Episodes

Episode 144: Charting a New Course for the Industry with Dave Levenson

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What role should an industry association play to support the growth of the life insurance and annuity business? This week’s guest, David Levenson has invested a lot of time of energy answering this question. As President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA & LLGlobal, Dave has redefined the mission, structure, and operations of our major industry association during a period of crisis and rapid change. Today, he gives us an update on the group’s future direction and his perspective on major industry trends.
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We hope you enjoy the show!
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Transcript

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[Paul Tyler]: hi this is paul tyler and welcome to another episode of that annuity show ramsey

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[Paul Tyler]: there’s no tie you lost your tie

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[Ramsey Smith]: yeah i came back from new york so i don’t i don’t need the uniform anymore

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[Paul Tyler]: all right so we’re back to sort of normal attire got a great guest once again okay

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[Paul Tyler]: you know i’m ramsey you you you got a very good person on to talk about where the

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[Paul Tyler]: industry is headed do you want to introduce him

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[Ramsey Smith]: yeah so we’re joined today by dave levinson who’s president and ceo of limber loma

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[Ramsey Smith]: and he’s an old friend of yours too paul so

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[Paul Tyler]: yes

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[Ramsey Smith]: i’m happy to share credit

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[Ramsey Smith]: for bringing him on the show

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[Ramsey Smith]: dave dave is a is a unique individual in a lot of ways he was at hartford for many

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[Ramsey Smith]: years at edward jones and now running limma so

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[Ramsey Smith]: the different elements of the industry that he has covered is broad and unique and

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[Ramsey Smith]: we’re really delighted to have him join us today so dave welcome

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[Ramsey Smith]: let’s get started but would definitely like to hear more about your journey you’ve

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[Ramsey Smith]: you’ve covered so many different areas and then now you’re back in at hartford

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[Ramsey Smith]: focusing on limma tell us about tell us about that trip

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah would would love to first you know ramsey paul thanks for having me and

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[Dave Levenson]: it is great spending some time with you guys again it’s spent a little bit little

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[Dave Levenson]: bit of time but it is good seeing you in a a casual a more casual environment so

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[Dave Levenson]: again thanks for the opportunity to to be with you today

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[Ramsey Smith]: so

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[Dave Levenson]: so look you know it’s been a fun journey

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[Ramsey Smith]: so

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[Dave Levenson]: so i was with hartford for seventeen years

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[Dave Levenson]: and did a lot of fun and interesting things

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[Dave Levenson]: it is the annuity show so i was i was managing the domestic u s business in

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[Dave Levenson]: addition to some other responsibilities

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[Dave Levenson]: and then you know i had the opportunity to go out to japan which you know was a

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[Dave Levenson]: tremendous

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[Dave Levenson]: a tremendous amount of fun for me

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[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

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[Dave Levenson]: and just incredibly interesting so you know hartford entered and i’m going to

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[Paul Tyler]: yeah

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[Dave Levenson]: diverge a little bit but just to give you know listeners a background but you know

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[Dave Levenson]: hartford entered the

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[Dave Levenson]: the japanese

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[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

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[Dave Levenson]: insurance business there was really an

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[Dave Levenson]: annuity business

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[Ramsey Smith]: so

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[Dave Levenson]: in nineteen ninety nine two thousand

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[Dave Levenson]: and shot up like a rocket

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[Dave Levenson]: and you know within five years

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[Dave Levenson]: the company was doing more business in japan than it was in the u s and in the u s

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[Dave Levenson]: it was number one in market share so just pretty incredible

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[Ramsey Smith]: well

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[Dave Levenson]: but then it kind of went down as fast as it went up

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[Dave Levenson]: and you know i was sent out there to um try to stabilize things for a little bit

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[Dave Levenson]: so i went out spent three years there uh and just it was just

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[Dave Levenson]: a tremendous learning experience we did a lot of great things

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[Dave Levenson]: but you know ultimately came back after three years and uh you know harford went

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[Dave Levenson]: through a lot during the two thousand eight two thousand nine crisis

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[Dave Levenson]: and then you know i got to run the life company so life annuities

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[Dave Levenson]: retirement plans

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[Dave Levenson]: um

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[Dave Levenson]: you know that that was a lot of fun for me as well in twenty twelve hartford

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[Dave Levenson]: decided to get out of the life business and really focus on pnc

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[Dave Levenson]: and at that point ramsay i needed another job

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[Dave Levenson]: so you know most of my time was focused on our employees land

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[Dave Levenson]: but a fortuitous meeting with edward jones led to my next adventure and i spent

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[Dave Levenson]: six years in st louis ultimately leading their product suite in north america for

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[Dave Levenson]: everything that they did so advisory platforms mutual funds insurance annuities et

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[Dave Levenson]: cetera and that was great and then this opportunity came along around three years

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[Dave Levenson]: ago and

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[Dave Levenson]: you know at this point in my career the ability to give back to the industry was

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[Dave Levenson]: just compelling the ability to get back to the east coast

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[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss

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[Dave Levenson]: uh to family was compelling and then here we are

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[Paul Tyler]: well e look this fascinating journey and i think it it feels long time ago but not

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[Paul Tyler]: that far along when yeah we were having a dinner in downtown hartford and you were

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[Paul Tyler]: talking to me about i think at that point dave you maybe it had been on the job

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[Paul Tyler]: maybe you know i don’t maybe six months and i

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah

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[Paul Tyler]: know you were doing a huge you know review to say okay

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[Paul Tyler]: hey listen lammers come a long ways you know world’s changing you know how do you

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[Paul Tyler]: keep an industry association relevant and you’d really taken a undertaken a bold

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[Paul Tyler]: strategy to reposition the organization now this was pre covid

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah exactly

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[Paul Tyler]: so tell us you know what happened covid hit um what had

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[Ramsey Smith]: what is that

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[Paul Tyler]: happened w you know how did the strategy prove out

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[Ramsey Smith]: no

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[Paul Tyler]: how did you have to change

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[Paul Tyler]: talk to us about the whole covid experience here

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah again another uh incredible adventure paul so and you’ve got a good memory so

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[Dave Levenson]: you know i joined the association in twenty nineteen

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[Dave Levenson]: january twenty nineteen i took over as ceo

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[Dave Levenson]: and you know we laid out what we call our compass twenty twenty five so you know

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[Dave Levenson]: where were we going over the next five or six years and you know what did do we

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[Dave Levenson]: really want to do with the association how could we benefit members all the stuff

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[Dave Levenson]: you would end up doing in a strategic plan

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[Dave Levenson]: and you know that’s still our north star

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[Dave Levenson]: and in some ways in many ways the pandemic which hit just you know fifteen months

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[Dave Levenson]: later

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[Dave Levenson]: accelerated a lot of things i mean some things we had to slow down on but some

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[Dave Levenson]: things we truly accelerated on i’ll give you an example

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[Dave Levenson]: one of the things that we said in our plan is we’ve got to do a better job

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[Dave Levenson]: connecting with c suite executives

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[Dave Levenson]: so a lot of the c suite

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[Dave Levenson]: has known us but not everyone in the c suite knew us well and yet we have a lot of

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[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

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[Dave Levenson]: wonderful research that you know most people in the c suite should be looking at

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[Dave Levenson]: um fairly often

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[Dave Levenson]: so what we did early in the pandemic is we created i mean we have about one

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[Dave Levenson]: hundred twenty committee study groups that type of stuff but we didn’t have a lot

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[Dave Levenson]: for the c suite so we created what we called our cxo committees so we brought

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[Dave Levenson]: together cfos and chief investment officers and chief human resource officers and

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[Paul Tyler]: maybe

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[Dave Levenson]: chief underwriters and chief actuaries

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[Dave Levenson]: and the demand for

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[Dave Levenson]: executives to talk to one another

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[Dave Levenson]: nobody’s been through this pandemic right to talk to one another and say what are

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[Dave Levenson]: you experiencing and you know what are best practices and how are you getting

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[Dave Levenson]: through this and how are you getting through that it was really a unique time and

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[Dave Levenson]: it enabled us as an industry trade to really host some wonderful meetings that

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[Dave Levenson]: helped our member companies

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[Paul Tyler]: maybe

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[Dave Levenson]: kind of get through a pretty tough time

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[Dave Levenson]: there were other things that we were able to do that i thought were

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[Paul Tyler]: see

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[Dave Levenson]: incredibly valuable so go back to twenty twenty

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[Dave Levenson]: the markets were pretty crazy right for the first couple of months

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[Dave Levenson]: but you remember how low interest rates were

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[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

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[Dave Levenson]: right and we had just taken on a project at the request of some of our board

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[Dave Levenson]: members to

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[Paul Tyler]: i

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[Dave Levenson]: really study low interest rates and the long term impact on the industry

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[Dave Levenson]: so we brought together oliver ween and the acl and the three organizations worked

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[Dave Levenson]: with over one hundred executives to put out a lot of great insights and research

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[Dave Levenson]: about how to get through this low interest rate environment so again in many ways

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[Dave Levenson]: the pandemic has helped us um but you know let’s be let’s be honest i mean just

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[Dave Levenson]: being working remotely and going through a lot of change has also been a little

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[Dave Levenson]: difficult

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[Ramsey Smith]: are there any are there any key takeaways

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[Paul Tyler]: what

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[Ramsey Smith]: sort of big picture takeaways

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[Ramsey Smith]: from that study i mean that’s clearly right it’s an industry that lives and

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[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

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[Ramsey Smith]: breathes on yield

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[Ramsey Smith]: so i’m curious what some of the there were what were some of the key conclusions

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[Ramsey Smith]: there

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[Dave Levenson]: well you know from uh you know i appreciate that question ramsey from a regulatory

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[Dave Levenson]: perspective i would say

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[Dave Levenson]: you know the regulators weren’t really um

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[Dave Levenson]: ready for this right you know what happens if interest rates go negative and you

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[Dave Levenson]: know when rates are when the ten years at one hundred seven

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[Dave Levenson]: nobody really thinks about that maybe they do more so than when they were at three

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[Dave Levenson]: or

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[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

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[Dave Levenson]: four when they’re at forty or fifty basis points it becomes a little bit of a

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[Dave Levenson]: different a different focal point for the industry

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[Dave Levenson]: so

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[Dave Levenson]: you know i think we

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[Dave Levenson]: we got our members to really think about negative rates and the impact of negative

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[Dave Levenson]: rates and we got our members to really think through

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[Dave Levenson]: what happens if this doesn’t turn quickly

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[Dave Levenson]: from a capital management perspective from a sales perspective from a product

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[Dave Levenson]: value perspective there’s so many different perspectives

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[Dave Levenson]: so i think ultimately ramsay there are a lot of really interesting takeaways i

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[Dave Levenson]: know i remember having six subgroups and each subgroup focusing on a different

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[Dave Levenson]: dimension and then we had a wrap up presentation at the end of twenty twenty

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[Dave Levenson]: but you know here we are what just just a couple years later and now we’re worried

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[Dave Levenson]: about you know wage inflation and inflation in general and you know will interest

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[Dave Levenson]: rates pop too quickly as opposed to we in a forty basis fifty basis point scenario

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[Dave Levenson]: again so it’s interesting how quickly the world changes

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[Ramsey Smith]: so you know just just just following up a little bit on that and you talked about

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[Ramsey Smith]: your experiences in japan and so things like negative interest rates are something

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[Ramsey Smith]: that

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[Ramsey Smith]: you probably saw at least on the horizon in

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah

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[Ramsey Smith]: japan not just not just low and negative but but over a long period of time

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[Ramsey Smith]: just very

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[Paul Tyler]: great

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[Ramsey Smith]: curious about how your experience outside the u s in the insurance industry which

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[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss

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[Ramsey Smith]: is unusual we can be a very domestic industry if you think about it like you know

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[Ramsey Smith]: how that is how that is informed you know your thoughts on the industry and

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[Ramsey Smith]: frankly

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[Ramsey Smith]: your broader goals for limma

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah look it you know the world’s a big world

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[Dave Levenson]: and you know i think one of the key lessons for me going through the pandemic was

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[Dave Levenson]: you know one of the groups that i mentioned there were six groups looking at these

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[Dave Levenson]: slow interest rate what one of the groups looked at just what was going on in

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[Dave Levenson]: different parts of the world so what happened in japan what happened in

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[Dave Levenson]: switzerland because some of those countries you know we’re in a negative rate

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[Dave Levenson]: environment

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[Dave Levenson]: and of course in japan they’ve been in a low interest rate environment for an

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[Dave Levenson]: awfully long time

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[Dave Levenson]: so the ability to kind of look into you know how are those industries working

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[Dave Levenson]: what are their concerns challenges

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[Dave Levenson]: i think those were some pictures that we were able to really

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[Paul Tyler]: oh

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[Dave Levenson]: help members with

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[Dave Levenson]: but look there’s a lot of different factors at play so i’ll give you i’ll give you

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[Dave Levenson]: an example

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[Dave Levenson]: of the product that launched hartford in japan and really got us to this amazing

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[Dave Levenson]: position

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[Dave Levenson]: so it was

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[Dave Levenson]: a one year

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[Dave Levenson]: annuity

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[Dave Levenson]: uh with a payout over fifteen years

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[Dave Levenson]: right if

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[Dave Levenson]: if you if you’re you had below your prin if the account value were below principle

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[Dave Levenson]: so think about it as a gm b

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[Dave Levenson]: a twenty five year product

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[Dave Levenson]: and all we did was guarantee you’d get your money back over that two five year

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[Dave Levenson]: period right and this is this is about low interest

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[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

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[Dave Levenson]: rates so that doesn’t sound like much of a guarantee right

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[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

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[Dave Levenson]: but it enabled hartford to go from nowhere to to more sales than it what it was

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[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss

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[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

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[Dave Levenson]: doing in the united states which is pretty incredible

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[Ramsey Smith]: sure

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[Dave Levenson]: but you know just to finish that story in japan what happened is

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[Dave Levenson]: a lot of the domestic players were watching this saying oh my god you know here’s

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[Dave Levenson]: this this u company coming in to to japan and you know taking this massive market

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[Dave Levenson]: share and you know we can do better than that right so it became like an arms race

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[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

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[Dave Levenson]: and pretty soon people were doing ten year g mab s in a low interest rate

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[Dave Levenson]: environment

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[Dave Levenson]: and we were looking at it saying you know we went to your former company and said

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[Dave Levenson]: how much would it cost to hedge this and the hedge was fifty percent more than the

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[Dave Levenson]: price of the product right

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[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

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[Dave Levenson]: so it just became a really crazy environment and just shows you how much

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[Dave Levenson]: you really need to understand it’s not just about the sales as you know

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[Dave Levenson]: this is a big risk management play

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[Dave Levenson]: but putting those pieces together

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[Dave Levenson]: was so fascinating again to watch our rise than to watch how the whole industry

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[Dave Levenson]: adjusted

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[Paul Tyler]: yeah we’ve had a couple of companies on ramsey over the last six months focused on

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[Paul Tyler]: flat out optimizing interest rates safe interest rates

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[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

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[Paul Tyler]: it’s interesting dave some have had both of them have had very little to do with

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[Paul Tyler]: insurance and annuities but i think they will end up leveraging annuities at some

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[Paul Tyler]: point

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah

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[Paul Tyler]: now with inflation rates again whole new whole new ball game

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[Paul Tyler]: maybe talk to us about maybe we could shift to one other sort of sort of big under

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[Paul Tyler]: underlying theme pre pandemic during pandemic post and

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[Paul Tyler]: post pandemic is going digital right you

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah

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[Paul Tyler]: know i think before the pandemic

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[Paul Tyler]: it was kind of innovation

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[Paul Tyler]: thinking about the future felt like the middle of the pandemic was we we just have

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[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss

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[Paul Tyler]: to do it in order to even do business

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[Paul Tyler]: you know where’s the puck headed on on digitization of insurance carriers

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah look i think the industry made a lot of progress in the last couple of years

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[Dave Levenson]: because it had to right

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[Dave Levenson]: so you know on the life side we saw just a big jump in things like accelerated

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[Dave Levenson]: underwriting

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[Dave Levenson]: we saw a big jump in terms of

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[Dave Levenson]: the digitalization tools and the digital tools that advisors need to interface

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[Dave Levenson]: with clients

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[Ramsey Smith]: i’m so

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[Dave Levenson]: and we saw tremendous productivity gains right so all of that i think was very

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[Dave Levenson]: positive

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[Dave Levenson]: we saw changes in uh

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[Dave Levenson]: you know things like e signatures and just again those are all positive things for

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[Dave Levenson]: our industry so it is going to continue

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[Dave Levenson]: um

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[Dave Levenson]: and

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[Paul Tyler]: yeah

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[Dave Levenson]: you know i’m bullish that some of the changes that i think were long overdue

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[Dave Levenson]: have made but there’s still a ways to go for sure

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[Dave Levenson]: um you know one of the things that uh

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[Dave Levenson]: i think was really good for our industry is uh with life insurance we

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[Ramsey Smith]: uh

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[Dave Levenson]: saw

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[Dave Levenson]: just tremendous demand right and that’s not a surprise in the middle of a pandemic

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[Dave Levenson]: so we saw sales at levels that we hadn’t seen since nineteen eighty three

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[Dave Levenson]: and even the annuity business which

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[Dave Levenson]: really surprising to me has been flat like if you take the pandemic years out it

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[Dave Levenson]: it’s been flat for the last decade

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[Dave Levenson]: but we saw that that business jumped sixteen percent in aggregate if you just look

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[Dave Levenson]: at twenty one versus twenty and twenty was up versus nineteen toward the end of

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[Dave Levenson]: the year from a runway perspective so

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[Dave Levenson]: so i do think the pandemic’s been good to the industry when it could have been

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[Dave Levenson]: really bad

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[Dave Levenson]: but to your point about digital there are some things that we did that are great

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[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss

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[Dave Levenson]: and there’s a lot that we have to still do

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[Paul Tyler]: now that’s interesting you mentioned life insurance sales and i’ve heard that i

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[Paul Tyler]: mean if the companies i saw dave who had

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[Paul Tyler]: you know on they were they had a use signature they had e app they could take

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[Paul Tyler]: do direct sales to consumers they can do rapid underwriting they had banner years

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[Paul Tyler]: you know i’ve talked to some of my

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah

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[Paul Tyler]: my peers around the market

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[Paul Tyler]: do you think the spike was effectively an acceleration of purchases of insurance

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[Paul Tyler]: or do you think it its somehow sort of changed the demand going forward and just

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[Paul Tyler]: in the life insurance sector

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah so that’s that’s the that’s the sixty four thousand dollar question i’ll say

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[Dave Levenson]: that we know that the demand increased so

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[Dave Levenson]: we did a study in the fall of two thousand and we know that

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[Dave Levenson]: because of the pandemic demand for life insurance increased about thirty one

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[Dave Levenson]: percent

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[Dave Levenson]: so similar to the study that we did on low interest rates with oliver weyman and

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[Dave Levenson]: ac what we did when we saw that pall because we want to be much more action

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[Dave Levenson]: oriented

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[Dave Levenson]: is we brought all of the life trade associations together so back to a cli finsec

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[Dave Levenson]: nab mafa mrt lid which is a the trade association for direct writers life happens

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[Dave Levenson]: all of us got together and said this is the time to unify and we came together and

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[Dave Levenson]: we we worked with seventy six

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[Dave Levenson]: of our member companies

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[Dave Levenson]: manufacturers and distributors

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[Dave Levenson]: and

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[Dave Levenson]: kate thau

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[Dave Levenson]: on our pr side every week sent out a kit um to all of these companies about what

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[Dave Levenson]: you need to know and it they were fact sheets it was social media

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[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

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[Dave Levenson]: it went out to the distribution

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[Dave Levenson]: organizations and you know it was our feeling that

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[Ramsey Smith]: aw

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[Dave Levenson]: everybody became much more aware of their mortality right in the midst of the

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[Dave Levenson]: pandemic

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[Dave Levenson]: and

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[Dave Levenson]: not only was it important for our industry to support customers but we also felt

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[Dave Levenson]: like it was our responsibility

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[Dave Levenson]: as we heard all of these you know horrific stories so you i really

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[Ramsey Smith]: scary

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[Dave Levenson]: think this was a good time for our industry to step up and it was just i’m so

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[Dave Levenson]: proud of how how the insurance industry did step up

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[Ramsey Smith]: so in terms of your vision for for limma i remember we were speaking i think a few

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[Ramsey Smith]: weeks ago

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[Ramsey Smith]: and you’ve got grand plans

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[Ramsey Smith]: so so so so share some of those with us i mean you were you’re obviously doing a

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[Ramsey Smith]: lot of things here in the u s it’s interesting because

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[Ramsey Smith]: there’s existing organizations that are already trade organizations but you’re

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[Ramsey Smith]: playing a unifying role even among the organizations here in the u s and

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[Paul Tyler]: it’s

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[Ramsey Smith]: you’re taking steps to expand outside the u s tell us tell us about what your

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[Ramsey Smith]: vision is there

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[Dave Levenson]: yeah ramsay i appreciate the question so

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[Dave Levenson]: you know look you know when i came in

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[Dave Levenson]: you know limmer hass been around for you know one hundred six years it’s it’s it’s

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[Dave Levenson]: um it’s such a wonderful organization

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[Dave Levenson]: and so it’s got rich pedigree and

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[Dave Levenson]: strong reach in size right it’s the largest

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[Dave Levenson]: association in the world

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[Paul Tyler]: oh

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[Dave Levenson]: supporting life annuity and workplace benefits so there was a lot of great things

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[Dave Levenson]: that had been done historically with the association

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[Dave Levenson]: but let’s face it our industry was changing and has been changing very very

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[Dave Levenson]: quickly

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[Dave Levenson]: so

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[Dave Levenson]: i think it’s our responsibility to get ahead of it and help guide our member

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[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss

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[Dave Levenson]: companies through a lot of this type of stuff

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[Dave Levenson]: so one of the first things that we did as part of our strategic review as we kind

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[Dave Levenson]: of stepped back and said look why do we exist why are we here and what would

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[Dave Levenson]: happen if we weren’t here so that enabled us to step back and you know something

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[Dave Levenson]: as basic as developing a purpose statement right and we developed a purpose

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[Dave Levenson]: statement that said what you know why we here

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[Dave Levenson]: and we’re

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[Ramsey Smith]: your

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[Dave Levenson]: here to advance the financial services industry by empowering our members with

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[Dave Levenson]: knowledge insights connections and solutions

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[Dave Levenson]: so that purpose statement

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[Dave Levenson]: allowed us to be very very focused on the things that we should do and the things

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[Dave Levenson]: that we shouldn’t do

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[Dave Levenson]: so when i think about things like knowledge i think about professional development

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[Dave Levenson]: and we have a designation program fm which is one of the largest in the world

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[Dave Levenson]: and over a hundred thousand people

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[Paul Tyler]: yeah

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[Dave Levenson]: have

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[Ramsey Smith]: cheese

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[Dave Levenson]: taken the fli designation

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[Dave Levenson]: but our designation i mean this is this is probably one hundred fifty hours to get

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[Dave Levenson]: your full designation is that where the world is going or do people want more

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[Dave Levenson]: quick hits

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[Dave Levenson]: so we’re shifting a little bit more toward foundational education

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[Dave Levenson]: was shifting to

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[Ramsey Smith]: just

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[Dave Levenson]: executive development work but that’s not something that we should do it’s

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[Dave Levenson]: something that we can partner with a wharton to do and in fact

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[Dave Levenson]: in the summer uh it’s gonna be our first

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[Dave Levenson]: program for wh executive education with lira

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[Dave Levenson]: and we only had a hundred

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[Ramsey Smith]: i guess

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[Dave Levenson]: seats because that’s all wharton would give us and here we are in march and we’re

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[Dave Levenson]: sold out right we’ve got fifty four companies

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[Paul Tyler]: hm

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[Dave Levenson]: that have signed up

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[Ramsey Smith]: wow

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[Dave Levenson]: for this and you go to wharton you

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[Paul Tyler]: yes

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[Dave Levenson]: go to the wharton school one week a year for three years and you know

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[Paul Tyler]: that

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[Dave Levenson]: you’re taught about you’re taught by some of the best professors in the world

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[Dave Levenson]: about how to work through this change and navigate this change and you know the

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[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

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[Dave Levenson]: peer group you meet et cetera et cetera so you know i’m going down a little bit of

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[Dave Levenson]: a rabbit hole but what i’m trying to do is give you a sense that we’re looking at

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[Dave Levenson]: our knowledge bucket we’re looking at our insights bucket we’re looking at our

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[Dave Levenson]: solutions bucket we’re looking at our connections bucket and we’re saying what

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[Dave Levenson]: does that need to look like

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[Dave Levenson]: in three years

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[Dave Levenson]: for us to be truly indispensable to our members and we have a full

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[Ramsey Smith]: what else

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[Dave Levenson]: fledged plan as far as what we’re going to do this year next year the year after

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[Dave Levenson]: to enable us to get to that point of indispensable with the vast majority of our

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[Dave Levenson]: members so again i could go on and on about different examples of different things

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[Ramsey Smith]: well so i’ve got two questions first one was so after three

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[Dave Levenson]: we’ve done but yeah

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[Paul Tyler]: we

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[Ramsey Smith]: years one one week a month you said like do you come out with an mba or what is

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[Ramsey Smith]: what is

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[Paul Tyler]: yeah

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[Ramsey Smith]: are you

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[Dave Levenson]: well that’d be a three week nba right um no you come out with a certificate and

419
00:22:57,055 –> 00:23:00,735
[Dave Levenson]: you know candidly we modeled this after a program that already existed

420
00:23:00,820 –> 00:23:01,820
[Ramsey Smith]: got it okay

421
00:23:01,615 –> 00:23:02,735
[Dave Levenson]: it’s called si

422
00:23:02,660 –> 00:23:03,660
[Ramsey Smith]: uhhuh

423
00:23:02,975 –> 00:23:06,655
[Dave Levenson]: and it’s between sif ma the securities industry and wharton

424
00:23:06,500 –> 00:23:07,500
[Ramsey Smith]: got it

425
00:23:07,615 –> 00:23:10,255
[Dave Levenson]: and whenever i went out and i talked to our member companies

426
00:23:09,805 –> 00:23:10,805
[Paul Tyler]: yeah

427
00:23:10,495 –> 00:23:13,135
[Dave Levenson]: they had no idea what i was talking about when i brought up that program and i

428
00:23:13,215 –> 00:23:17,135
[Dave Levenson]: said you know i went through it when i was with edward jones it was a phenomenal

429
00:23:16,835 –> 00:23:17,835
[Dave Levenson]: program

430
00:23:17,380 –> 00:23:18,380
[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

431
00:23:18,495 –> 00:23:22,975
[Dave Levenson]: why shouldn’t our industry have the same thing so that’s essentially what we did

432
00:23:23,295 –> 00:23:28,015
[Dave Levenson]: and the people on our team that put this together just doing an exceptional job

433
00:23:28,175 –> 00:23:31,215
[Dave Levenson]: and i’m super excited about what it’s going to look like in july

434
00:23:31,520 –> 00:23:34,560
[Ramsey Smith]: and the second thing was you said you were talking about things you should do and

435
00:23:34,620 –> 00:23:35,620
[Ramsey Smith]: shouldn’t do so i

436
00:23:35,395 –> 00:23:36,395
[Dave Levenson]: right

437
00:23:35,500 –> 00:23:36,500
[Ramsey Smith]: can’t resist

438
00:23:38,035 –> 00:23:39,035
[Dave Levenson]: right right

439
00:23:39,440 –> 00:23:43,120
[Ramsey Smith]: what would what were the things you get what were the things you you thought that

440
00:23:43,280 –> 00:23:46,880
[Ramsey Smith]: maybe you could deemphasize if if it’s not controversial

441
00:23:48,335 –> 00:23:50,735
[Dave Levenson]: yeah you know i’m not sure i want to go into a ton of detail

442
00:23:50,660 –> 00:23:51,660
[Ramsey Smith]: okay

443
00:23:51,055 –> 00:23:54,175
[Dave Levenson]: about that type of stuff but what i’ll share with you is

444
00:23:55,695 –> 00:24:02,095
[Dave Levenson]: you know we are an industry association which means if we’re not going deep with

445
00:24:01,995 –> 00:26:00,315
[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

446
00:24:02,175 –> 00:24:04,975
[Dave Levenson]: our solutions with fifteen twenty fifty companies

447
00:24:06,175 –> 00:24:09,375
[Dave Levenson]: there’s probably limited value uh in what we do

448
00:24:09,140 –> 00:24:10,140
[Ramsey Smith]: uhuh

449
00:24:10,315 –> 00:24:11,315
[Dave Levenson]: so we had

450
00:24:10,605 –> 00:24:11,605
[Paul Tyler]: yeah

451
00:24:11,375 –> 00:24:12,815
[Dave Levenson]: a lot of solutions that

452
00:24:14,495 –> 00:24:16,975
[Dave Levenson]: three companies picked up or two companies picked up

453
00:24:18,015 –> 00:24:21,215
[Dave Levenson]: and candidly we’ve done away with several of those

454
00:24:21,980 –> 00:24:22,980
[Ramsey Smith]: got it all

455
00:24:22,365 –> 00:24:23,365
[Paul Tyler]: yeah

456
00:24:22,420 –> 00:24:23,420
[Ramsey Smith]: right

457
00:24:23,645 –> 00:24:24,645
[Paul Tyler]: yeah

458
00:24:24,180 –> 00:24:25,180
[Ramsey Smith]: very helpful

459
00:24:25,945 –> 00:24:31,305
[Paul Tyler]: yeah absolutely uh now we also do have a lot of agents who are listening

460
00:24:31,355 –> 00:24:32,355
[Dave Levenson]: yeah yeah

461
00:24:31,465 –> 00:24:32,665
[Paul Tyler]: and i know agents

462
00:24:34,425 –> 00:24:37,145
[Paul Tyler]: i’m trying to think if i’m an agent i know lira from

463
00:24:38,005 –> 00:24:39,005
[Paul Tyler]: you know

464
00:24:38,180 –> 00:24:39,180
[Ramsey Smith]: am

465
00:24:38,825 –> 00:24:40,585
[Paul Tyler]: taking my sorry am

466
00:24:40,365 –> 00:24:41,365
[Paul Tyler]: l

467
00:24:40,420 –> 00:24:41,420
[Ramsey Smith]: am ml

468
00:24:40,995 –> 00:24:41,995
[Dave Levenson]: am

469
00:24:41,485 –> 00:24:42,485
[Paul Tyler]: t taking my

470
00:24:42,475 –> 00:24:43,475
[Dave Levenson]: absolutely

471
00:24:42,665 –> 00:24:48,105
[Paul Tyler]: licensing you know uh or take my mandatory training there’s a lot of stuff i

472
00:24:48,265 –> 00:24:49,865
[Paul Tyler]: probably don’t know um

473
00:24:51,385 –> 00:24:54,825
[Paul Tyler]: how does how does your industry touch me as an agent

474
00:24:58,315 –> 00:24:59,315
[Dave Levenson]: yeah so

475
00:25:00,075 –> 00:25:01,075
[Dave Levenson]: when i think about

476
00:25:02,015 –> 00:25:06,255
[Dave Levenson]: and i’ll give you i’ll go a little deeper now so i gave you a little bit of a

477
00:25:06,655 –> 00:25:10,815
[Dave Levenson]: vision for knowledge i’ll give you a little bit of a vision for insights all right

478
00:25:10,895 –> 00:25:13,775
[Dave Levenson]: so when you think about insights think about our

479
00:25:13,660 –> 00:25:14,660
[Ramsey Smith]: thank you

480
00:25:13,935 –> 00:25:17,535
[Dave Levenson]: research organization which is the heart of who we are and who we’ve been

481
00:25:18,655 –> 00:25:19,775
[Dave Levenson]: um we’ve got about

482
00:25:21,055 –> 00:25:25,535
[Dave Levenson]: thirty percent of our organization that’s focused on the research function thirty

483
00:25:25,775 –> 00:25:27,375
[Dave Levenson]: percent of our three hundred twenty people

484
00:25:28,755 –> 00:25:29,755
[Dave Levenson]: so

485
00:25:30,495 –> 00:25:32,095
[Dave Levenson]: when i think about uh

486
00:25:33,135 –> 00:25:37,775
[Dave Levenson]: where we are very focused again we used to do a lot of stuff we just the

487
00:25:37,380 –> 00:25:38,380
[Ramsey Smith]: but

488
00:25:37,855 –> 00:25:41,215
[Dave Levenson]: breadth of what we did was incredible and this might get back into what did we

489
00:25:41,375 –> 00:25:46,575
[Dave Levenson]: stop doing and now what we’re saying is we are very focused on three verticals

490
00:25:47,375 –> 00:25:51,055
[Dave Levenson]: life insurance annuities and workplace benefits

491
00:25:52,095 –> 00:25:53,615
[Dave Levenson]: and there are three functions

492
00:25:54,895 –> 00:25:59,295
[Dave Levenson]: that we are very focused on because we could we could go all over the place with

493
00:25:59,455 –> 00:26:04,175
[Dave Levenson]: life annuity and workplace benefits but from a research perspective we are focused

494
00:26:01,995 –> 00:28:00,315
[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

495
00:26:04,195 –> 00:26:05,195
[Dave Levenson]: on distribution

496
00:26:06,415 –> 00:26:11,535
[Dave Levenson]: and we are focused on the customer and customer insights and we are focused on

497
00:26:11,775 –> 00:26:16,095
[Dave Levenson]: product those are the three so when you think about you know paul your question

498
00:26:16,075 –> 00:26:17,075
[Dave Levenson]: you know

499
00:26:17,935 –> 00:26:22,815
[Dave Levenson]: we are going to be doing a lot of research in that we call it our three by three

500
00:26:23,775 –> 00:26:26,895
[Dave Levenson]: so annuity distribution is one of those boxes

501
00:26:28,015 –> 00:26:33,695
[Dave Levenson]: and you know we will be able to provide a lot of research to

502
00:26:35,295 –> 00:26:39,695
[Dave Levenson]: our members that manufacture products and our members that distribute products

503
00:26:40,735 –> 00:26:48,015
[Dave Levenson]: about annuity distribution so what do advisors want and what do customers want and

504
00:26:48,095 –> 00:26:53,455
[Dave Levenson]: how do advisors meet those needs and we’ve got a ton of research already that

505
00:26:53,535 –> 00:26:56,975
[Dave Levenson]: we’ve done around these things but we’re going to get even more focused around it

506
00:26:59,165 –> 00:27:00,165
[Paul Tyler]: got it

507
00:27:01,545 –> 00:27:05,225
[Paul Tyler]: again from the agent perspective i’ll stick to our area

508
00:27:05,395 –> 00:27:06,395
[Dave Levenson]: yeah

509
00:27:05,465 –> 00:27:09,545
[Paul Tyler]: annuities we talked about life insurance lots of change you know i think

510
00:27:09,460 –> 00:27:10,460
[Ramsey Smith]: i think i like

511
00:27:09,625 –> 00:27:13,145
[Paul Tyler]: about my career dev it work i started with a mutual it turned into a public

512
00:27:12,925 –> 00:27:13,925
[Paul Tyler]: company

513
00:27:14,075 –> 00:27:15,075
[Dave Levenson]: hello

514
00:27:14,985 –> 00:27:18,425
[Paul Tyler]: worked for a private equity owned insurance company when i think it was you know

515
00:27:18,425 –> 00:27:22,505
[Paul Tyler]: we were one of the first few now it seems to be you know private equity ownership

516
00:27:22,585 –> 00:27:23,625
[Paul Tyler]: is almost the the

517
00:27:24,180 –> 00:27:25,180
[Ramsey Smith]: becoming the norm

518
00:27:24,965 –> 00:27:25,965
[Paul Tyler]: it is the norm

519
00:27:26,275 –> 00:27:27,275
[Dave Levenson]: yeah

520
00:27:27,145 –> 00:27:30,745
[Paul Tyler]: but lots of change you know you got pe firms coming in but

521
00:27:30,355 –> 00:27:31,355
[Dave Levenson]: yeah

522
00:27:30,825 –> 00:27:31,865
[Paul Tyler]: then you see a lot of companies

523
00:27:32,985 –> 00:27:37,305
[Paul Tyler]: boxing up their annuity business and giving it to people to run as closed blocks

524
00:27:37,085 –> 00:27:38,085
[Paul Tyler]: how do i

525
00:27:37,475 –> 00:27:38,475
[Dave Levenson]: yeah

526
00:27:37,865 –> 00:27:41,785
[Paul Tyler]: make sense of this as an agent you know do i need to worry about it is this just

527
00:27:41,865 –> 00:27:47,065
[Paul Tyler]: sort of a normal changing of the guard in an industry and whose bank account is is

528
00:27:47,225 –> 00:27:48,425
[Paul Tyler]: backing the products

529
00:27:49,295 –> 00:27:53,535
[Dave Levenson]: he again you you’re asking all the right questions and i wish i had a crystal ball

530
00:27:53,615 –> 00:27:58,575
[Dave Levenson]: to tell you kind of what it all means but what it does mean is that again there’s

531
00:27:58,435 –> 00:27:59,435
[Dave Levenson]: a lot of change

532
00:28:00,335 –> 00:28:04,735
[Dave Levenson]: so the industry just in the last twenty four months has changed tremendously

533
00:28:01,995 –> 00:30:00,315
[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss

534
00:28:05,855 –> 00:28:07,935
[Dave Levenson]: with the amount of private equity firms that

535
00:28:08,675 –> 00:28:09,675
[Dave Levenson]: are

536
00:28:10,815 –> 00:28:15,135
[Dave Levenson]: in place and you know people always say you know dave is that good or is it bad

537
00:28:15,215 –> 00:28:18,815
[Dave Levenson]: and i say look i don’t know if it is good or i don’t know if it is bad it just is

538
00:28:19,535 –> 00:28:21,695
[Dave Levenson]: right and that’s our reality so

539
00:28:22,735 –> 00:28:27,055
[Dave Levenson]: you know when i think about and again you know edward jones had eighteen thousand

540
00:28:27,375 –> 00:28:31,055
[Dave Levenson]: financial advisors when i think about the role of the financial advisor

541
00:28:32,335 –> 00:28:36,335
[Dave Levenson]: they’ve got to make sure that the products and solutions that they bring to

542
00:28:36,195 –> 00:28:37,195
[Dave Levenson]: customers

543
00:28:38,115 –> 00:28:39,115
[Dave Levenson]: meet their needs

544
00:28:40,575 –> 00:28:41,855
[Dave Levenson]: and are good for

545
00:28:42,975 –> 00:28:47,215
[Dave Levenson]: the time period that the customer wants them to be good for right so if i’m fifty

546
00:28:47,455 –> 00:28:51,535
[Dave Levenson]: five and i want to turn income on at sixty five i need a product that’s going to

547
00:28:51,615 –> 00:28:53,215
[Dave Levenson]: be around for twenty thirty forty years

548
00:28:55,075 –> 00:28:56,075
[Dave Levenson]: so

549
00:28:56,735 –> 00:29:02,175
[Dave Levenson]: i think with the help of insurance regulators there’s a lot of products that are

550
00:29:02,495 –> 00:29:05,935
[Dave Levenson]: in force that are still good products and whether they’re owned by

551
00:29:06,875 –> 00:29:07,875
[Dave Levenson]: you know

552
00:29:08,495 –> 00:29:12,255
[Dave Levenson]: you know blackstone or whether they’re owned by a traditional mutual company i’m

553
00:29:12,335 –> 00:29:13,695
[Dave Levenson]: not sure it matters that much

554
00:29:14,735 –> 00:29:15,935
[Dave Levenson]: um you know i think

555
00:29:17,135 –> 00:29:21,055
[Dave Levenson]: there’s a lot of solvency for the companies that are backing those products

556
00:29:22,175 –> 00:29:29,295
[Dave Levenson]: as it go as it has implications to new products right and what advisors or agents

557
00:29:29,235 –> 00:29:30,235
[Dave Levenson]: could get excited about

558
00:29:31,215 –> 00:29:32,575
[Dave Levenson]: i think it’s going to open up

559
00:29:34,015 –> 00:29:36,735
[Dave Levenson]: more creativity and innovation in

560
00:29:36,420 –> 00:29:37,420
[Ramsey Smith]: so

561
00:29:36,475 –> 00:29:37,475
[Dave Levenson]: our space

562
00:29:38,415 –> 00:29:41,695
[Dave Levenson]: anytime you have new entrants that’s what they do right to disrupt i’ve got to

563
00:29:41,775 –> 00:29:45,535
[Dave Levenson]: come up with different solutions different ways of doing business i’m a big

564
00:29:45,695 –> 00:29:47,775
[Dave Levenson]: believer that that is never a bad thing

565
00:29:49,135 –> 00:29:52,975
[Dave Levenson]: so it’s good good for customers and ultimately i think it’s good for our industry

566
00:29:52,995 –> 00:29:53,995
[Dave Levenson]: so

567
00:29:55,215 –> 00:29:59,455
[Dave Levenson]: those that get in front of the change and those that can leverage the change

568
00:29:59,775 –> 00:30:02,815
[Dave Levenson]: effectively you’re going to win i think over the next several years

569
00:30:01,995 –> 00:32:00,315
[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

570
00:30:03,600 –> 00:30:07,680
[Ramsey Smith]: so now you brought up pardon me you brought up as one of your three key areas

571
00:30:08,720 –> 00:30:10,480
[Ramsey Smith]: workplace benefits and

572
00:30:10,115 –> 00:30:11,115
[Dave Levenson]: yeah

573
00:30:11,440 –> 00:30:15,120
[Ramsey Smith]: secure act is something we’ve talked about on this show a lot and something

574
00:30:14,675 –> 00:30:15,675
[Dave Levenson]: yes

575
00:30:15,360 –> 00:30:17,920
[Ramsey Smith]: i spend a lot of time thinking about in terms of my own

576
00:30:18,940 –> 00:30:19,940
[Ramsey Smith]: business objectives

577
00:30:19,405 –> 00:30:20,405
[Paul Tyler]: well

578
00:30:20,900 –> 00:30:21,900
[Ramsey Smith]: very interested to hear

579
00:30:24,000 –> 00:30:29,440
[Ramsey Smith]: what sort of thoughts have been developed within limma vc v vc v

580
00:30:30,800 –> 00:30:35,840
[Ramsey Smith]: implant annuities and other other initiatives that are essentially born of the

581
00:30:35,660 –> 00:30:36,660
[Ramsey Smith]: secure act

582
00:30:36,445 –> 00:30:37,445
[Paul Tyler]: yeah

583
00:30:37,120 –> 00:30:41,120
[Ramsey Smith]: would love to get your perspective is somebody one who sort of in the middle of

584
00:30:41,200 –> 00:30:44,720
[Ramsey Smith]: the in the middle of the industry united nations if you will

585
00:30:46,560 –> 00:30:49,040
[Ramsey Smith]: and how many years do you think it’s going to take before it really

586
00:30:50,080 –> 00:30:51,200
[Ramsey Smith]: finds its momentum

587
00:30:52,895 –> 00:30:56,415
[Dave Levenson]: yeah uh so ramsay you probably know more about this than i do

588
00:30:57,615 –> 00:31:03,455
[Dave Levenson]: but you know what i’d share with you is you know the secure act good thing right a

589
00:31:03,535 –> 00:31:05,615
[Dave Levenson]: good thing that it requires an annuity solution

590
00:31:07,215 –> 00:31:08,415
[Dave Levenson]: on a lot of these plans

591
00:31:09,775 –> 00:31:11,055
[Dave Levenson]: but you know early on again

592
00:31:12,175 –> 00:31:15,775
[Dave Levenson]: if i’m a provider of the industry if i’m a four hundred one thousand provider i

593
00:31:15,935 –> 00:31:19,695
[Dave Levenson]: kind of look at this and say you know meps peps good bad

594
00:31:19,460 –> 00:31:20,460
[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

595
00:31:20,175 –> 00:31:23,935
[Dave Levenson]: growing fast i mean so the fact that we can get in front of this

596
00:31:25,135 –> 00:31:29,215
[Dave Levenson]: because we’re so good with benchmarking i mean it’s kind of when i talk about

597
00:31:29,375 –> 00:31:33,855
[Dave Levenson]: research the heart of our research is our benchmarking so people will look to us

598
00:31:33,675 –> 00:31:34,675
[Dave Levenson]: and say

599
00:31:35,935 –> 00:31:40,815
[Dave Levenson]: alright i’ve been watching but like is this happening like what’s happened the

600
00:31:40,815 –> 00:31:45,375
[Dave Levenson]: first couple of months and we provide those insights to our members which is super

601
00:31:45,195 –> 00:31:46,195
[Dave Levenson]: helpful

602
00:31:46,895 –> 00:31:52,975
[Dave Levenson]: similar for implant annuities and you know you know as well as i do that the take

603
00:31:53,155 –> 00:31:54,155
[Dave Levenson]: on that has been slow

604
00:31:54,980 –> 00:31:55,980
[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

605
00:31:55,315 –> 00:31:56,315
[Dave Levenson]: so

606
00:31:57,455 –> 00:32:01,615
[Dave Levenson]: there are a number of plans that are offering these solutions

607
00:32:01,995 –> 00:34:00,315
[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

608
00:32:03,055 –> 00:32:06,495
[Dave Levenson]: but at the participant level it’s still fairly complicated

609
00:32:08,335 –> 00:32:11,535
[Dave Levenson]: but i’m so when you ask the question how long will it take

610
00:32:13,695 –> 00:32:18,655
[Dave Levenson]: i think about this and i say are implant annuities the right thing or the wrong

611
00:32:18,975 –> 00:32:20,015
[Dave Levenson]: thing right

612
00:32:21,215 –> 00:32:24,095
[Dave Levenson]: and i say for a retirement plan

613
00:32:25,375 –> 00:32:26,895
[Dave Levenson]: they’re absolutely the right thing

614
00:32:27,795 –> 00:32:28,795
[Dave Levenson]: because

615
00:32:30,015 –> 00:32:35,375
[Dave Levenson]: we are getting tax preferred treatment on retirement plans because the government

616
00:32:35,775 –> 00:32:38,415
[Dave Levenson]: wants us to help people in retirement right

617
00:32:38,260 –> 00:32:39,260
[Ramsey Smith]: yep

618
00:32:39,295 –> 00:32:44,015
[Dave Levenson]: and the best way to help people in retirement is to ensure that people have income

619
00:32:44,815 –> 00:32:47,775
[Dave Levenson]: while they’re in retirement at the end of the day that’s what that’s what you know

620
00:32:48,015 –> 00:32:52,575
[Dave Levenson]: the government is is supporting us to do thats what we should do so i’m a big

621
00:32:52,655 –> 00:32:57,215
[Dave Levenson]: believer in implant annuities it’s just it’s a very sophisticated solution

622
00:32:57,935 –> 00:33:02,815
[Dave Levenson]: relative to what people are used to it may maybe it’s not super sophisticate it’s

623
00:33:02,815 –> 00:33:06,815
[Dave Levenson]: just different right but when i think about back to your question paul about

624
00:33:06,975 –> 00:33:13,215
[Dave Levenson]: digital and the role of i think that’s all gonna come together nicely and i do i

625
00:33:13,295 –> 00:33:17,295
[Dave Levenson]: am bullish that we’re going to see growth in that space but i don’t think it’s

626
00:33:17,375 –> 00:33:23,295
[Dave Levenson]: going to be at you know a speed at a level of speed that you know over the next

627
00:33:22,980 –> 00:33:23,980
[Ramsey Smith]: true

628
00:33:23,455 –> 00:33:26,255
[Dave Levenson]: two or three years is gonna you know break any speed records

629
00:33:26,800 –> 00:33:28,080
[Ramsey Smith]: got it so i have

630
00:33:28,155 –> 00:33:29,155
[Dave Levenson]: but it’s coming

631
00:33:28,240 –> 00:33:33,360
[Ramsey Smith]: i have one more one more question uh that really sort of harks back to your time

632
00:33:33,520 –> 00:33:35,600
[Ramsey Smith]: at edward jones so you were

633
00:33:35,395 –> 00:33:36,395
[Dave Levenson]: do

634
00:33:36,080 –> 00:33:40,560
[Ramsey Smith]: you were working for you know one of the premier sort of financial advisory firms

635
00:33:40,720 –> 00:33:45,120
[Ramsey Smith]: in the united states and you know you were you you’re coming in there as an

636
00:33:45,280 –> 00:33:51,040
[Ramsey Smith]: insurance expert one of the tensions in the industry is how we engage with

637
00:33:51,840 –> 00:33:54,880
[Ramsey Smith]: financial advisors effectively so

638
00:33:54,435 –> 00:33:55,435
[Dave Levenson]: yeah

639
00:33:55,840 –> 00:33:59,440
[Ramsey Smith]: meeting them where they are in terms of the kind of products they’ll like they

640
00:33:59,600 –> 00:34:02,080
[Ramsey Smith]: like compensation structure et cetera

641
00:34:01,995 –> 00:36:00,315
[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

642
00:34:03,520 –> 00:34:08,000
[Ramsey Smith]: any insights it means that you can share from that experience would be would be

643
00:34:05,085 –> 00:34:06,085
[Paul Tyler]: sure

644
00:34:08,100 –> 00:34:09,100
[Ramsey Smith]: would be fascinating

645
00:34:10,655 –> 00:34:15,055
[Dave Levenson]: yeah look edward jones is an exceptional firm as are a lot of the other

646
00:34:16,335 –> 00:34:19,775
[Dave Levenson]: firms out there that a lot of the you know your listeners work for

647
00:34:21,375 –> 00:34:25,615
[Dave Levenson]: but you know one of the things that i respected greatly about the organization is

648
00:34:25,695 –> 00:34:27,775
[Dave Levenson]: that its focus on the consumer

649
00:34:29,695 –> 00:34:35,375
[Dave Levenson]: and ensuring that whatever we did was right by the customer and we had checks and

650
00:34:35,455 –> 00:34:40,335
[Dave Levenson]: balances all all through the organization to ensure that that was always true

651
00:34:41,875 –> 00:34:42,875
[Dave Levenson]: so

652
00:34:43,595 –> 00:34:44,595
[Dave Levenson]: vmc what

653
00:34:44,125 –> 00:34:45,125
[Paul Tyler]: yeah

654
00:34:44,575 –> 00:34:50,095
[Dave Levenson]: i’ll do is i’ll draw i’ll draw a little analogy here right because this is the way

655
00:34:50,255 –> 00:34:53,935
[Dave Levenson]: i always used to think about things so think about how much time and effort

656
00:34:55,935 –> 00:34:59,935
[Dave Levenson]: the industry is spending on fiduciary and

657
00:35:00,975 –> 00:35:06,415
[Dave Levenson]: the dol rule and the sec rule and the syncing up of the rules and where’s it going

658
00:35:06,895 –> 00:35:08,735
[Dave Levenson]: and you know and then think

659
00:35:08,445 –> 00:35:09,445
[Paul Tyler]: yeah

660
00:35:08,895 –> 00:35:13,855
[Dave Levenson]: about the core of what it’s designed to do right at the end of the day it’s really

661
00:35:14,175 –> 00:35:18,655
[Dave Levenson]: designed to protect consumers right to ensure

662
00:35:20,015 –> 00:35:25,215
[Dave Levenson]: that whatever somebody sells them is right for them right

663
00:35:26,575 –> 00:35:30,575
[Dave Levenson]: and then think about um if you step back and think about

664
00:35:31,315 –> 00:35:32,315
[Dave Levenson]: how many

665
00:35:32,915 –> 00:35:33,915
[Dave Levenson]: um

666
00:35:34,575 –> 00:35:36,655
[Dave Levenson]: consumers sit down with an advisor

667
00:35:37,695 –> 00:35:42,175
[Dave Levenson]: and truly get a broad based plan that addresses all of their needs

668
00:35:42,915 –> 00:35:43,915
[Dave Levenson]: right

669
00:35:44,435 –> 00:35:45,435
[Dave Levenson]: and insurance

670
00:35:47,275 –> 00:35:48,275
[Dave Levenson]: retirement income

671
00:35:49,635 –> 00:35:50,635
[Dave Levenson]: investments

672
00:35:51,615 –> 00:35:55,615
[Dave Levenson]: uh college planning that all has to factor in together

673
00:35:57,455 –> 00:36:03,935
[Dave Levenson]: so the way i looked at it is that is the gold standard that’s what every advisor

674
00:36:01,995 –> 00:38:00,315
[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss

675
00:36:04,095 –> 00:36:08,255
[Dave Levenson]: should be doing and look i know life insurance can be very clunky right sometimes

676
00:36:08,495 –> 00:36:12,415
[Dave Levenson]: you have to fill out an application and maybe it’s more paper intensive than it

677
00:36:12,155 –> 00:36:13,155
[Dave Levenson]: should be

678
00:36:13,855 –> 00:36:19,055
[Dave Levenson]: but is it necessary for a forty year old with a young family to have life

679
00:36:18,835 –> 00:36:19,835
[Dave Levenson]: insurance

680
00:36:20,655 –> 00:36:25,375
[Dave Levenson]: and if i’m an advisor is that my responsibility right back to again

681
00:36:26,895 –> 00:36:29,375
[Dave Levenson]: the uh the concept of fiduciary

682
00:36:30,575 –> 00:36:35,455
[Dave Levenson]: so in my heart right and i think in your hearts and i think in most advisors

683
00:36:35,615 –> 00:36:40,095
[Dave Levenson]: hearts that is absolutely what they should be doing and they can point to

684
00:36:40,255 –> 00:36:43,375
[Dave Levenson]: insurance and say it’s clunky or they can point to annuities and say the

685
00:36:43,615 –> 00:36:47,295
[Dave Levenson]: technology is not where it needs to be and things aren’t integrated but

686
00:36:48,655 –> 00:36:52,575
[Dave Levenson]: we as financial professionals need to go that extra mile

687
00:36:53,695 –> 00:36:57,855
[Dave Levenson]: and ensure that it’s all coming together the right way even if it’s extra work

688
00:36:58,895 –> 00:37:03,535
[Dave Levenson]: because our responsibility is to make sure that consumers are invested and have

689
00:37:03,755 –> 00:37:04,755
[Dave Levenson]: protection where they should

690
00:37:06,425 –> 00:37:08,105
[Paul Tyler]: wow that that that’s great

691
00:37:08,540 –> 00:37:09,540
[Ramsey Smith]: absolutely

692
00:37:09,705 –> 00:37:15,225
[Paul Tyler]: it is now we’re almost at the top top of our time so dave i i’ve got the big y

693
00:37:15,545 –> 00:37:18,665
[Paul Tyler]: question so you’ve got a huge board

694
00:37:20,025 –> 00:37:25,545
[Paul Tyler]: of i’m sure probably if you have twenty members on your board i you got two strong

695
00:37:25,855 –> 00:37:28,255
[Dave Levenson]: twenty five yeah yeah yeah

696
00:37:26,105 –> 00:37:27,225
[Paul Tyler]: strong opinion right

697
00:37:30,165 –> 00:37:31,165
[Paul Tyler]: you know you’ve

698
00:37:33,385 –> 00:37:38,745
[Paul Tyler]: you’ve got a very complicated organization a lot of different set of very

699
00:37:38,985 –> 00:37:42,585
[Paul Tyler]: important services that you deliver to the industry why do you do this

700
00:37:43,165 –> 00:37:44,165
[Paul Tyler]: why

701
00:37:43,835 –> 00:37:44,835
[Dave Levenson]: why do i do it

702
00:37:44,365 –> 00:37:45,365
[Paul Tyler]: yeah why do you

703
00:37:48,580 –> 00:37:49,580
[Ramsey Smith]: so

704
00:37:49,295 –> 00:37:55,455
[Dave Levenson]: so paul i i think i think that this is a little bit of a higher calling for me

705
00:37:55,155 –> 00:37:56,155
[Dave Levenson]: right

706
00:37:56,735 –> 00:38:02,175
[Dave Levenson]: i i love what our industry does i think it serves an incredible purpose so whether

707
00:38:01,995 –> 00:40:00,315
[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

708
00:38:02,335 –> 00:38:06,895
[Dave Levenson]: it’s life insurance or annuities or even you know investments long term care

709
00:38:07,935 –> 00:38:14,655
[Dave Levenson]: you know you know group life group disability they are wonderful solutions for so

710
00:38:14,815 –> 00:38:16,975
[Dave Levenson]: many people in our country and so many people in the world

711
00:38:18,495 –> 00:38:22,335
[Dave Levenson]: and if i can just take this last leg of my career

712
00:38:23,315 –> 00:38:24,315
[Dave Levenson]: and help

713
00:38:26,495 –> 00:38:30,895
[Dave Levenson]: more companies deliver those solutions effectively to consumers

714
00:38:32,015 –> 00:38:33,535
[Dave Levenson]: then i think there’s more value

715
00:38:35,135 –> 00:38:37,775
[Dave Levenson]: i do in this role than working

716
00:38:37,565 –> 00:38:38,565
[Paul Tyler]: sure

717
00:38:38,335 –> 00:38:43,615
[Dave Levenson]: any one company trying to influence what that one company does so you know it’s a

718
00:38:43,695 –> 00:38:48,575
[Dave Levenson]: privilege to work with a trade association much more so than i could ever have

719
00:38:48,735 –> 00:38:54,095
[Dave Levenson]: imagined and you know yeah i’ve got a large board but it’s not a corporate board

720
00:38:54,175 –> 00:38:58,895
[Dave Levenson]: right a corporate board with twenty five people would be a circus i’ve got a i’ve

721
00:38:58,895 –> 00:39:04,575
[Dave Levenson]: got a member board of twenty five people and you know they provide me guidance and

722
00:39:04,735 –> 00:39:06,255
[Dave Levenson]: advice and stewardship

723
00:39:07,615 –> 00:39:09,775
[Dave Levenson]: but they’re also the consumers of what we do

724
00:39:11,135 –> 00:39:15,215
[Dave Levenson]: and that’s one of the key reasons that we have twenty five people but i’ve got to

725
00:39:15,295 –> 00:39:17,135
[Dave Levenson]: tell you i work with some of the best people

726
00:39:18,575 –> 00:39:22,495
[Dave Levenson]: every day whether it’s these leaders of uh of our member companies

727
00:39:23,615 –> 00:39:26,895
[Dave Levenson]: or whether it’s the employees that i’m privileged to lead every day and

728
00:39:27,935 –> 00:39:30,095
[Dave Levenson]: it’s been a thrill that that’ why i do it paul

729
00:39:30,985 –> 00:39:35,465
[Paul Tyler]: thank you yeah and and thank you dave i think what you’re doing is is tremendous i

730
00:39:35,465 –> 00:39:40,345
[Paul Tyler]: mean limmer really has had a huge impact in the past i think what you’re where

731
00:39:40,425 –> 00:39:44,745
[Paul Tyler]: you’re headed what you’ve done over the last couple of years has been phenomenal

732
00:39:45,465 –> 00:39:49,705
[Paul Tyler]: and you know i can’t wait to see uh what the next chapter is so

733
00:39:49,935 –> 00:39:55,375
[Dave Levenson]: yeah it’ll it’ll be fun you know before you guys cut me off i do want to promised

734
00:39:55,375 –> 00:39:59,535
[Dave Levenson]: ramsey this just gives you a sense for some of our annuity research because

735
00:39:59,695 –> 00:40:04,335
[Dave Levenson]: there’s some fun stuff coming so annuity income by race and ethnicity this report

736
00:40:01,995 –> 00:42:00,315
[kate_theroux]: Ssssssssssssss,

737
00:40:04,575 –> 00:40:06,095
[Dave Levenson]: is coming out real soon from us

738
00:40:07,215 –> 00:40:10,735
[Dave Levenson]: the upside and the downside of annuity product selection

739
00:40:07,280 –> 00:40:08,480
[Ramsey Smith]: i’m so now but

740
00:40:11,060 –> 00:40:12,060
[Ramsey Smith]: yes

741
00:40:11,715 –> 00:40:12,715
[Dave Levenson]: that is already out

742
00:40:13,775 –> 00:40:15,935
[Dave Levenson]: annuities what do advisors think

743
00:40:17,135 –> 00:40:18,495
[Dave Levenson]: that research is already out

744
00:40:19,695 –> 00:40:22,255
[Dave Levenson]: a reference guide which is like a two hundred page

745
00:40:23,775 –> 00:40:27,855
[Dave Levenson]: book about the retail retirement reference guide the fifth edition

746
00:40:28,435 –> 00:40:29,435
[Dave Levenson]: um

747
00:40:30,095 –> 00:40:34,975
[Dave Levenson]: uh we’ve got uh a forecast a future view of annuity sales we didn’t even talk

748
00:40:35,055 –> 00:40:40,575
[Dave Levenson]: about riles and fis and so people should certainly tune in for that and gosh we’ve

749
00:40:40,575 –> 00:40:44,015
[Dave Levenson]: got a lot of convening opportunities with our conferences and our committees and

750
00:40:44,335 –> 00:40:47,455
[Dave Levenson]: if any of the listeners would like to have more information about this just

751
00:40:47,935 –> 00:40:49,775
[Dave Levenson]: contact me or anybody at limma

752
00:40:50,205 –> 00:40:51,205
[Paul Tyler]: that’s great right

753
00:40:50,560 –> 00:40:53,920
[Ramsey Smith]: so yes how do people get that debt obviously members get that data

754
00:40:54,960 –> 00:40:58,240
[Ramsey Smith]: if you’re an agent or an agency do you subscribe

755
00:40:59,440 –> 00:41:01,680
[Ramsey Smith]: how do they get exposure to all that great information

756
00:41:02,575 –> 00:41:06,175
[Dave Levenson]: yeah you know again we’re a member based organization so most of the stuff we do

757
00:41:06,075 –> 00:41:07,075
[Dave Levenson]: is for our

758
00:41:06,740 –> 00:41:07,740
[Ramsey Smith]: yeah

759
00:41:06,975 –> 00:41:09,695
[Dave Levenson]: membership but our membership is not

760
00:41:11,295 –> 00:41:16,175
[Dave Levenson]: unique to the carriers anymore so distribution firms almost all of the large

761
00:41:16,335 –> 00:41:22,735
[Dave Levenson]: broker dealers our members a lot of the large insurance bg’s our members we’re

762
00:41:22,815 –> 00:41:25,855
[Dave Levenson]: always looking for more members and then you know we

763
00:41:25,460 –> 00:41:26,460
[Ramsey Smith]: sure

764
00:41:26,015 –> 00:41:30,335
[Dave Levenson]: share some of these things obviously with other trade associations whether you

765
00:41:30,335 –> 00:41:33,135
[Dave Levenson]: know it’s finsec as an example on the

766
00:41:34,575 –> 00:41:40,015
[Dave Levenson]: on the life insurance side or riri as an example on the annuity side so we’re all

767
00:41:40,095 –> 00:41:44,175
[Dave Levenson]: big on sharing if it helps make the industry a lot stronger

768
00:41:43,940 –> 00:41:44,940
[Ramsey Smith]: fantastic

769
00:41:45,065 –> 00:41:50,825
[Paul Tyler]: excellent hey dave thanks so much for spending some time with us and ramsey any

770
00:41:51,065 –> 00:41:52,665
[Paul Tyler]: anything else on your end

771
00:41:53,280 –> 00:41:55,280
[Ramsey Smith]: i’m excited to see what the preacher holds

772
00:41:56,320 –> 00:42:02,480
[Ramsey Smith]: i’m really excited to see what what dave has in mind to g lim lomas influence

773
00:42:01,675 –> 00:42:31,995
[kate_theroux]: Iss.

774
00:42:03,040 –> 00:42:06,480
[Ramsey Smith]: outside the u s internationally so i’m watching with great interest

775
00:42:07,085 –> 00:42:08,085
[Paul Tyler]: excellent

776
00:42:07,295 –> 00:42:10,815
[Dave Levenson]: i’d love to come back and tell you about our international plans it’s it’s pretty

777
00:42:10,635 –> 00:42:11,635
[Dave Levenson]: exciting

778
00:42:11,145 –> 00:42:12,505
[Paul Tyler]: oh great okay you’re on

779
00:42:12,400 –> 00:42:13,600
[Ramsey Smith]: be careful what you wish for

780
00:42:14,265 –> 00:42:15,785
[Paul Tyler]: we’ll we’ll write this down and

781
00:42:17,465 –> 00:42:21,305
[Paul Tyler]: look yeah dave all right listen thanks so much and hey thanks all to all our

782
00:42:21,465 –> 00:42:27,385
[Paul Tyler]: listeners join us again next week for another episode of that annuity show thanks

783
00:42:27,020 –> 00:42:28,020
[Ramsey Smith]: thank you

784
00:42:27,295 –> 00:42:29,455
[Dave Levenson]: great seeing you guys and thanks for doing this

785
00:42:27,295 –> 00:42:29,455
[Dave Levenson]: great seeing you guys and thanks for doing this

The discussion is not meant to provide any legal, tax, or investment advice with respect to the purchase of an insurance product. A comprehensive evaluation of a consumer’s needs and financial situation should always occur in order to help determine if an insurance product may be appropriate for each unique situation.

Ashley SaundersEpisode 144: Charting a New Course for the Industry with Dave Levenson

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