At one time, the Vanderbilt family was one of the richest families in the world. Today? Not so much. Cornelius Vanderbilt started it all back in the early 1800s. He was born into a poor family. Not a lick of luck and no “head starts” in life. But, he did manage to convince his mom […]
The financial plan that failed (and I had to admit defeat)
Back in my early years in the biz, I was friends with this young girl and (apparently) my name came up one time during dinner or something. Well one thing led to another and she approaches me and asks if I can help her dear old dad. I said “sure” and we arranged a meeting. […]
Avoiding the zombie investor apocalypse plague
If you own stocks without a hedge, it’s not rational… it’s like owning a house without insurance. — Nassim Taleb The late actuary Jeremy Gold. Mayhaps you have heard of him but… in all likelihood you have not unless you read pension news on a regular basis. He is the mathematician who discovered there was […]
Why I push some people into the arms of my competition
I have seen many life insurance proposals over the years, and I think I might be one of maybe a handful of insurance agents who still shows the guaranteed column in the life insurance illustration. I also usually show what would happen to one of my custom whole life policies if NO dividends were ever […]
Truth debts
Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth, and sooner or later, that debt is paid. — Valery Legasov, Chernobyl (HBO) Many years ago, I worked for a large, well-known life insurance company. A household name. One night, I was working late with my boss. Well, actually it was my boss’s boss. He […]