The size of jury awards has been exploding in the last few years, and they are often exceeding the limits that businesses have on their liability policies, which could leave them paying out of pocket. Besides creating problems for those businesses, it could also be problematic for their insurance brokers if they are accused of…
The point comes in every insurance agency principal’s career that they start thinking about retiring or transitioning into a different line of work they always have dreamed of. Or perhaps life complications arise, such as divorce, serious illness or the death of an agency partner that spurs the agency owner to hang it up. Whatever…
The Federal Trade Commission on April 23 approved a new rule that bans employers from requiring new employees to sign non-compete agreements. The rule will take effect in August 2024, after the commission voted 3-2 to approve it. Besides banning future non-compete agreements, the new rule also nullifies all existing non-competes and requires employers to…
Independent property/casualty insurance agents are facing one of the most brutal hard markets in decades and many of them are struggling as they have to deliver bad news of non-renewals sometimes on a daily basis. With no end in sight to the market madness, agencies are taking steps to stay strong and help their employees…
If you are at the point when you have primed your insurance agency for sale and have found a potential buyer, you’ll need to be prepared for the next steps to ensure a smooth and effective transition. You will need to set an extraordinary amount of time aside for discussions and the due diligence process,…
Since the Fed started its aggressive campaign of increasing rates to tame inflation, the amount of dealmaking by private equity firms in the insurance brokerage space has slowed and valuations have dropped. The drop in activity mirrored what was happening with private equity investors overall in the past two years when they pulled back…
Work-related stress claims cost U.S. companies $200 billion to $300 billion a year, according to the American Institute of Stress. Stress can result in a number of secondary mental and physical illnesses and direct physical injuries, which directly affects health care costs, worker productivity — and can even result in workers’ compensation claims. In fact,…
If you are building your insurance agency with the goal of being acquired, there are steps you can take to sweeten the pot by positioning your agency for success and growth. For agency owners who one day want to cash out, the most important thing is having a thriving agency with direction and a strong…
As the job market remains tight, insurance agencies have to take extra steps to ensure employee satisfaction by providing them with opportunities for personal growth and advancement. One of the best ways to help your staff and producers succeed is to have in place a mentoring program for them. Mentoring, which typically involves pairing a…
One of the main orders of business for an agency that’s just purchased a counterpart is how to transfer the accounts that the latter has with various insurers. While it’s easier to roll them over if both agencies have appointments with the same carrier, it’s more difficult for accounts covered by insurers with which the…