Volume 6, Issue 1

Fall 2009

Tennessee Advisor

NAIFA TENNESSEE

NAIFA Tennessee Board of Directors

President: Bobby Queener President Elect: John S. Holmes Secretary: Ted Scroback Treasurer: Robert Flack Immediate Past President: Doug BeVille National Committeeperson: Kathy Bishop Regional Vice Presidents: Michael J. Edens Chase Sinquefield Michael Bussard Brennan Rockett Jim Hutchison Kathy Thurmond Edwards Committee Chairs: AHIA: Cindy Moyers Peggy Smith Government Relations & IFAPAC: Brenda Speer APIC: Fanci Worthington Professional Development: Paula Palmer YAT: Gabe Smith LILI: John Richardson

NAIFA Tennessee President

Bobby Queener

2009—2010

The National Convention was held in Orlando, FL at the Marriott World Center on September 12—16th. Twenty-nine from Ten-nessee were in attendance, including 7 from Middle Tennessee, 6 from Knox-ville and 5 from Memphis. Every region of the state was represented at this meeting. The feedback from this convention is astound-ing. Many have called it the best convention they have ever attended. In addition to the main plat-form, there were 63 sepa-rate workshops to choose from. The amount of in-formation and sales ideas available at this

went to Capitol Hill on July 15th and met with every one of the 535 members of Congress to educate them on our views. It worked, as the call by the Presi-dent to pass a bill quickly failed and Congress convened for the August recess to go home and listen to constituents at Town Hall meet-ings. Be aware that Congress is consider-ing measures to tax the inside buildup of permanent life insur-ance and annuities as a way to partially fund any health care reform that is passed. WE NEED NAIFA NOW MORE THAN EVER, but even more so, NAIFA NEEDS US NOW MORE THAN EVER! The battle is heating up, and a strong and healthy NAIFA will be fight-ing this battle for us. As individuals, we must be involved.

Convention was truly staggering! The speakers, especially the main platform speakers were the best in the business. We saw Van Muel-ler’s spectacular en-thusiasm and sales ideas, Lance Secretan on Leadership, Ronan Tynan on being a champion paralymics athlete despite losing both legs. Meryl Comer had an in-credible story for Long Term Care, Susan Waring, a State Farm VP speaking on selling insurance to women, the MDRT hour, the LIFE Foun-dation dinner with 4 incredible real life stories, and so much more. For those of you who were not there, you missed a truly special opportu-nity. With health care re-form in Washington front and center, we were reminded that 1,200 insurance agents, including many from NAIFA,

For 2011 and 2012, there will be an additional $15 a year ($1.25 if you pay monthly). Of particular importance to state and locals, $20 of the dues increase will be re-turned to the state and $20 will also be returned to the local to help you with your local funds. Please consider using these funds to enhance your association’s meetings and membership efforts. We need all local associations in Tennessee to be stronger. There has never been a better time to grow our membership in Tennessee than now. A slogan we used many years ago was “EACH ONE-REACH ONE”. We could double our membership in Tennessee by June 30th if all of us would just bring in one new member. It would make the current fight in Washing-ton easier to win.

We must have a strong voice! The dues increase that was on the agenda passed by a majority vote. The new dues structure will be ef-fective for members with a renewal date of December 31, 2009 or later. The amount of the increase is $110.00 for the 2010 year. So, for example if you are a member of NAIFA Nash-ville, where your dues are currently $379, your new dues amount will be $489. If you pay monthly by bank draft, instead of $32.08, your new amount will be $41.25, an increase of $9.07 each month. I strongly encourage all members to consider pay-ing their dues by monthly draft. Statistics show that our number of lapsed mem-bers would be greatly re-duced if members paid this way.

Finally, the NAIFA Tennessee Convention will be held on May 5th & 6th in Murfreesboro at the new Murfreesboro Conference Center, connected to the new 10 story Embassy Suites hotel. We have secured Van Mueller as our keynote speaker. Van is a Top of the Table producer, making MDRT by March each year de-spite being the most sought after speaker in NAIFA. He has been a speaker at every NAIFA National Convention for the past 8 years. We will also feature a real life story segment with the help of the LIFE Foundation and President Jack Dewald of Memphis as well as a special multi-line program and a YAT program. My objec-tive is to make this an opportunity you simply will not want to pass up. My best wishes to you as you en-ter the final 3 months of 2009! Bobby Queener, President

NAIFA Virtual Library Through a recent partnership with NAIFA and Financial Services Online, NAIFA Members now have free,

unlimited access to articles, tips, tools and resources.

NAIFA Virtual Library now provides NAIFA Members with free, unlimited 24/7 access to the online library that includes fact finders, concept pages, business tips and tools, client presentations, tax information and specimen documents.

http://www.naifa.org/benefits/vsa/index.cfm

Check out this value added Member Benefit!

NAIFA Tennessee State Convention to Feature Van Mueller, LUTCF The NAIFA Tennessee Convention will be held on May 5th & 6th at the Embassy Suites Hotel Conference Center in Murfreesboro. Make your plans now to attend and hear our Keynote speaker. Van has been a speaker at the NAIFA Convention on the main platform for the past several years as well as a workshop presenter for Two Minute Sales Ideas. Van Mueller is a Registered Representative with the Wisconsin Agency of New England Financial Services. Mueller is a 36 year industry veteran. He is an active member of MDRT having qualified for Court of the Table in 1990 and Top of the Table for the past 19 years. Mueller has served as an LUTC moderator in the past and is looking forward to doing so again. He has also served as a Past President of the Milwaukee Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. Mueller was awarded the Milwaukee NAIFA Distinguished Service Award for 2003. He has also qualified for the National Sales Achievement Award, the National Quality Award, the Health Insurance Quality Award, and has qualified many times for the National Association of Health Underwriters Leading Producers Round Table. Mueller is a member of the Association of Health Insurance Agents and the National Association of Health Underwriters. He is also a member of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, an Emissary Contributor to IFAPAC and a diamond Knight of the MDRT Foundation. Returning from a NAIFA Tennessee Convention with just one good idea can make your partici-pation a great success. Returning with dozens of good ideas could change the way you do busi-ness! Van Mueller will feature the best sales ideas and your attendance will be sure to make you money!

NAIFA Tennessee Convention May 5—6th Great Sessions - Return of YAT Forum! Multi-Line Program Make plans to attend Now!

“We Are in the Insurance Party”

Greetings fellow NAIFA members! I hope as we enter the last quarter of 

the year, in spite of all the bad economic news, you have chosen not to 

participate in the recession! I have talked to agents that realize in bad 

times as well as good times, people need the products we sell and they 

are having a great year helping families and businesses secure their fu‐

ture. We are in the greatest profession in the world because we provide 

what people need the most at the time it is needed most – MONEY! We 

sell a product that exists and works so well because of (as Mike Dunn 

says) a “quirk” in the tax code! This “quirk” was written into the original 

tax code when it was written back in 1913 through the efforts of our association. The tax advantages of 

a permanent life insurance policy as well as the tax advantages of the other products we sell are critical 

in our ability to market I 

Imagine coming to the office next Monday morning and receiving an email from your primary company 

that all those Products No Longer Have Those Tax Advantages! I just returned from a meeting in 

Washington D.C. attended by NAIFA and AALU members from across the country and I have never seen 

in my 30 years in the business the grave concern over what is being discussed in the House and Senate 

in Washington. We have all been concerned about health care reform and how it will effect us but I am 

more concerned about the effects tax reform will have on us and our clients. With the ever rising na‐

tional debt and still more debt to added to pay for health care reform we are the prime target for addi‐

tional revenue.  Another crucial issue : we must be concerned with how the government is going to 

regulate our business. 

We have heard millions, billions, trillions of dollars so much we have become desensitized to how 

much money we are talking about. Let’s compare it to something we can relate to. A million seconds is 

11 ½ days, a billion seconds is 32 years, a trillion seconds is 32,000 years!!! The congressional Joint 

Committee on taxation says our products represent 2 trillion dollars of last revenue over a four year 

period.  

 The point I am trying to make is now more than ever we need your help in raising IFAPAC dollars. If 

you are not contributing please start for at least $8.50 per month. If you are already a contributor, 

please consider increasing your contribution. If we lose the battle of tax reform, our profession, as we 

know it, will be a thing of the past.  

I hear all kinds of excuses as to why someone does not contribute, such as, I don’t get involved with 

politics – that’s fine, then you can be involved with updating your resume for your new job search,…….. 

or I can’t afford it – that’s fine too…….  but if you can’t afford $8.50 per month , you are not going to be 

in this business long anyway, ……and my all time favorite, you give to democrats or you  give to republi‐

cans.    Ladies and gentlemen, as insurance agents,  we are not in the Democratic party or the Republi‐

can party, we are in the INSURANCE PARTY  and our PAC funds go directly to candidates who support 

our industry.  (continued on next page) 

As your new state PAC chair, I am very excited about the future of our PAC and the commitment of our Tennessee contributors to have one of the strongest PACs in Tennessee and Washington.   As individu‐als, we have very limited political influence.  As a team, we become politically strong.  Our political power grows from developing personal relations with every member of Congress and our state repre‐sentatives. Our PAC contributions  gives us access and a chance to state our case.  Although, many of us give to our individual representatives, our PAC dollars do so much more, it gives us access on a na‐tionwide basis. Our PAC dollars gives us a chance to expand our political influence.  “NOW MORE THAN EVER”   Our industry needs to be in a position of POLITICAL LEADERSHIP.  Our IFAPAC is working for us.    There are many ways you can give to our PAC.  I personally give through a monthly bank draft.   Use  NAIFA’s website:  http://www.naifa.org/advocacy/ as your resource to see what all IFAPAC and NAIFA is doing to keep us in business.  Have a great fourth quarter and please support your PAC.  I look forward to working with each of your associations to assure that Tennessee lives up to its reputation as being “ THE VOLUNTEER STATE”  and one of the strongest contributors to our IFAPAC.  Brenda S. Speer, CFP, ChFC Government Relations and IFAPAC State Chair

The Value of NAIFA Membership NAIFA keeps you in business NAIFA members are tax payers, job creators, and voters…and they live in every congressional district across the Nation. When legislative or regulatory challenges threaten the very foundations of our industry or the liveli-hoods of our members, NAIFA is the agents’ voice on Capitol Hill and in State Houses. NAIFA stands guard, 24/7, protecting the interests of our members, their products, and the clients they serve. NAIFA helps you grow your business At any age, and in any stage…NAIFA’s Professional Development and Education tools give members a selling advantage. Online and in-person resources provide members access to the resources they need to grow and pros-per in their careers and in their lives. NAIFA membership is a front-row ticket to the resources and networks agents need to stay on the leading edge. NAIFA promotes ethical conduct of its members A single bad apple can spoil a barrel-full…and one unethical agent can taint the reputation of an industry. On the back of every membership card is the NAIFA Code of Ethics that all members agree to adhere to and sup-port. NAIFA members, by virtue of their membership, are in good company and held to high standards. Good ethics is good business.

A strong NAIFA is vital to the industry and its members.

IFAPAC Contributors 1/1/09 to 9/30/09

Investor: Kevin T. Taylor Mark Gluckner John Sullivan James G. Harrison Kevin A. Broyles Michael A. Burnette James M. LaPinska Aleen M. Swofford Troy Reid Jones Mark C. Loftis Samuel H. McKernan Alex Thompson, III Ronald W. Keck Sheila M. Cook Daniel S. Donnellan Dorothy D. Northam Linda Pearson Phillip V. Picardo Travis L. Simon Stacia H. Vetter William R. Phillips Petie R. Wilson Sherrell McConnell Mike Zuker Kelly Moore Century: Harold W. Dishner Lewis H. Foreman Edward Gibbons Craig K. Hardy John S. Hensley Larry G. Kiser Dwight Mitchell David W. Pendleton William E. Potter, II John W. Ross Phillip R. Rust Thomas C. Vanover James D. Whitesides Robert S. Berz Katherine H. Bishop J. Al Carrico Rick Conner Scott D. Dean Edgar A. Jacobs Michael S. Ledford David B. Longley Geralyn McQuary Donald G. Self Kerry J. Smith Stephen R. Thompson Mel Tryon Patricia A. Williams Ronald H. Harris

Century: Harlan R. White Timothy L. Rowe D. Tommy Allmon James R. Brooks L. D. Gant William M. Pence Larry S. White Joe C. Crosswhite Tom W. Inman Bobby H. Bryan, CLU Charles E. Matheson Mark D. McBride Bobby N. Saine Michael J. Grooms Tony T. Johnson Kelly G. McDonald David Lee Workman Clay E. Boyd, Jr. Samuel O. Pinkerton, III Barbara Browning Freeman L. Buckner Michael A. Collins Patricia A. Coonce J. Michael Cunningham William B. Edington Ledyard D. Gardner, Jr. Mark F. Graber Nancy P. Hertwig Douglas E. Jennings John A. Kerr Donald L. Larson James F. Lyle Adam B. Milam Michael D. Moss Ed Shoemaker Thomas A. Stubbs Linda Y. Welch Wayne E. Willis Cindy L. Winchester Gary M. Wolfe Lynn C. Alford Lodie V. Biggs, III Deloris J. Burrow Douglas Chapin Larry Clayton Charlotte M. Cooper Richard C. Cooper John P. Dewald J. Randolph Flatt Jim S. Forbis Eugene T. Hinders Lisa Kennedy

Century: Gregory Scott Jordan Milton L. Knowlton Robert E. Leger Wayne McCullough Thomas D. Oates David J. Peterson Gerald D. Smith James E. Smith David P. Sorsby George W. Stephenson Terry M. Washburn Michael A. Watson James S. Werkhoven Dennis O. Wilson Charlyn L. Evans Blake Finney J. David Hoover Leonard E. Jordan Dennis Young Robert H. Bible, Jr. Brock Baker Beth Scott Clayton Ann Coleman Watkins Crockett, III Jan L. Dillard Gordon B. Evans, Jr. Jack P. Ficken J. David Gibson Steve K. Johnston Elizabeth R. Lacock D. Michael Lane Tom McDonald Bobby T. McElhiney Ronald D. Morrow Kirk A. Ryder Charles R. Schlacter R. Timothy Sinks C. Stephen Smith Darol D. Walker James A. Welck, Jr. Fanci A. Worthington Eugene Chunn Mark E. Clem Jeffrey S. Cornelius Charles W. Daniels Theodore A. Scroback Emory Bradley Glenda Chase Hunter M. Johnston James R. Kendall Jerry D. Landrum

IFAPAC Contributors 1/1/09 to 9/30/09

Century: Glenn T. Lee Russell H. Lovett Wade H. Malone G. M. Thornton, Jr. Phillip N. Baker David Eblen Michael Massaglia Gary Rowcliffe H. W. Sherrod, Jr. Jeffery White Tim Moran Tasha Bates Ambassador: Fred T. Hopson, II Erbie J. Powers Tony G. Powers, Sr. George A. Williams Theodore M. Boerger R. Philip Downey Robert F. Hopper Richard C. Lord Karen Byrd Sharon P. Patterson George Stephens, III Paul D. Hare Penny M. Collins Miriam S. Fisher John S. Holmes, III Phillip I. Lovelace Edward G. Owens Paula M. Palmer John H. Brooks Ewing Carruthers, Jr. Thomas L. Earl Richard L. Pittman Steven A. Rodgers Cynthia L. Williams Mel R. Adams Wes L. Dugan Geoffrey Herring Keelie V. Tipton James H. Beck Carter Brown William S. Cochran Clyde P. McFadden Charles Smith Tim Buckner Marcia Gilliam Herbert Wootten

Statesman: Barry L. Bingham Ronald B. Schoenhardt Douglas R. BeVille Dorothy L. Grisham Gary L. Davis Hugh W. Walker Sharon E. Cole William D. Keltner Peggy D. Smith William A. Carlisle Richard L. Cook Jack P. Dewald, Jr. Henry Hooper, II Kathy Thurmond Edwards Catherine Balkcom William P. Hayes Kenneth W. Hollman R. Steve Ruckart Chase Sinquefield Josh W. Webber David Andy Womack Cindy G. Moyers Paul W. Anderson Patrick E. Moore Ruby A. Miller

Envoy: Peter D. Holler Claude A. Marlowe, Jr. Nancy P. Cubberley Neil M. Cubberley Dean A. Hempel Kevin J. LeBlanc Brenda S. Speer Thomas E. Cooper Gabriel N. Smith Michael J. Bussard James V. Hunt, Sr. Chris LeBlanc Bobby Queener Diplomat: Robert B. Anderson Michael J. Edens Jack B. Turner John R. Milam C. Robert Brown Marcus T. Henderson C. Gibbs Smith

NAIFA Southern Middle Tennessee member Bobby Belew presents the Frank King Award to member Brenda Speer. This award was presented to Brenda for her commitment to NAIFA at the local level and her pas-sion for the industry. Frank King was a long time member who believed in and loved NAIFA and the industry he worked in. Frank passed away in 1995 and this award is given each year to a deserving Southern Mid-dle Tennessee member.

SPREAD THE WORD All of you have an Elevator Talk you use in the course of business every day. It tells the story of your business, creates interest and provides you with new pros-pects. NAIFA has a story worth telling as well and now is the time to get the word out. Try the following talk to set a meeting about NAIFA with a prospective mem-ber or agency manager for an agency presentation opportunity:

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors is the

premier professional organization representing the insurance agent and finan-cial advisor. Its members founded the Million Dollar Round Table! NAIFA it-self was founded in 1890 and represents the business interests of 60,000 agent and advisor members nationwide.

NAIFA boasts the largest grassroots lobbying network in the insurance industry. Our network of people like you, promotes the agent, not the insurance companies. NAIFA has members in every Congressional district in the United States. NAIFA safeguards the interests of all financial professionals. NAIFA enhances the business and professional skills and ethics of pro-fessionals like you by providing a professional development system and online library that rivals some of America’s best insurance companies. There are many other member benefits as well. Oh, by the way, NAIFA has more than 800 local chapters and 50 state associations that enhance the value of what the national association provides. I would like to stop by your office to show you more of what NAIFA can do for you and your career. I think once you know more, you will join with me in supporting this very important organization. Would Tuesday or Thursday be better?……….

Do your part, today, to spread the word about NAIFA. Your business will be glad you did!!

John S. Holmes, III, LUTCF

NAIFA Tennessee Membership Chair

NAIFA Middle Tennessee President Gabe Smith is presented with a Proclamation from Murfreesboro Mayor Bragg proclaiming September as Life Insurance Awareness Month for Murfreesboro and Rutherford County.

Now accepting applications for the 2010 LILI Class! If you are interested in being a participant call John Richardson at (615) 419-4140. The class will begin in January.

NAIFA Tennessee Day on the Hill March 9, 2010

Save the date—a great time to visit With your Legislators!

New CE Classes Available to Locals! Ethics: 5W

Disability Insurance Through an Attorney’s Perspective

Cheating the System (approval soon) Whole Life Insurance—Why vs. How

(approval soon) Call Paula Palmer for more information

At (865) 691-6680 or by email at: paulapalmer@bellsouth.net

Cathy Balkcom Executive Director 189 Fairmont Drive

Murfreesboro, TN 37129 Phone: (615) 904-6013 Fax: (615) 907-6389

Email: naifatn@comcast.net

Www.TNAIFA.org