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Life Health > Life Insurance

Look beyond designations to experienced mentors

By Thomas J. O'Connell

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There are lots of designations out there that one could get. All of them I’m sure would be of some benefit like the CLU or ChFC.

The problem I find with them is that they are all book designations. What I mean is, sure it looks good on paper, but the difficult part is applying it to the real world. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and love life insurance and annuities as a tool to solve peoples’ problems. Remember they are just tools and what the focus should be is helping people.

With all that said my suggestion is read, read more and read some more. You should become an Ed Slott Master Elite Advisor. The depth of knowledge will be invaluable. Become a certified advisor of the Nelson Nash Institute (the true founder of the Be Your Own Banker concept). You’ll learn more about life insurance and it’s applications than you ever knew possible.

Follow guys like Van Mueller out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Tom Hegna the author of numerous books on the use of annuities and life insurance. David Gaylor from Dayton, Ohio, has an incredible new book about Income Allocation, which is how to use FIA income riders to the fullest benefit for retirees. All these people have been not only mentors to me over the years but personal friends and people of the upmost character. I’d go to battle with any of them.

Designations are nice. They look cool on your business card, but these folks live and breathe life insurance and annuities. They are some of the smartest people with actual knee-to-knee experience. Between them I have no doubt billions of dollars of annuities and life insurance have been sold. These are the people you should be learning from, ask to be mentored by them, buy their books and DVDs and whatever else they sell. This is what will advance your career dramatically and it will set you apart from all the other “salespeople” out there.

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