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The Bulletin Board
The Bulletin Board was
set up to provide general and breaking news of interest and with
respect to the fields of life insurance, wealth management and financial
planning. You may reach The Bulletin Board by clicking on
"The Bulletin Board" tab in the menu item on the left
or by
clicking here.
December 06, 2004
Interim LifeGuide
release through the Internet scheduled for December 13th
Note to LifeGuide subscribers:
An interim LifeGuide update and further enhancements release through
the Internet is scheduled for Monday, December 13th. The interim
release will include further software enhancements as well as a
rate change to one of the products that is scheduled for introduction
by the insurer on that date. The delivery of the interim release
will be automated through the Internet and will be automatically
announced and available to you when you launch LifeGuide on or after
December 13th.
November 01, 2004:
Regulation 347/04
- Ontario
Regulation 347/04 made
under the Insurance Act took effect as of November 01, 2004. Regulation
347/04 sets out licensing and agent conduct rules, including implementation
of the LLQP. Section 15 of Regulation 347/04 spells out a requirement
for individuals who hold a life insurance license to disclose -
in writing - the names of all insurers that the individual represents
to every prospective insured and to every insured who makes an application
to renew or replace a policy of life insurance. The same section
also requires that "An individual who holds a life insurance licence
shall disclose in writing the names of all the providers of financial
products or services that the individual represents to every prospective
purchaser of a financial product or service other than insurance".
Section 17, under the heading "Prohibited conduct", sub-section
(f) adds: {"An agent who holds a life insurance licence shall not"}
"hold himself, herself or itself out, directly or indirectly, by
representation or omission, in a way that is misleading in respect
of the insurers on whose behalf the agent acts."
Instead of this regulatory compliance requirement being an additional
burden, it can provide a valuable professional promotion opportunity.
Subscribers to the LifeGuide Professional Software can easily and
effortlessly comply with the requirements of Section 15 of Ontario
Regulation 347/04 while taking advantage of the compliance requirement
to promote themselves through further disclosure of educational
and professional achievements. The facility is provided through
LifeGuide's "Company Representation" functions. Represented insurers
can be checked off through option #2 of the Settings (The "Settings"
Action Button is found, second from the right on the "woodgrain
bar" near the top of the main screen). Option #2 of the "Settings"
also provides for the addition by the user of a listing of other
financial products or services that the user represents. The same
option also provides the user with the ability to include disclosure
of educational and professional achievements. The settings are saved
by the system and the "Representation Sheet" can be printed by the
user at any time through the "Selected Sheets" printing option or
can be included in the default set of sheets being printed.
You
may view Regulation 347/04 at The Bulletin Board, under the heading
"Regulations"
August 18, 2004
An interesting
and valuable third party service - "Glance"
Ami was doing some research
on communication services and tools. During the course of
that research, he came across a wonderful utility/service provided
by a third party Internet communications services company.
The service - available
on a subscription basis - allows the subscriber to make virtual,
live presentations to groups of 1-15 people simultaneously.
This service is great for holding live on-line instruction seminars,
presentations and the like. Since the service is over the
Internet, the presenter and the participants can be in different
places. Another advantage is that the participants don't need
to download or install any additional software. All they need
is a computer with an Internet connection and an open browser (such
as IE or Netscape, etc.)
Having tried the service
for several days, it was decided to put a link at the LifeGuide
website (http://www.lifeguide.com) to the providers of this service.
The link is placed on the left side of the main page at lifeguide.com.
Click on that link and try this out for yourself. We would
appreciate your feedback by e-mail: ami@lifeguide.com or by telephone,
toll-free 1-888-316-5433.
August 16, 2004
LifeGuide special
mid month Internet update release available
As we announced a couple
of weeks ago, the research and development work towards further
LifeGuide enhancements is progressing nicely ahead of schedule.
Some of the internal enhancements are included on the current 'special'
release. While these could have waited till the regular release
at the end of the month, it was decided to include these earlier.
The main reason for the 'special' release was the pre-scheduled
introduction of product repricing by one of the insurance companies.
The date for the introduction by the insurance company of that repricing
is today, making it necessary for us to release this 'special' update
over the Internet now rather than at the end of the month.
We realize that agents and brokers prefer product updates at the
beginning of the month rather than during the month and that this
is the norm; however, there are the odd exception and this is one
of those.
The product information
in LifeGuide is sourced directly from the respective Head Office
of the insurers and in cooperation with the insurers marketing and
actuarial departments. This provides LifeGuide subscribers
with the added advantage of reliable information and data.
Of course, the insurance companies' cooperation is much appreciated
and we respect their instructions to release product introductions,
changes and repricing on the date of the company's own introduction
of same to the field (there are occasions where insurers instruct
us to release earlier and in such cases, the companies instructions
are honoured and LifeGuide subscribers are informed accordingly)
August 02, 2004
Further LifeGuide
enhancements coming
We are pleased to advise
that work in preparation of further enhancements to LifeGuide is
progressing well ahead of schedule. For over a decade, LifeGuide
is the leader among independently produced life insurance comparison
software, providing subscribers with numerous advanced functions
and capabilities and with an unmatched and constantly widening consumer
service and competitive edge. With the upcoming further enhancements,
LifeGuide subscribers will be enjoying further benefits, and yet
another further widening of their service and competitive edge.
...more on these in upcoming announcements...
July 14, 2004
MontAge(tm) functions
enhanced further:
The graphic presentation
module of MontAge is now further enhanced, providing for an interactive
visual comparison of user-chosen products against each other over
the entire duration of each respective contract. While numeric
tables and charts are quite valuable - and of course available with
detail and accuracy on LifeGuide - interactive graphic presentations
provide added value and the ability to visualize the quantitative
aspects of each product as a whole. These capabilities are
only available on LifeGuide.
June 30, 2004
Multi-Quoter:
To insurer Head Offices who may have not yet obtained the LifeGuide
Multi-Quoter module, Click
here to view this quick, two and a half minute Flashette of this
valuable and time saving module.
The Multi-Quoter research
module was released several months ago. Insurers and actuaries
are finding this module to be a valuable time saving and efficiency
tool. We are pleased to say that we are receiving many pleasant
reviews on this module, along with constructive suggestions for
further enhancements.
The following is but one
example from one of the insurers' head offices, reflecting very
similar comments by the others:
"[name withheld]
asked me to provide feedbacfk on the LG Multi-Quoter and I have
only one word for it, "excellent". I use it regularly
to analyse our competitive position. Since MQ can run hundreds
of quotes in a minute, we have increased the number of categories
in our analysis. With the help of an Excel macro I consolidate
all the text files generated by MQ into one spread sheet.
In less than five minutes, I get thousands of results in a most
convenient format. I just love it"
Click
here to view this quick, two and a half minute Flashette of this
valuable and time saving module.
June 29, 2004
More Enhancements
As the number of LifeGuide
users continues to grow rapidly, R&D towards further valuable
and beneficial LifeGuide functions and capabilities is significantly
ahead of schedule. It is now anticipated that enhancements
that were initially scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2004 and the
first quarter of 2005 will be released months ahead of schedule.
The enhancements will be announced and described in the upcoming
issues of LifeGuide Lines
June 9, 2004
As a matter of
review - Universal Life
There is a growing crop
of products in the US which are essentially a hybrid of Whole Life
and Whole Life with limited or no cash values and which are generically
referred to in the US as "Guaranteed No Lapse U/L".
The subject products provide certain "guarantees" (It
is strongly recommended that the actual contract wordings be carefully
examined with respect to such "guarantees") that if a
stipulated premium is paid yearly, the coverage will not lapse.
Part of the premium cost
aspect of such policies may be roughly compared by issue premium
(provided that such premium is guaranteed not to increase and guaranteed
to keep the policy in force for life). On the other hand,
comparisons of U/L (Universal Life) policies where the comparisons
are limited and constrained to comparisons of "initial issue"
premiums alone can be deficient and inequitable.
While proper computations
to compare U/L plans are highly complex, the calculations to compare
life insurance products only on the basis of "initial issue
premium" are as simple and as basic as can be (essentially
take the minimum issue premium per thousand, multiply by the number
of thousands and add the policy factor).
LifeGuide is highly advanced
and very powerful. Therefore LifeGuide doesn't limit and constrain
the user to "minimum issue" premiums alone. Rather,
it provides the user with a host of advanced functions for professional
and equitable comparison of U/L products. These functions
include:
-comparsions by calcualtions
of the premiums required to keep the policy in force
-comparisons by calculations
of the premiums required to attain a user specified target Fund
Value at the end of a user specified number of years
-comparisons by calculations
of the premiums required to attain a user specified target Cash
Value at the end of a user specified number of years
-comparisons by calculations
of the premiums required to attain a user specified target total
Death Benefit at the end of a user specified number of years
-comparisons by calculations
of the results in terms of Fund Value, Cash Value and total Death
Benefit where the same user-specified premium is to be paid.
For example with $5,000 yearly paid to each of the products, which
product would produce the best results for the consumer after a
given number of years
-comparisons on the basis
of "minimum" and "maximum" issue premium (These
types of comparisons, although provided for on LifeGuide are not
generally recommended)
For all the above, LifeGuide's
computations and comparisons provide year by year details of Fund
Values, Cash Values and total Death Benefit values (It is worthy
of note that the lowest "minimum issue" premium product
can easily turn out to be a poor choice after only a few years)
Furthermore, since LifeGuide
contains the necessary data and provides the needed power and sophistication
to properly compare U/L products, LifeGuide is not restricted to
one form of COI or Death Benefit but includes the whole range of
COI and Death Benefit options.
The matter of U/L comparisons
was covered several times in LifeGuide Lines. As a refresher,
a summary based on an earlier write up from January 2001 will be
included in the July 2004 issue.
Mayl 29, 2004
LifeGuide MontAge™functions
enhanced further
In addition to enjoying
the benefits and value of hundreds of powerful and unique functions,
LifeGuide subscribers and their clients also enjoy the benefits
of the most advanced and detailed side by side comparisons.
The MontAge™functions provide the user with the ability to
compare user-selected life insurance products side by side on a
year by year basis and over any number of years. Furthermore,
the MontAge functions allow the user to also compare year by year
death benefit levels (significant for indexed products and for certain
cash value products) along with the cash values. The numerous
sub-functions of MontAge also provide for time-value considerations,
average cost per $Thousand of coverage at any given year, etc.
The June 1, 2004 release
of LifeGuide includes further enhancements to the MontAge functions,
including creation of output in PDF for both the columnar display
and the Interactive Graphic presentations.
April 29, 2004
Multi-Quoter:
To insurer Head Offices who may have not yet obtained the LifeGuide
Multi-Quoter module, Click
here to view this quick, two and a half minute Flashette of this
valuable and time saving module.
LifeGuide is (by a wide
margin) the fastest and most comprehensive independently produced
multiple company life insurance software available.
With the Multi-Quoter add on module, insurers may conduct custom
research in minutes. This facility is not available anywhere
else.
LifeGuide Multi-Quoter™Enhanced
Further
We are pleased to advise
of two further enhancements to the LifeGuide Multi-Quoter module:
1. CI Covered
Conditions Filter: In addition to the Renewability
and Convertibility options filter for Term products, the CI Covered
Conditions Filter is now also included. The CI Covered Conditions
Filter provides the user with the facility to pick those condition/illnesses
that must be covered by the product in order to qualify the product
for inclusion in the comparison runs. The CI Covered conditions
Filter provides the same, easy to use, interface as in LifeGuide.
2. "Feedback
Option": The pre-existing "Feedback Beep"
option is replaced and enhanced by the "Feedback" drop
down list which has the following choices:
-visual: (the quotation
in progres will be shown);
-Audtory: (a gentle
click sound)
-Audio-Visual: The two
above options combined
March 31, 2004
Quick Flashette™of
the LifeGuide Multi-Quoter™
In response to numerous
requests, a quick Flashette demo of the LifeGuide Multi-Quoter control
panel and parameters screen is now available for viewing.
Click here to view this quick, two and a half minute Flashette.
March 29, 2004
Introducing the
LifeGuide Multi-Quoter™add-on Module
Following requests from
insurers, we are pleased to advise of the introduction last month
of the LifeGuide Multi-Quoter add on module. The LifeGuide
Multi-Quoter module is designed to assist life insurance company
head office marketing and actuarial departments with their pricing
and market postion research.
Instead of spending days and weeks gathering comparative data, the
LifeGuide Multi-Quoter gathers and organizes the data virtually
instantly, ready for import into related analysis tools and spread
sheets.
LifeGuide is the most detailed and most comprehensive multiple company
life insurance software. LifeGuide covers the widest range
of products, the largest number of companies and the largest number
of products in each product grouping and category. Equally
as important, LifeGuide is the fastest and most efficient multiple
company life insurance quotation and comparison software.
It is a natural, therefore that the Multi-Quoter module utilizes
LifeGuide and its most extensive database.
Pricing and market postion research and plans are highly confidential
and insurers need to maintain the confidentiality of their research
and plans. Since the LifeGuide Multi-Quoter is designed to
run locally, rather than on a third-party's machines over the internet,
insurers can be confident that information will not be accidentally
leaked or compromised. Using the Multi-Quoter module, only
those who are directly involved with the research have access to
the research scope, data and parameters.
The LifeGuide Multi-Quoter add on module is priced at only $399
plus applicable taxes (LifeGuide subscripiton is a prerequisite)
The following is an image of the input screen of the LifeGuide Multi-Quoter
module:
March 29, 2004
Introducing the
Dynamic Graphic Representation Functions of the MontAge™Functions
of LifeGuide
We are pleased to advise that the dynamic graphic representation
functions of the MontAge functions of LifeGuide are being released
with the April 2004 version of LifeGuide.
These new enhancements are designed to further widen the already
significant and very wide consumer service and competitive advantage
that is enjoyed by LifeGuide subscribers and add a new dimension
of ease, usefulness and clarity. Complex columns of figures
are instantly displayed in dynamic overlay graphs. The values
at any points are instantly read out on the graph's legend with
a mere click on the points of interest.
March 1, 2004
Enhancements to
the MontAge™side by side comparisons
As noted in the February
issue of LifeGuide Lines and in our announcement of last month,
we are pleased to announce the introduction of further enhancements
to the MontAge side by side comparison functions.
These enhancements include the addition of the Interest Adjusted
basis to account for the time value of money and 'cost of opportunity'
common denominator concepts.
The enhancements are described in the March issue of LifeGuide Lines.
With the completion and introduction of the above enhancements we
are nearing the completion of the pre-introduction testing phase
for the Dynamic Graphic Presentation functions of the MontAge functions
of LifeGuide. "A picture speaks a thousand words"
and the addition of the dynamic graphic representation functions
will add much added value to the functionality and usefulness of
the MontAge side by side comparison and analysis functions of LifeGuide.
Look for an announcement and description of the Dynamic Graphic
representation functions in next month's issue of LifeGuide Lines.
February 1, 2004
MontAge™
Side by Side Comparisons and Analysis
We are pleased to advise
that the MontAge, side by side comparisons and analysis functions
are being released with the February 2004 release of LifeGuide.
Instead of the limited capability of old comparisons that would
limit the scope to premiums alone, the MontAge functions provide
comparisons of premiums, cash values, average cost per thousand
of coverage, etc. Therefore, instead of being restricted and
limited to comparison of level premium and level coverage "term"
products only, the MontAge functions are just as useful for comparison
of any of the various life insurance product types, including Term,
T100, Whole Life, Universal Life, etc.
The February 2004 issue of LifeGuide Lines provides an overview
of these functions and their use.
We are now proceeding to the introduction of further enhancements,
including Interest Adjusted comparisons (for introduction with the
March release) and dynamic graphic presentations (for intgroduction
with the April release).
January 20, 2004
Very active ('busy') month
in preparation for the February release of LifeGuide
January is turning into one of the
busiest months in years, particularly with respect to new developments, new
functions R&D and testing, as well as the volume of product changes, introductions
and withdrawals by insurance companies on both sides of the border. Fortunately
with respect to life insurance product changes, introductions and withdrawals,
most of the insurance companies gave us weeks of advance notice and, as usual,
supplied us with the necessary information in time to program and test for the
product changes and new product introductions. In a couple of isolated cases,
the information was only received during January; however, since we have the
needed programming resources and the experience, even these isolated 'last minute'
notices will not a problem. The final testing phase towards the introduction
of the MontAge™ functions continues very successfully and we are entering
the 'count down' (counting the days in anticipation) toward the release of these
powerful functions. 'All systems are go' at this time for next week's
inclusion of the new and powerful MontAge™ functions on LifeGuide®.
The February 2004 release of LifeGuide will be shipped so that all LifeGuide
subscribers who receive the releases on CD will be receiving these on the first
business day of February. LifeGuide subscribers who receive their releases
and updates automatically over the Internet (the majority) will have the release
and update ready for automated download and installation as of January 30th,
2004.
We strongly urge all LifeGuide subscribers
to read the February 2004 issue of LifeGuide Lines. This issue reviews
the Quotation Repository Functions, the new MontAge Functions and the numerous
(some quite significant) product introductions and changes by the various insurance
companies.
January 15, 2004
Final testing phase for the
LifeGuide® MontAge™ Functions nearing completion
...Here we go again, and enjoying
every moment of it. The MontAge functions of LifeGuide, yet another series
of powerful analysis functions that are not available on any other multiple
company life insurance comparison software will soon be available, and only
on LifeGuide. The MontAge analysis functions were originally scheduled
for introduction with the July or August 2004 release of LifeGuide; however
as the entire R&D and testing schedule for new functions and capabilities
is so far ahead of schedule, we are now nearing the completion of the final
testing phase for the MontAge functions this January instead of next June.
The MontAge functions allow the user
to pick an X number of product quotations from quotations saved in the Quotations
Repository and to examine these side by side, year by year, over any number
of years, for various components and elements (premiums, cash values, death
benefit, etc.) - and as a whole - independently and in comparison with other
picked quotations.
December 25, 2003
Quotations' Repository Functions
Introduced on LifeGuide®
As we usher in the new year 2004,
we are pleased to advise of the further enhancement of LifeGuide - the Quotations'
Repository functions. This additional series of LifeGuide functions, offered
only on LifeGuide, is reviewed in the January 2004 (2004.01) issue of the LifeGuide
Lines documentation and is the gateway to numerous additional LifeGuide functions,
power and capabilities slated for introduction during 2004.
We are confident that the additional
LifeGuide functions and capabilities will serve to further enhance the very
wide and significant consumer service and competitive advantage already enjoyed
by LifeGuide subscribers and their clients. We urge LifeGuide subscribers
to carefully review the description of the Quotations' Repository Functions
included in the January 2004 issue of LifeGuide Lines.
December 15, 2003
Final testing phase for the
LifeGuide Quotations Repository Functions nearing completion
The development and testing phases
of a new series of functions, originally scheduled for introduction during the
latter part of the spring of 2004 or the early part of the summer of 2004, are
months ahead of schedule. Actually, as this is being written in mid-December
2003, the final testing phase which was originally scheduled for April or May
of 2004 is nearing completion. Provided that there are no sudden surprises
- and at this stage we are quite confident that we will not run into such -
we anticipate that the final testing phase would be completed this month or
at the latest, during January 2004. If the final testing phase is completed
prior to the upcoming winter break, the Quotations' Repository Functions will
be introduced with the January 2004 release of LifeGuide.
October 1, 2003
PIPED Act will likely cause
the demise of the current Generic Life Insurance Application Form
The PIPED Act, intended to satisfy
the European Union and to strengthen regulations with respect to the collection,
retention, storage and use of private information will apply to all businesses
and professions effective January 01, 2004. It is anticipated that
the Generic Life Insurance Application form which was created way back in 1995
and 1996 through the efforts of an industry group with participation by insurance
companies, associations and suppliers, will become obsolete at the beginning
of 2004. It was therefore decided to remove the Interactive Generic Life
Insurance Application Form module from LifeGuide effective the end of January
of next year. That's the 'bad' news. Now for the good news:
With the expected demise of the Generic
Life Insurance Application form in 2004, and knowing how long it took for the
industry to agree to standardization in the form of the first ever generic life
insurance application form in 1995 and 1996, it is not anticipated that another
attempt at standardization through a revised generic life insurance application
form will occur any time in the foreseeable future. With this in mind,
we have commenced on a new development project that we expect will eventually
lead to the introduction of the Intelligent Life Insurance Processing (ILIP)
modules. The conceptual design is now complete and we now move on to the
next stages in the R&D toward the introduction of ILIP. As significant
or newsworthy developments occur, we will advise through these pages and through
the LifeGuide Lines documentation
September 10, 2003
EZ and simple creation of
agent websites
We are pleased to announce the offering
of easy, intuitive and affordable website creation, maintenance and hosting
for agents, brokers and financial advisors. In fact the process is so
easy and simple that (unless you are seeking highly specialized functionality
or highly specialized routines), you could create your own professional looking
and highly functional website yourself without need for web programmers - and,
of course, without having to spend hundreds and perhaps thousands on website
programming, maintenance and hosting. The service is so easy and
the creation of your own website, over which you have full control, can also
be fun that we named the offering "KofeeCo". Where does the
name KofeeCo come from? Well, about 50 years ago in Israel there used
to be a colouring book for children going along the story line of a happy monkey,
named "KofeeCo" (the Hebrew word for monkey is "kof" and
from that the colouring book character, "KofeeCo" was derived).
The use of this new service is (almost) as easy, and can be (almost) as much
fun as the colouring of pages of KofeeCo's exploits. Hence the name "KofeeCo'
for this service.
Among other features, the service
includes:
-free hosting of your website;
-up to 5 e-mail addresses;
-free term quotations and comparisons,
including both Canadian and US term products (your choice of using only the
Canadian, only the US or both) using the highly advanced and accurate WinQuote
quotations and comparisons web engine;
-free web-based financial calculators;
-free web-based financial analysis
functions
(See http://www.planner.ca for available
calculators and financial analysis functions)
-free ongoing access to the easy to
use and fun to use KofeeCo website creation and maintenance facilities
...and more
The total annual fee to LifeGuide
subscribers, all inclusive is only $99 per year. This is the lowest cost
and the best value for insurance websites on the Internet. No other service
offers all this and at only $99 all inclusive!
If you are not a LifeGuide subscriber,
aside from missing the huge service and competitive advantages available only
with LifeGuide, you are not entitled to the $99 annual rate. The annual
fee for those who are not LifeGuide subscribers is set at $538.45. Because
we want to make this service available to all, even the "non LifeGuide
subscriber" fee of $538.45 is lower than other offerings of agent websites
on the Internet which range from $588 and up (The figure of $588 per year is
based on the lowest Canadian competitor's current price of $49 per MONTH, multiplied
by 12.)
August 12, 2003
Introducing Flashette™
demonstrations
"A picture speaks a thousand
words", as the saying goes... and a movie speaks even more... so it may
be added. We are pleased to announce the commencement of the introduction
of Flashette demonstrations of LifeGuide functions. Presented as brief
2-5 minute mini-movies, the Flashette demos are intended to show and explain
the 'how to' for LifeGuide functions. Eventually, some of the Flashette
demos will be organized into educational tutorials that may also carry self-study
CE credits. The Flashette demos are placed on the LifeGuide website at
http://www.lifeguide.com/educate.html See under the
heading EZLearn™.
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