The TK Advisor - The TK Group Ottawa Blog about Life Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance, Wealth Mangement and Estate Planning

Insurance mystery, how can you be given two different underwriting decisions on the same risk?

We just provided a client with an offer for Critical Illness Insurance from two leading insurers.  The client is a 62 year old female, the coverage is $ 250, 000.  Offer from insurer A: Complete coverage with an exclusion for blindness and a rated premium of $ 897.73 monthly.  Offer from insurer B: Standard policy, without exclusion and rated premium of $ 864.68 monthly .

Underwriters at the insurance company are their top qualified. Critical Illness is re insured and the actual policy is offered through Manulife and Sun Life.

WE ARE GOING BACK TO THE INSURER TO NEGOTIATE A BETTER INSURANCE OFFER AND WE MAY JUST BE ABLE TO SUCCEED WITH NO COST TO OUR CLIENT.

I ask you, why would a person obtain an offer from an insurance company who uses the same re-insurer as all the other insurance companies. We as independent consultants have specific criteria when choosing an insurer for our clients, one of these criteria is the insurance carrier must have the expertise to underwrite your policy with the greatest probability of issuing a standard policy, and not due to the fact that the agent places most of his cases with one specific carrier.

BE INFORMED AND HAVE YOUR ADVISER FIGHT FOR YOU .

For a list of our criteria for selecting specific products as well as the insurer that will issue your contract, Email Milan at milan@thetkgroup.com and type "CRITERIA LIST" in the subject line.

What is your definition of SUCCESS ?

Several evenings a go I was invited to attend a private dinner in which there were 10 or so people in total who are successful in their various businesses  . Jim who is a successful entrepreneur in Ottawa , the presenter , did a fabulous job in that the presentation was more of a conversation one would have between friends in an open forum . Even though the people in the room were all not familiar to each other , the conversation was easy flowing and people were at ease. Jim asked us to think of what our definition of success was . Here were some definitions people came up with : balance in life , making a difference in peoples lives ,making millions of dollars , great health ,being happy and appreciating where you are today without saying I will be successful when ... 

I believe these are all valid definitions because each one of us takes their own definition and strives to reach that pinnacle of " success". In chasing success , I believe that one can lose their sense of appreciation of where they are I today ? What is important to me and what is just "stuff" ? I believe my definition of this success has changed over the years to adjust to my personal experiences in life . When I was 24 years old , I thought that some day I will be successful when I earn a million dollars of revenue in my company . I remember buying a Rolex watch , in those years every magazine showed successful business people wearing Rolex watches , thinking that this will make me successful . Our conversation was brought around to driving a BMW , unknown to me 6 out of 10 people in the room drove BMW vehicles of various kind , and one of the attendees said that the reason he bought his BMW was to demonstrate success . I understood very well to what this person spoke about because the first BMW i got was for that same reason .

I think that people should stop to rethink their definition of success and then make specific plans to achieve it . Life is a journey and at times we need to do a picture frame freeze and ask " who cares ? so what ? why is this important to me ? ". Do not get caught up chasing someone else's definition of success as I have been at times because you will reach a empty place where you will ask yourself "  why did I ever think this is what I wanted this in my life ?"

Buildin a team to help you grow your business! Where do you start ?

I have been learning a lot from my friend David Perry, recruiter and author, about business development . Building a successful business takes a great deal of work and one can not take the eye off the ball . What I find to be of huge importance is the  quality of people that we bring into our organizations . In the past , I did not know about what to look for when recruiting people who we need to be on our team. Since meeting with David and reading his material , a new sense of understanding has evolved how to hire not only executives but also staff .As business owners , we tend to concentrate on " what can  personally I do to grow the business ?" . Book titled Good to Great speaks of this need to have the right people on the buss , the people on the buss in right seats and wrong people off the buss. I work with many successful business owners and the story is similar , "If I could only find the right people to help me then I could take time for myself ". Business owners build strong organizations who are dependent on their input and to make the shift of hiring someone else to do their jobs is one filled with fear and apprehension . I think that business owners need to stop being "slaves " to their companies and the best way is find the best people to be part of their organization.

My advice , get help to recruit right people but know what you want that person to do for you !