October 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Kate Kinkade (Editor) Column

529 Round Up The Latest Trends in the 529 Market
by Leila Morris
• A look at the best performing plans, expanding access to 529 plans and more.

Providing Real Solutions for Your Customers
by Michael Pinkans, CFA
• One annuity product can’t be the answer for all customers. By wrapping a short presentation about the accumulation, distribution, and transfer goals, seniors will be able to choose the product that will work best for them and your sale will be the one that works for them.

Life Insurance Can Provide a Legacy of Financial Security Even During Uncertain Economic Times
by Ted Madge
• While many Californians have experienced unprecedented losses in home values, as well as significant losses to their investment and retirement accounts, it is important to note that life insurance can still be a strong source of financial security.

Voluntary Benefits Becoming Popular for Income Protection, Worker Retention
Find out how voluntary benefits such as disability, life, accident, critical illness, cancer and supplemental health can help protect employees’ savings if they can’t work due to an illness or injury.

Today’s Wellness
Programs Involve Careful Cultivation
by Marianne Jackson
• With the next-generation of wellness programs, employers are incorporating the kind of systemized planning and organization found on a productive farm and these programs are attracting interest.

Why A Wellness Plan Sells Itself
by George DeVries
• There has never been a better time to promote wellness. It’s the one solution in your portfolio that practically sells itself while providing a good return on investment

Helping Employers Ease Into Consumer-Directed Health
Plans and Health Savings Accounts
by Kristin Komen
• Many brokers have been slow to embrace consumer-directed plans, thereby missing out on the growing interest employers have in lowering premium costs and making lasting changes in the workers’ approach to health and wellness.

Our Annual
HMO Survey:Parting the Clouds for a Clearer Look at the Current Landscape
Each year California Broker surveys health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in the state with direct questions about their plans. We then present the answers to such questions here for you. We hope that this valuable information will help you serve your savvy healthcare clients better.

Advisors Renew Their Focus on the Market Value of Life Insurance
by Michael Cohen
• The secondary market helps clients get significantly more value for their life insurance. What’s new are increased numbers of transactions and broad range of applications that advisors are finding for a policy’s market value.

Life Settlements: New Landscapes in Information Security
by Sergio A. Franco
• Life settlement brokers provide expertise and guidance, but there will always be those producers with the know how, desire, and resources to transact directly with life settlement providers.

A Persective on Eye Care. The affect of Healtlhcare Reform
by Karen Gustin
• Find out why it is important to analyze healthcare reform options to determine whether the proposed changes will result in the quality of care.

Vision Plan Options for Kids Can Help Increase Sales and Promote a Healthy Workforce
by Sam Wishon
• The gains of offering vision coverage are astounding. It’s important for consultants to communicate this value – and the overarching benefits – to employers.

Overcoming The Challenges of Latino Enrollment
by Sharon Jacobson-Franz
• Understanding the challenges in Latino enrollment will help you overcome the barriers that keep you from reaching millions of prospective Latino-owned businesses.

The 401(k) Business: Keeping up with the Times
by Cheryl Courtney
• Now even seasoned advisors are pursuing 401(k) plans for their books of business and for good reason.

The Here and Now Solution of Rising Healthcare Costs
by Wouter Hoeberechts
• Patients in need of care and employers in need of cost containment are finding medical that tourism is like an instant-win lottery ticket.

International Health Plans: Buyers Beware
by Brendan Sharkey
• Given the choice, would you rather buy an international health plan that is secure and subject to state regulators’ standards or one that is not?