To help NAIFA celebrate Life Insurance Awareness Month, a dedicated NAIFA member since 1975 share how the life insurance business has changed over his career.

As a proud Florida Gator, September brings me all the anticipation, hope, and excitement of a brand-new college football season. As the CEO of the oldest and most influential association for insurance and financial professionals in the United States, it brings me the pride and heightened sense of purpose of Life Insurance Awareness Month.

LIAM was created and continues to be coordinated by Life Happens, a NAIFA community. It is a time when we shine a spotlight on the importance of life insurance products and educate consumers about this foundation of many comprehensive financial plans. Financial professionals understand that life insurance provides vital protection to more than 80 million American households (even if many are underinsured) and that coverage is available to fit the budgets of families at most income levels.

The life insurance profession is facing a pivotal moment. Over the next 10 years, more than 110,000 financial professionals are expected to retire. That represents about 38% of the industry’s workforce and over 41% of the assets they manage.

This content is brought to you by NAIFA's Investment, Retirement, Estate and Advanced Planning Center.

Ask your clients to rate the life they’re living on a scale from 1 to 10.

Their car? An 8 or 9.
Their home? Maybe a 7 or 8.
Their kids’ school? An 8, maybe higher.

Your clients work hard to provide a life they’re proud of. But when it comes to protecting that lifestyle, too many are only planning for a 3. To me, that’s a disconnect. If your clients are working hard to give their families the best, why would the plan to protect it fall short?

“Future income means income to make tomorrow the kind of a tomorrow we want it to be”          

February is Insure Your Love Month, an annual campaign created and coordinated by NAIFA’s Life Happens community. The theme for this year’s commemoration is a simple yet impactful message: Life insurance is love insurance.

Are you taking advantage of the Life Happens content NAIFA provides as a member benefit? For Life Insurance Awareness Month (September) and Long-Term Care Awareness Month (November), NAIFA members had access to specially curated content from NAIFA’s Life Happens community. Today, Life Happens is unveiling a new set of assets for Insure Your Love Month (February 2025). The content should be posted by 12 noon eastern.

Message From the CEO

Graduates of NAIFA’s Leadership in Life Institute have a deep appreciation for The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by renowned leadership authority Stephen Covey. They may be familiar with Covey’s quote, “If there’s one thing that’s certain in business, it’s uncertainty.” The same principle applies to life.

Transitions often amplify uncertainty, and among the most uncertain times for many is the transition into retirement. It has been widely reported that 2024 is the year of “peak 65” in the United States, as an average of 11,000 people reach the traditional retirement age of 65 each day. With more than half of peak 65ers owning investable assets of less than $100,000, according to the 2024 Protected Retirement Income and Planning (PRIP) by the Alliance for Lifetime Income (ALI), the unlikelihood of enjoying lasting financial wellbeing is a real concern for many. The 2024 Insurance Barometer Study by LIMRA and Life Happens, NAIFA’s consumer-education arm, confirms this conclusion, revealing that “having enough money for a comfortable retirement” is U.S. consumers’ leading financial concern, ranking even above worries about paying monthly bills and reducing debt.

In the complex world of financial planning, life insurance remains fundamental. However, the traditional view of life insurance as merely a safety net is evolving, especially when it comes to enhancing charitable giving strategies. We invite you to join our us on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm Eastern. This webinar is made available at no cost to both NAIFA members and non-members, thanks to the generous sponsorship by the American Cancer Society.

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.