Money in the bank

Historically, the insurance industry hires in any market, albeit in down periods there is a slowdown in terms of quantity.

During recessionary times the bread & butter disciples of underwriting, claims, and actuarial, have a tendency to be very strong and in demand, and there has been some pretty steady growth in product management and IT.

Key positions such as producers in all disciplines are also in high demand.

As a side note... kind of interesting in that traditionally insurance stocks outperform the Dow.

Not lately – in 2008 they fell by 47% compared to the Dows 33.8%.

Money in the bank

Got a bad boss?

Business Week says... be patient, as the clock is probably ticking on him or her.

I agree.

I’ve run into situations every year or two where all of a sudden 3, 4, or 5 people want me to find them a new position because of this “bad boss”.

While it’s nice to have a number of new candidates, this is certainly the wrong reason.

I tell them to be patient - and in the meantime I’ll try to unload this person onto one of my “bad clients”.

Frequently works, and I’ve got a number of x-candidates who will always be grateful.

Money in the bank

Just read a pretty lengthy Forbes article from their investment team.

Tenor in a nutshell was that when mortgage rates drop to 4.5% and stay there, or lower, good things will happen.

It puts dollars in everyone’s pocket immediately – “a stimulus plan that actually works immediately”.

It creates a frenzy of refinancing, which gets rid of the majority of the toxic assets on lenders balance sheets – allowing them to get back into giving credit again.

Helps dry-up the large volume of foreclosures, as people will be buying again.

Sounds like a plan!

Harvey Dorland

Money in the bank

Kind of interesting...

According to several recent studies, we would rather make $100k if our neighbors also make $100k, than we would $200k if our neighbors make $300k.

Huh??....

I’d move to a $200k neighborly area and take the $200k if it seemed to be that much of a problem!

National and regional independent agent P&C carriers wrote $800M less premium in 2007 (year 2008, don’t know) versus $5B and $4B increases in 2006/2005.

You’d think that as a result 2008 search positions would have been correspondingly fewer than the previous 3 years, but I didn’t notice it until probably 10/08.

It’s probably 40% quieter so far this year, but the first quarter has tended to be that way for the past 6 years or so.

Hope it’s just a first quarter trend!

Harvey Dorland

Money in the bank

Some interesting tidbits to consider...

· If you invest $20k in your 401k that earns 6.5%/year for 20 years, you’ll have $70,500 if the annual expenses are .5%; but you’ll only have $58,400 if annual expenses are 1.5%.

· Only about half of American workers have a retirement account.

· Only 66% of workers join their 401k, and only 10% contribute the max.

· The average 401k account balance of near retirees has fallen more than 20% (their accounts were too stock-heavy, considering their age – not conservative enough).

Money in the bank

Just read a list of the 10 best companies to work for.

Looks like only three of them are insurance related (AFLAC, Principal Financial, and American Fidelity).

What stands out when you look at the reasons for these 100 companies being on the list, is as diverse as the list itself.

Most did not make it because they are the top industry payers.

Instead... they were on the list due to things like regular communications to the employees, paid days off to do volunteer work, and on-site child care center with inexpensive rates, wellness programs, on-site fitness programs, etc.

I’ll bet that the employee turnover of these best companies is very-very low.

That’s probably why none of them are my clients! J

Harvey Dorland

Money in the bank

Here’s a hodge-podge of things I’ve noticed recently.

Bad news is that insurance carrier profits in the P&C area fell nearly 80% last year.

· Curious... as they predominantly blame it on investments, but the DOW only went down 38%.

· On the plus side, they still made $14 Billion.

Bad news is that insurance companies unemployment was 3.5% in January.

· Good news, I guess, is that national unemployment is double that figure.

Bad news is that employee referrals are responsible for 40% of the hires for most companies.

· That only leaves a 60% universe, then, for the recruiting industry!