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These days, people are living longer which, of course, is a good thing. But it also means retirees’ savings must stretch further to last throughout retirement. Throw in the recent surge in inflation, rising long-term care costs, and the unfortunate reality that many retirees are not financially prepared for retirement, and we have the makings of a retirement crisis ahead. 

On the bright side for older-adult homeowners, housing wealth has been on the rise. According to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA), U.S. homeowners aged 62+ saw their home equity soar to a record $10 trillion in 2021. It can be prudent for homeowners and their advisors to discuss ways to incorporate housing wealth into retirement planning decisions. 

We're pleased to congratulate loyal NAIFA member Cheryl Canzanella, CLU, ChSNC, LUTCF, on her new position with NAIFA partner Fairway Independent Mortgage. Cheryl will take over the role of HECM Business Development Manager - Retirement Solutions.

Since joining NAIFA in 2010, Cheryl has been active in the NAIFA community. She is a Past President of NAIFA-Northeast Florida and has served in leadership positions at the local, state, and national levels. She is also a recipient of NAIFA-FL's President’s award. In 2019, she was recognized as NAIFA’s Young Advisor Team Leader of the Year. Cheryl is also a Founding Past President of Women in Insurance & Financial Services (WIFS) Northeast Florida.

The podcast industry has grown tremendously over the last few years, reaching over 100 million Americans alone. Because of that growth, more and more businesses are turning to podcasts to help promote their goods and services.

If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, you've come to the right place. With this straightforward guide, you'll be podcasting in no time. Even if you're not that tech-savvy, we'll show you how to create a podcast to build your brand in eight simple steps.

As a results-driven business owner, you know your time is valuable. You want to spend it on adding value to your business. That's why you need an effective marketing automation strategy in place. Marketing automation can take care of the repetitive tasks so you can focus your efforts on the most important aspects of your job.

The best part is that you don't have to be technical or computer savvy to benefit from marketing automation. There are many tools available for free and affordable options that allow you to create great-looking landing pages, build email campaigns, track conversions, send emails, and much more.

Many webinars and courses for financial advisors regularly talk about how to attract new clients. And while this is logical, it made me think: Instead of looking for new clients, why don't financial advisors create meaningful relationships with their HNW client's adult children? So, when their parents retire, they choose to keep them as advisors instead of finding someone new.

But you'll be surprised to know the statistics regarding advisors doing this. I've been polling advisors, and I hear 15-20% when I ask them how many of their HNW clients' adult children they have a meaningful relationship with.

For the past few years, pundits have been predicting that bots, robo-advisors, and other technologies will lead to the demise of living, breathing financial professionals. That hasn’t happened yet, and, in my opinion, it never will. Yes, people can conduct much of their preliminary research online, and a few are willing to purchase basic coverage without ever speaking to a person. But most will want a financial professional to guide them through life’s twists and turns. Even those people who purchase coverage from a robo-advisor will seek the expertise of a financial professional as their needs become more complex. 

Increased demand for insurance products driven by raised awareness due to COVID-19 and a tight labor market.

New annualized premium for workplace life insurance, disability insurance and supplemental health products rose in 2021, according to LIMRA’s workplace benefits sales surveys.

According to a Pew Research Center survey, 85% of Americans say they go online on a daily basis, with 31% reporting that they go online “almost constantly.”

With people spending more time online than ever before, it’s important that your website is optimized for visitors to browse and stick around. But longer isn’t necessarily better. You want visitors to stay on your website because they’re enjoying the content and experience — not because they can’t find the information that they’re looking for or can’t complete a desired action, like making a purchase.

In this post, we’ll cover what a “good” average time on page and average session duration benchmark is, and how to improve these metrics on your website.

For your clients who are homeowners aged 62+, a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM, commonly called a reverse mortgage) loan offers some distinct advantages over other types of home-equity-release loans.

According to a survey conducted by Clever,* about half (51 percent) of retirees believe they will outlive their savings. Perhaps even more worrisome, the study also found that 65 percent of retirees say they are not financially secure. They may be facing any number of financial challenges, including how to best pay for long-term care or combat recent jumps in the prices of food, gas, and just about everything else.

As a financial professional, you want to give your clients the best chance at financial success. For most homeowners aged 62 and older, home equity represents the largest portion of their overall net wealth, usually dwarfing their other assets (e.g., retirement savings). While home equity is good, unless the home is sold or the equity is tapped, it is of essentially no functional value to a homeowner in retirement because it is generally very illiquid.

When analyzing your website, you want the full story of how visitors are engaging with your site. You want to know not only how many visitors you get, but where they’re coming from, how long they’re spending on your site, how soon they’re leaving, and much more. 

To find the answers to these questions, you need to track website engagement metrics. In this guide, we’ll introduce this key concept, discuss the top metrics to watch for while running a successful website in 2022, and hear from actual website owners about what metrics they're prioritizing for the upcoming year.