iPipeline has a long history of attending NAILBA and we enjoy getting to see each of you at this conference every year.
In the past, we have held a user group meeting at NAILBA each year, but we are switching things up this year! We want to encourage you to attend our Solution Session, “Generative AI: What It Is and What It Means for the Insurance Industry” on November 2 from 8:00-8:45 am. With Roy Goodart, VP of Product Management, leading the discussion, it is sure to be an exciting and informative session.
Be sure to stop by our booth at the conference as well. If you do, you might just win a chance to meet Daymond John from Shark Tank!
Don’t know if you’ll make it by the booth? Feel free to reach out and set up some time to chat with us in our suite at the conference!
Hope to see you at NAILBA 42!
Bill Hunter
SVP Sales, iPipeline
Q: How did you get into your current role?
A: I have been in this business for five years. Prior to my role here at Highland, I was in the military for 14 years. After serving, I went back to school on the GI Bill and got my degree. Then I started a landscape design company, but I wasn’t sure if that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. As I thought through my options, my dad, who is a financial advisor, introduced me to a connection at Highland Capital, and the rest is history.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you?
A: My day looks different now than it did my first two years. The first two years I put in a lot of time learning from Senior VPs in my role by shadowing them. I would call 80 to100 people a day to set up meetings for those VPs, and then I would sit in on the meetings. Now, I focus on my own target market: military veterans who are now financial advisors. I still make a lot of calls and set up a lot of meetings, but I now have a great referral base on which I’ve built my business. This allows me to spend time outside the office, meeting with my advisors face-to- face - something I really enjoy.
Q: Annuities are hot right now due to the interest rate environment. Beyond interest rates, why would you recommend purchasing an annuity?
A: The annuities that I specifically work with, Fixed and Index, tend to lean more toward the conservative client who may have a short runway when it comes to their “working years.” I like to refer to this runway as the "retirement redzone," which is 5 years before and 5 years after retirement. When you are in this category, you can’t afford to take a dramatic loss because you don’t have the time or income generation to make up for those downturns, like we saw in 2022. This is why we use Fixed and Index Annuities to lower the risk in a client’s portfolio. Even though you may not see those double-digit returns, you have eliminated all downside risk, and you have the ability to still capture decent upside returns in the market - all while protecting that nest egg that you worked so hard to achieve.
Q: What trends in annuities did you see last year and what are you seeing this year?
A: Last year, we saw a lot of market volatility, which made it difficult to keep up with the products and rates changing so frequently. Oftentimes, by the time a case was designed and everything was ready to sign, interest rates would change. We really had to be mindful of the timing in 2022. The interest rate environment is a little less volatile in 2023. Interest rates are still high, but they aren’t increasing every few weeks. This helps us to position products without experiencing the timing issues we saw in 2022.
Q: If you had $100,000, what kind of annuity would you purchase?
A: Well, I am not a typical annuity purchaser due to my age, but if I were to purchase an annuity for myself right now, I would go with a buffered annuity. A buffered annuity gives you market exposure with a buffer on the downside.
Q: If you had $100,000 to spend frivolously, what would you spend it on?
A: I’m huge into watersports, so I would probably put a bunch of it towards a nice wake boarding boat.
Pete Buxton
VP, Senior Advisor Consultant, Signature Annuity at Highland Capital Brokerage
Go/no-go sounds like a phrase used on a NASA launchpad, but it’s actually a tool used by the BGA community millions of times each year. It was built into our iGO® e-app software in 2006 to mimic an important task that Case Managers performed during the submission process: verifying that each agent is properly licensed and appointed when submitting business.
Verification tends to be easier when agents use traditional paper applications, because applications first pass through the hands of the BGA. e-apps, on the other hand, were originally designed for direct digital submission to carriers, potentially bypassing this important BGA function.
In other words, the process slowed down as a result of speeding up.
To fix this problem, iPipeline created Go/no-go so that digital applications would be e-submitted to the BGA first, giving the BGA an opportunity to confirm licensing, prior to the application being sent to a carrier. If the BGA gave it a thumbs down, the submission process would stop. If the BGA gave a thumbs up, iPipeline would release the completed e-app to the carrier. For the past 17 years, Go/no-go has been an effective solution, but we are about to re-invent it.
Here's why:
During the past two decades, states have loosened their pre-appointment stance, and now, 45 states allow for “just-in-time” appointments. That means it’s not as critical that agent licensing checks digitally pause at the BGA office before heading to the carrier. Instead, these checks can be digitally kicked off at the home office, saving valuable time.
Additionally, carriers are focused on reducing underwriting time. They have created processes around automating underwriting workflows to allow for immediate decisions upon receipt of a Part 1. These new carrier workflows were designed for underwriting speed, but they are potentially being disrupted by e-applications going to BGA’s for digital approval.
Go/no-go is being redesigned with everyone in mind.
We are building an auto submit feature into the iGO e-app that will enable BGAs and carriers to receive the digital application simultaneously. Data will flow into Agency Integrator automatically, while the e-application goes off to the carrier simultaneously. This auto submit feature can be turned on or off at the carrier, distributor, or product level to accommodate for all types of workflows.
The updated version of Go/no-go makes it possible for an agent to be sitting with a client, complete an iGO e-app and receive an immediate underwriting decision - all in one session.
If you would like to learn more, please reach out to Bill Atlee at batlee@ipipeline.com.
.png?width=600&height=300&name=Carrier%20Updates%20-%20MK%20%26%20Go%20(3).png "Carrier Updates - MK & Go (3)")
We’ve added flexibility to the integration of iGO with Agency Integrator by allowing the Go/no-go approval process to be defined down to the product level. Click below for more information.
Available now, you can approve iGO products for use within the same iService experience you’re used to for other platforms. Login to iService and check it out!
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