “If you live long enough, you
are going to need some help. They know they
may not need the benefits I provide today, but
they want to do business with me because of the
experience, wisdom and knowledge I have from
working with other people. This is a business
where experience matters.”
It took Christensen a couple of years to break
into the business because his practice was all
over the board. He was writing people in their
20s and in their 60s. Luckily, the older genera-tion
is good about giving referrals, he said, so his
business grew.
Christensen still gets a fair amount of referrals
because he makes it a point to tell his clients he
is trying to grow his practice. To alleviate their
concerns, he tells his clients exactly how he will
contact their friends.
His favorite way to contact the referral is
to make a personal introduction by taking the
client and referral out to lunch. If the referral is
too busy for lunch, Christensen tells the client
to let the referral know he has some import-
CONTACT:
Robin Christensen
w.robin.christensen@
READ MORE about the veteran’s mwarep.org
Aid and Attendance benefit at
www.roundthetable.org.

Implement for impact
Multiple sources of ideas help Clairmont build systems
to sustain and grow his practice.
BY ELIZABETH FUHRMAN
OCEAN/CORBIS
Timothy Daniel Clairmont, CFP,
MSFS, likes trying new ideas. In fact,
he joined three coaching programs last
year, in addition to trying new ideas he learns at
MDRT and Top of the Table meetings.
“I have a high-implementation quotient, you
would say,” the four-year MDRT member from
Lake Oswego, Oregon, explained. “Everything
I hear, I pretty much try, and we decide to
either keep it or discard. It’s harder for me to
hear new ideas now because we have tried and
implemented so many things.”
From marketing strategies, systems manual
work and employee benefits, Clairmont has
implemented dozens of ideas over the years,
and they all positively impacted his business,
Clear Financial Partners. His objective cur-rently
is to streamline his business as much as
possible so it can be replicated.
“We are going to be bringing on other
advisors who are in this line of work and
allowing them to utilize all of our systems,
our systems manual, our process and even
our brand if they would like to be a branch
of my firm, and still maintain their autonomy,”
Clairmont explained. “They can benefit from
all the work we’ve done. The more streamlined
and systemized our process is, the easier it is to
transfer that structure and hopefully enhance
the success of other financial advisors.”
Right out of college in 1997, Clairmont was
hired as an independent contractor. He had the
intention of gaining experience in this role and
then returning to school a year later to become a
tax attorney. After a year working as a financial
planner, Clairmont realized he was born for the
profession and has since been with the same
company for the past 17 years.
Clear Financial Partners provides comprehen-sive
financial planning, primarily for the baby
boomer demographic. Most of its clients typi-cally
are married with a family and upper-mid-dle-
class with a net worth between $500,000
and $3 million.
Like most baby boomers, Clear Financial
Partners’ clients are trying to figure out how
they can get their maximum income stream out
without running out of money, hopefully leaving

PEOPLE
which rewards anyone who provides a referral
or brings someone to one of the company’s work-shops.
Any client who provides a referral during
the past year gets to attend a major event, which
this year included hanging out in the party
suite at the Portland Trailblazers game with
Portland alumni players, cheerleaders and the
team mascot.
“I decided that as far as marketing is con-cerned,
the best resource I have is my clients, so
every marketing dollar that I can think of I try to
turn back into how can I provide an amazing ex-perience
for my clients so they can’t stop talking
about how awesome we are,” Clairmont said.
With that in mind, about five years ago,
Clairmont started client appreciation events for
its four levels of clients: Pearls (assets less than
$250,000), Opals ($250,000 in assets), Ruby
($500,000 in assets) and Diamond ($1 million
or more in assets). Events range from fami-ly-
oriented events to equestrian wine tours and
dinner cruises.
Another idea that Clairmont learned from
a coaching program is hosting workshops.
Last year, Clear Financial Partners hosted four
workshops, and this year has plans for six to
which clients are encouraged to bring interested
friends. The workshops include a plated dinner
at a local restaurant. There, Clairmont will
speak for about 45 minutes, providing tax and
economic updates, along with other financial
topics such as long-term care.
“The workshops really tie in with the client
advocate programs because if you don’t have an
easy way for your clients to refer you, then it’s not
easy for them to do it,” Clairmont said. “Not ev-eryone
wants to come in for an appointment.” RTT
Elizabeth Fuhrman is a freelance writer and editor.
some behind for their kids. Clairmont helps
clients deal with their aging parents’ long-term-care
issues.
“Trying to assist them with that process is one
of the next value-adds we are trying to work on
right now,” Clairmont said.
Clairmont’s primary role is to conduct face-to-
face meetings with clients all day. Clear
Financial Partners’ CEO, Chris Oswalt, manages
all of the client portfolios in addition to man-aging
the staff. The team includes a COO, Dan
Willey, who manages team operations and han-dles
processing business, prepping paperwork
and getting paperwork face to face with clients,
in addition to preparing Clairmont for appoint-ments.
The COO works with two administra-tive
executives and is in the process of hiring
another operations specialist. The team also has
a marketing executive, who handles marketing,
regular mailings and website updates. Six years
ago, Clear Financial Partners added another ad-visor,
to whom Clairmont started transitioning
his surplus of clients. A couple of years ago, the
company added a third advisor, who is also an
attorney and can take care of much of the legal
work that many clients need. The two advisors
share an assistant.
Clairmont loves seeing the growth of his team
and is ready to bring on more advisors. “Orig-inally
I wanted to bring on new advisors from
right out of college, the way that I came into this
business, but it takes too long to train them,” he
said. “It takes three to five years to get them up
and running, and I can’t impact as many people
that way. Instead, I’d rather bring on advisors
who have already been doing this and struggling
for the last two to five years and/or just have
plateaued and want to get to that next level. I’ve
already been through so many of those levels,
and I want to build the ability for them to get to
the same point where I am.”
Clairmont’s business grew exclusively through
referrals since 1997 until early 2013, when he
joined a coaching program and began a more
robust marketing approach. Clear Financial
Partners now sends out monthly mailers to its
top clients providing updated information, as
well as promoting its client advocate program,
CONTACT:
Tim Clairmont
tclairmont@clearfp.com.
“I provide an amazing
experience for my clients so
they can’t stop talking about
how awesome we are.”

PEOPLE
Setting a financial path
Shub looks to protect his clients from the type of financial
losses he’s seen firsthand.
BY SCOTT ROGERS
Daniel B. Shub emigrated to the U.S. in
April 1994 from Ukraine. At the time,
Ukraine had only been an independent
country for three years, rather than a republic
of the now-defunct Soviet Union. A 21-year-old
then, Shub remembers this moment well, along
with the cost that came with it.
“I have personally experienced a little-known
economic depression when Ukraine became in-dependent,
as the country changed its currency
several times,” he said. “Most people lost their
life savings. I remember when my grandmother
told me after one of the shifts in the currency
that everything she had saved for the past 30
years was now just enough to buy a few loaves
of bread.”
This moment led Shub, a two-year MDRT
member from Troy, Michigan, to join the finan-cial
services profession to ensure others would
never go through a similar situation if he could
help it.
When Shub first arrived in the U.S., it was
with a bachelor’s in electrical engineering he
had obtained while still in Ukraine. Yet, he de-cided
to follow his instincts and enter this field,
officially beginning his career in 1997 as an agent
for Farmers Insurance Group. “My success in
my early years I attribute to my district manager
and mentor, Tom Tucker,” he said. “He was the
reason I started in this business, and he was the
one person who taught me the basics and the
impact life insurance can have on families when
they need it the most.”
From 1997 to 2001, Shub rented office space in
his district office selling life and property-casu-alty
insurance. Thanks to the persistency from
Tucker, he said, Shub became one of his dis-

Round the table magazine . september - October 2014

Round the table magazine . september - October 2014

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Round the table magazine . september - October 2014