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New and Bestselling AICPA CPE Self-Study Courses Best Sellers – March 2008 Avoiding Circular 230 Malpractice Traps and Common Abusive Small f security,” said Jean Setzfand, director of financial security with AARP. “But a deferred annuity is almost always a bad idea for a retiree.”
Those concerns, however, have not stopped many insurance agents from aggressively selling deferred annuities.
Some of those agents have been trained by organizations that require only a few days of classroom instruction.
For instance, the 1,200 people who have enrolled in a different senior adviser program spent only four days in a classroom, according to a spokesman.
The organization which gave Mr. Sell Bigpolicy his credentials is a for-profit company that has trained 24,000 enrollees since it was started in 1997.
The company that gave Mr. Sell Bigpolicy his designation has a course that lasts three and a half days, according to recent participants, and includes uplifting lectures, overviews on the sociology of aging and exercises including peering through vision-blurring lenses to get a sense of how some clients’ eyesight can falter.
Regulatory authorities tend to be ultra critical of these programs.
“There are limitless phrases being coined to convey an expertise in senior finances,” said Massachusetts securities regulator William F. Galvin. “Most of them seem designed to trick seniors into listening to swindlers.”
Most insurance salespeople are honorable and are not swindlers. As in most lines of work, however, not everyone is honorable and does the correct thing.
A representative for the organization said the program’s courses and questions were written and evaluated by experts. In a statement, the company said its training was intended to supplement, not substitute for, professional credentials and education. The organization began asking titleholders in March to disclose to potential clients that designation alone does not imply expertise in financial, health or social matters.
Despite that disclaimer, the company has trained thousands of insurance agents and other financial advisors. And about 100 companies, many of them insurers, endorse the designation, said a spokesman for the group.
Soon after Mr. Sell Bigpolicy received his designation, Mr. Sell Bigpolicy started displaying it in ads and on letters inviting retirees to seminars over free chicken lunches, according to Massachusetts regulators.
At those meetings, Mr. Sell Bigpolicy told retirees that they were perilously close to financial calamity, according to Massachusetts regulators and attendees. He warned them that the stock market’s ability to offset inflation was “a big lie,” according to documents collected by those regulators. Banks contained “weapons of mass destruction,” read one handout.
But annuities, Mr. Sell Bigpolicy noted, offered guaranteed returns, attendees said. At the time, he was authorized to sell annuities offered by more than two dozen insurance companies, state records show.
Mr. Sell Bigpolicy’s script, Massachusetts regulators say, used materials from another training company that had more than a dozen insurers as “partners” or “carriers” on the company’s Web site.
There are a few dozen companies, like the training company in question
re recognized by an accreditation organization or the state. In 2007, two of the largest insurers told sales agents they could not use the designation of WE DO NOT WANT TO MENTION THE NAME senior adviser.
But in most other states and at most insurance companies, sales representatives can use any title they choose.
For his part, Mr. Sell Big Policy, while he awaits the outcome of his case, is still approved to sell annuities by more than two dozen insurers, according to state records. This is not an isolated example, which does not mean that an accountant should think that all insurance salespeople behave like this sales person. This example, in differing versions, does happen. If the customer consulted his or her accountant, which admittedly most do not, the above example, or something like it, may not happen.
Lance Wallach is a frequent speaker at national conventions and writes for more than 50 national publications. Visit www.vebaplan.com or call 516-938-5007.
The information provided herein is not intended as legal, accounting, financial or any other type of advice for any specific individual or other entity. You should contact an appropriate professional for any such advice.
New and Bestselling
ReplyDeleteAICPA CPE Self-Study Courses
Best Sellers – March 2008
Avoiding Circular 230 Malpractice Traps and Common Abusive Small f security,” said Jean Setzfand, director of financial security with AARP. “But a deferred annuity is almost always a bad idea for a retiree.”
Those concerns, however, have not stopped many insurance agents from aggressively selling deferred annuities.
Some of those agents have been trained by organizations that require only a few days of classroom instruction.
For instance, the 1,200 people who have enrolled in a different senior adviser program spent only four days in a classroom, according to a spokesman.
The organization which gave Mr. Sell Bigpolicy his credentials is a for-profit company that has trained 24,000 enrollees since it was started in 1997.
The company that gave Mr. Sell Bigpolicy his designation has a course that lasts three and a half days, according to recent participants, and includes uplifting lectures, overviews on the sociology of aging and exercises including peering through vision-blurring lenses to get a sense of how some clients’ eyesight can falter.
Regulatory authorities tend to be ultra critical of these programs.
“There are limitless phrases being coined to convey an expertise in senior finances,” said Massachusetts securities regulator William F. Galvin. “Most of them seem designed to trick seniors into listening to swindlers.”
Most insurance salespeople are honorable and are not swindlers. As in most lines of work, however, not everyone is honorable and does the correct thing.
A representative for the organization said the program’s courses and questions were written and evaluated by experts. In a statement, the company said its training was intended to supplement, not substitute for, professional credentials and education. The organization began asking titleholders in March to disclose to potential clients that designation alone does not imply expertise in financial, health or social matters.
Despite that disclaimer, the company has trained thousands of insurance agents and other financial advisors. And about 100 companies, many of them insurers, endorse the designation, said a spokesman for the group.
Soon after Mr. Sell Bigpolicy received his designation, Mr. Sell Bigpolicy started displaying it in ads and on letters inviting retirees to seminars over free chicken lunches, according to Massachusetts regulators.
At those meetings, Mr. Sell Bigpolicy told retirees that they were perilously close to financial calamity, according to Massachusetts regulators and attendees. He warned them that the stock market’s ability to offset inflation was “a big lie,” according to documents collected by those regulators. Banks contained “weapons of mass destruction,” read one handout.
But annuities, Mr. Sell Bigpolicy noted, offered guaranteed returns, attendees said. At the time, he was authorized to sell annuities offered by more than two dozen insurance companies, state records show.
Mr. Sell Bigpolicy’s script, Massachusetts regulators say, used materials from another training company that had more than a dozen insurers as “partners” or “carriers” on the company’s Web site.
There are a few dozen companies, like the training company in question
re recognized by an accreditation organization or the state. In 2007, two of the largest insurers told sales agents they could not use the designation of WE DO NOT WANT TO MENTION THE NAME senior adviser.
ReplyDeleteBut in most other states and at most insurance companies, sales representatives can use any title they choose.
For his part, Mr. Sell Big Policy, while he awaits the outcome of his case, is still approved to sell annuities by more than two dozen insurers, according to state records. This is not an isolated example, which does not mean that an accountant should think that all insurance salespeople behave like this sales person. This example, in differing versions, does happen. If the customer consulted his or her accountant, which admittedly most do not, the above example, or something like it, may not happen.
Lance Wallach is a frequent speaker at national conventions and writes for more than 50 national publications. Visit www.vebaplan.com or call 516-938-5007.
The information provided herein is not intended as legal, accounting, financial or any other type of advice for any specific individual or other entity. You should contact an appropriate professional for any such advice.