Chuck Layman
GrowSecure, Inc.
Loveland, CO.
Number of years in the industry: 36
Total production 2011: $14 million
On designations: “Personally, I don’t think a designation holds as much value as people think. I’ve known great advisors and not great advisors who have the same designations. I think it all boils down to running an ethical business and being honest and upfront about who you are and what you believe. Prospects will pick up on that more than they will the fact you have a fancy designation assigned to your company.”
On a senior-focused clientele: “After being in the business for 20-some years, a lot of my clients were becoming seniors and hitting retirement years and safety was more of an issue to them than risk. That is when I started realizing that the senior market as a whole had been taken advantage of by Wall Street and were not truly diversified into safety and safe vehicles. That is when I stopped using my securities license and went back to my route of insurance and safety first. I also liked dealing with senior citizens because they were more mature.”
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree for Chuck Layman. It never has. Currently, his daughter, Alicia Lewis, works with him in his firm and Layman’s father was also in the insurance business. “He worked for Prudential and when I was a teenager I used to watch how the people in our community respected my dad,” Layman says. “We lived a comfortable lifestyle and took vacations when we wanted and I kind of liked that. It was around that time I made a decision to follow in my dad’s footsteps.”
Layman got his start in the business in 1976 after earning his life insurance license and says, even after 36 years he has no regrets. “It was the best thing I ever did. I totally love what I do. I doubt if I will ever completely retire because I love what I do.”
Mostly, he loves working with the people of his Northern Colorado town. He loves helping them solve financial problems and tamping down any fears or confusion they might have. “The two main things I hear from people is that they’re afraid of losing money in the market because of the volatility and they’re worried about outliving their income.”
While Layman provides annuities as a safeguard for the volatility, he’s not an annuity-only advisor. “I’m not saying that people should have all their money in an annuity, but I also believe that when you show people how it will fit into their planning process of giving them a complete diversified plan as a safety net, they love it.”