National Life of Vermont

Ascensus

LUTC

Souper Shops - Online shopping!

FINANCIAL SERVICES ONLINE (FSO) operates two Internet sites for the exclusive benefit of financial service professionals:

The VIRTUAL MARKETING DEPARTMENT (VSA) is an "extranet" that containing over 2 gigabytes of interactive sales and service material that is owned by LUTC and operated by FSO. Company sponsorship and/or membership is required for usage. To determine if the VSA would help your practice, visit the Demo Main Menu at http://www.lutc.com to see the hundreds of sales ideas, concepts and resources available.

The FINANCIAL SERVICES CENTER (http://fsc.fsonline.com) is a free site that houses archives of Financial E-News and the Financial Services Journal Online, the Financial Net Director and more. Check out the Journal for articles and sales ideas from leading industry professionals and use the Net Director to quickly find all the good financial services sites on the Net.

HARTFORD AND JUNO - Juno Online (the largest provider of dial-up Internet service) and Hartford have entered into a five-year deal said to be the first between an insurer and an Internet service provider to sell insurance on the Internet. Juno's six million subscribers will begin receiving offers for Hartford's auto and homeowners insurance soon.

JOHN HANCOCK AND MSN - Maybe the Hartford/Juno deal wasn't first...John Hancock has struck a deal with Bill Gates to make Hancock the "premiere life insurance sponsor on the MSN network." According to Hancock president, David D'Alessandro, "While agent, broker and other in-person sales are important to us, we want to give consumers a choice..."

MORE NET RESULTS - Two new National Underwriter (http://www.nuco.com) articles give insight into some of what is happening on the Internet. The first article points out that most insurance executives gave their Net presence grades of C or D. There were a few B's, but not A's. Another article indicates that insurance buyers are frustrated with attempts to shop online. As we have pointed out in the past, insurance sales success will go to sites that truly allow the consumer to shop.

"MARKET NEUTRAL" FUNDS - Are a new group of funds whose objective is to match stock market returns without assuming the market's risk. They attempt to do this by (1) investing in stocks they think will outperform the market and (2) "short selling" (selling borrowed shares of stocks they think will decline in value). In a rising market, these funds can benefit from stock gains and might also earn a profit on some short sales. In a falling market, profits from short sales can offset declines in portfolio stock values. That's the theory anyway...none of these funds has been in existence for a year yet. But it is an interesting approach. How well these "market neutral" funds live up to their promise will be largely dependent on the ability of fund managers, who must select both individual stocks they feel will rise in value and short-sale candidates they feel will decline.

NATIONAL UNDERWRITER AD - National Underwriter is moving into the Internet advertising arena. Ads in their Life and Health editions ask companies, "What are you waiting for?," asking companies to call to "find out how you can market your products and services online to this growing market." If you're thinking about making that call, please also consider calling Bill O'Quin at (512) 336-2325 for information on how your company can reach the 70,000 financial service professionals who receive the E-News twice a month, as well as the monthly Financial Services Journal Online electronic magazine (http://fsc.fsonline.com/fsj/).

AS PREDICTED - Despite the recent downturn and volatility of the stock market, continued consumer interest in investments is driving life agents to acquire security licenses in record numbers. According to A.M. Best and the Securities Training Corporation, one-third of life agents now hold a securities license.

CRT REGS - If charitable remainder trusts are of interest to you, Vaughn Henry has the newest IRS regulations posted on his site at http://members.aol.com/crtrust/CRT.html.

ACCELERATED DEATH BENEFITS TO VETS - With the signing of the Veterans Programs Enhancement Act, the VA now can pay accelerated death benefits to terminally-ill veterans. Both SGLI and VGLI policyholders can receive up to half of the face value of their coverage, up to a maximum of $100,000 during their lifetimes.

PERSONALIZING ONLINE INVESTMENT ADVICE - Developed by Economics Nobel Laureate William Sharpe, the Financial Engines Investment Advisor plans to offer personalized, specific investment advice online. At present, no online brokers provide specific investment advice, but the consensus is that they will have to do so in order to have a powerful online presence. Read the complete story on Financial Planning Interactive (http://www.fponline.com/news/news_daily/wf401.shtml).

THE MICROWAVE BANK - In the truth is stranger than fiction category, we have NCR Corporation's Microwave Bank. According to the press release, "the Microwave Bank will allow users to pay bills, transfer money and check account balances, and also shop online, surf the Internet, watch TV and email their friends, all from a microwave - which can, of course, cook as well." For those of us who have trouble doing more than one thing at a time, this could produce some interesting results!