The Trifecta teams of Membership, IFAPAC, and Grassroots have identified their Q1 2024 Hard Hat Winners. Congratulations to Lee Owen and Rith Nou dual recipients for Membership, Mark Miller for Grassroots, and Tom Henry for IFAPAC. These leaders have gone above and beyond in the first three months of this year to move the needle in their respective areas. We are #NAIFAproud of the work they do every day in their communities, for their clients, and our association!

Sue Kuraja is a brokerage director specializing in providing non-profit consultancy services. She focuses on aligning personal and professional goals to maximize outcomes for organizations. With her strategic guidance and personalized approach, she helps build successful and sustainable organizations that drive real-world impact. As an experienced tech researcher, journalist, and business transformation advocate, Sue was recognized as the 2021 Women in Insurance & Financial Services Woman of the Year and achieved the Financial Security Advocate badge from NAIFA. 

Message From the CEO

Life Happens, NAIFA’s consumer-education arm, has collaborated for the 14th year with LIMRA to conduct the 2024 Insurance Barometer Study. The findings reveal a great opportunity for financial professionals to educate Americans about the importance of life insurance and dispel some of the myths and misunderstandings that contribute to a life insurance need-gap in the United States. As we wrap up April, National Financial Literacy Month, it’s a great time to remember that an important part of being a financial professional involves improving the financial literacy of clients and consumers.

NAIFA is saddened by the news that association Past President Robert B. Hughes, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF, LIC, recently passed away. A Senior Agent with Principal Financial Group in East Lansing, Michigan, before he retired, Hughes first became a NAIFA member in 1962 and served as national President for the 1983-1984 term. He was the President of NAIFA-Michigan in 1977-1978.

A NAIFA Advocacy Webinar
May 2 | 2 pm eastern

The U.S. Department of Labor‘s final fiduciary-only rule will force the vast majority of financial professionals offering retirement planning services and products into a fee-for-service model, unless Congress or the courts intervene. It will deprive many consumers of the valuable option of working with professionals operating under alternative models, including those with commission-based compensation, that may better meet their needs.

Richard Dobson is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) who strives to simplify communication between clients and financial advisors. As a keynote speaker, he has provided insurance and investment advice for over 40 years. Richard is the author of Make Simplicity Your Superpower! and The Trusted Professional. He is also a NAIFA member and has previously served as a former FINRA Broker Dealer Chief Compliance Officer (CCO).

Ensuring income protection is critical for your clients, particularly during their income-earning years. We invite you to join our upcoming webinar on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm Eastern. Sponsored by Ash Brokerage, this webinar is designed to arm financial professionals with the tools and techniques needed to effectively manage discussions around disability income plans and life insurance.

Congratulations to NAIFA Trustee Stephen Kagawa, LUTCF, FSS, on being named the 71^st recipient of NAIFA-Los Angeles’s Will G. Farrell Public Service Award. The CEO and Chairman of the Board of The Pacific Bridge Companies has been a loyal NAIFA member since 1986.

NAIFA Trustee Barbara A. Pietrangelo, an accomplished Financial Planner and a loyal member of NAIFA since 1992, stands out as a beacon of expertise and commitment. Her career began in 1991 at the Prudential Insurance Company of America, where she has since ascended to become the Wealth Solutions Report Financial Planner of the Year as One of the Top Women Industry Leaders for 2024.