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November 25, 2014 at 12:30 PM
I want to follow last month’s column by talking about some additional misrepresentations that must be understood by all insurance and financial professionals.
Misrepresentations are plentiful. For example, much is being written about the increased wealth of Americans since 2009. But recently, analysts at JP Morgan and Cornerstone Macro both concluded that the $13.6 trillion in increased wealth was supported by $11.5 trillion of Federal Reserve bond buying and printing. Let’s be honest, that is not real wealth. The next crash will destroy all of that and then some.
There are also misrepresentations about inflation, unemployment, debt, interest rates, health care costs, etc. We must help our prospects and clients understand these issues so we can make sure that they are not harmed by them.
But the biggest misrepresentation is the idea that the government will be there to take care of you. Our greatest service is helping our clients take control of their lives, so they do not have to worry about whether the government will able to keep its promises.
I am writing this column on election night. The Republican Party overwhelmingly won the midterm elections. For the next two years, they will control the House and the Senate and they now also hold a vast majority of state governors. As a result, many of our prospects and clients will tell us that their worries are over, because their party won. They do not have to do anything now, because the government will protect them.
But the side that lost will say that they will wait for two years, until their party comes back into power, and then the government will protect them. This will go back and forth as it has now for over a generation.
