T( Part 1 of 2)

here we were in red-hot Omaha for a life insurance convention in the middle of July. There’s hot… and then there is Omaha in July.

If you follow the college world series, you know that Omaha’s weather is as fickle as Orlando’s… always hot and it can rain anytime. You have to wonder why any company would choose to hold a convention, in the middle of the summer, in a hotbox like Omaha. Answer, it’s too hot to go outside.

One of the things I learned from one of the keynote speakers was that learning is an on-going process. I always take prodigious notes when I attend meetings, whether I am a speaker or not.

My next book titled “All I Want Out of Life Is an Unfair Advantage” is based on all the powerful data I collect from other speakers as I travel the world.

My good friend and speaking colleague Joe Jordan was one of three buddies of mine who were addressing this convention of Knights of Columbus insurance professionals. The other two were Van Mueller and Tom Hegna.

I have worked with all three previously and have come to admire their expertise and knowledge, which extends far beyond the insurance industry. I love their global perspective as all of us have had the opportunity to see the life insurance industry through transnational eyes.

One of the astonishing points Jordan made in his presentation was that China will grow old before it grows wealthy. You can place that dilemma squarely at the feet of their government and its one child policy.

They are far too “male-dominated” with a diminished supply of young workers. They are unable to fill the labor needs of their country, thanks to their ridiculous rules, which I personally find immoral and downright decadent. Over 300,000 members of their military have been transferred to fulfill the needs of their ever demanding labor force.

The same problem exists in Japan, though not for the same reasons. Sooner rather than later there will be more people riding in the cart than pulling the cart.

Some, not all, of these societies are godless in their beliefs. The very concept of preserving human life is foreign to them. Jordan points out that the four points of a significant life are belonging, purpose, storytelling and transcendence. You might ask “What does any of that have to do with life insurance?” Everything.

We arrive at a life of significance via inspiration. Your belief drives your behavior. I have been in the insurance and estate planning business for 45 years, all with one company, the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization.

Everything we do revolves around those four characteristics. How can you bring to life a client’s need unless you purpose it in language they can understand?

Realistically, clients do not think rationally when it comes to financial decisions. It is imperative that you express their needs to them in a way that reaches them emotionally, not logically. Otherwise, insurance is reduced to the level of a commodity with no value beyond “the best deal.” In the end, those folks do not manage money, money manages them.

Van Mueller, another of the three amigos that addressed the meeting, feels that the biggest financial adjustment in the history of the stock market is just around the corner. How low will it go? Do you want less from your investments or more? We all want more.

Van suggests that the big problem many of the successful people will face is not necessarily making that adjustment. They can control some of their fate by getting out of the market at the right time. What they cannot control is what the idiots in Washington will do to them tax-wise… the folks that run the Eternal Revenue Service.

Van believes taxes will be higher… “Way higher!” Do you want to pay those taxes? You will if you zig when you should have zagged. Someone has got to pay for the $30 trillion of money printing.

Next week: Advice from the 3rd amigo.