Save and Borrow Money the Smart Way A Better Way to Save, Borrow, and Recycle Your Family's Money will show you and your family a better way to simultaneously save money and borrow money. If you are looking for the smartest way to save money, borrow money, or if you are contemplating how to get a loan, or even how to save for retirement, then read this book first. Most people believe the bank is the only place to save money or borrow money, and IRA's and 401K's are the only place to save for retirement. However, a bank savings account doesn't allow you to keep earning money when you take money out of the account to pay for an expense. Likewise, neither 401K's nor IRA's allow you to borrow money from them without severe limitations, potentially significant penalties and taxes, and you'll miss out on any potential market gains. There is a smarter way to save and borrow with more flexibility so that your money works much harder for you and allows your family to keep more in their pocket. If you are open to listening to an idea that has been around for close to 200 years and stood the test of time, then consider looking at a participating whole life insurance policy. A participating whole life insurance policy, specifically built with a high cash value as part of the infinite banking concept, allows you to save money and borrow money with much greater efficiency and superior financial performance than any other system you are currently using. This is due to the fact that a properly designed participating whole life policy allows you to get safe, tax-deferred growth and allows you to simultaneously borrow money from the cash value without impacting the growth of that money. Unlike a bank savings account or a bank loan, you can literally get your money working in two different directions at once so you can live better today while saving for tomorrow. If you currently have or are contemplating owning a bank savings account, credit cards, student loans, personal loans, business loans, or car loans, then you need to read this book. Even if you think you are financially savvy and pay cash for all of your major expenses, the system illustrated will keep more in your pocket. Just by reading this book, you will understand why and how you could easily be saving $100,000 to $200,000 over your lifetime if you are currently using credit cards, financing, or paying cash for major expenses.

Even with the delay of the Employer Mandate, Health Care Reform is radically changing the health insurance environment for employers. The Smart Business Guide to Health Care Reform is your plain-language, yet detail-rich, ticket to understanding the impact of the law on employers (and everyone else). It will help your company navigate the new challenges presented by the law to reduce costs and keep employees happy. The law is complicated, and if you are responsible for making insurance decisions for your company, it is causing stress and anxiety that impacts your work life, and likely your personal well-being, as well. Like all laws, however, it is manageable when you are able to determine what portions impact you and concentrate on those issues. This book is your short cut to understanding what PPACA says, what it doesn't say, and how both will impact your business. The purpose is not to tell you everything about the law; but rather to inform you of the relevant provisions and translate those provisions from bureaucrat-speak to plain English. So while you may not fully understand every obscure provision, you hopefully will have the tools you need to assess your organization's exposure to key aspects of PPACA. This book is NOT a legal treatise, a magic bullet in the form of legal/accounting/insurance advice, or an op-ed piece telling you how wonderful or horrible the law is. It is information presented in a manner intelligent people can understand and apply. Bureaucrat-speak is translated, and the interaction between various provisions is discussed. Some issues addressed are: How do we know if the Employer Mandate applies to us? What about part-time and seasonal workers? What are the advantages and disadvantages of dropping coverage? Should we consider exchanges as the answer to our health insurance issues? Other than complying with the Employer Mandate, what else do businesses need to do to be in compliance with PPACA? What about FSAs, HSAs, and HRAs? Are defined contribution or self-insured plans options? What role does the Coast Guard have in implementation of Health Care Reform? This practical, easy to navigate, and easily understood discussion of the law will demystify topics that have been built up as unsolvable, and put you in the best position possible to analyze your company's health insurance responsibilities and opportunities.

If one of the "hats" you wear is "insurance-buyer" for your bank, then this is the book for you. This book is written for bankers who buy insurance for their banks. Hundreds of definitions, forms, charts, suggestions, recommendations, and just plain good advice - for bankers. The language of insurance is demystified and translated into banker-speak. Scott Simmonds has worked with more than 370 banks in his career as a consultant. Bankers look to Scott to help make their insurance better - better coverage, better premiums, easier administration, and faster claims. Unbiased, expert bank-experience. In this second edition of his book, you get his latest thoughts, ideas, and approaches. One hundred updates were made from the 2007 version. Scott has received many industry awards and designations, making him one of the top 1% of insurance professionals in the country. Scott's ideas have been published and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, Forbes, The Boston Globe, and the Ellsworth American. He is a past president of his local Rotary Club, and of the Maine Association of Professional Consultants.

America's health system has been a polarizing issue in most presidential campaigns throughout our lifetimes. It is hardly surprising that an industry that consumes nearly one in every five dollars spent in the U.S. economy will be prominent again in 2016 and beyond. This book will guide you through the fusillade of campaign promises and countercharges you will hear about health care and "reform". They will be more strident now that the fiscal calamity of Boomer retirements has arrived. This book also offers a powerful tool of reform. The Health Insurance Revenue Bond (TM) (HIRB) is a new and completely self-liquidating financing approach that fully funds escalating liabilities such as health care-without deficits. If you can't bend the curve on health costs, bend the curve on the cost of funding (TM). HIRB can assist governments in developed nations to begin the long and painful process of deleveraging.

The insurance industry has changed, consumers have changed, the competition has changed, communication has changed...BUT MOST INSURANCE AGENTS HAVE NOT With mass marketing and over $1 BILLION dollars spent on advertising last year alone by a few of the biggest players in the insurance industry, there's not a day that goes by that your clients and prospects aren't bombarded with messages from your competitors. Unfortunately, most of those messages focus on "cheap insurance," "saving money" or depict the agent as "outdated and useless." Consumers are being taught that the only difference between insurance providers is PRICE and the entire industry is being commoditized by direct writers trying to push the retail agency force into extinction Retail agents want to know how they can compete with the giants of advertising and mass marketing to keep their clients and grow their agencies. The unfortunate answer is that you simply can NOT compete in the price wars and mass marketing being done by the big industry advertisers. IF YOU TRY, YOU WILL LOSE However, you CAN beat them by communicating with your clients and prospects in ways that the big companies cannot. You CAN use the new rules of communication and new methods to reach your clients and prospects that will set you apart as THE go-to insurance advisor in your area. Agents need to break away from the price wars and commoditization and start creating experiences and relationships with their clients that are impossible to replace. You're in a fight for your agency's life. Whether you realize it or not, change in the insurance industry is going to continue at a rapid pace over the coming years. The big discounters will continue to increase their advertising and banks and other large corporations will join in to try and make the retail agent as irrelevant as possible. Consumers will rely more on the internet and social media for their research and communication with insurance companies and agents. Only the strongest agents who find new ways to communicate their value and set themselves apart will survive. You can do more than just survive, you can thrive in the coming years by becoming a 21st Century agent and using 21st Century Communication tools with your clients and prospects. You can be known in your community as an insurance expert and a trusted advisor that people seek out and want to do business with. You can learn: 1. The 3 jobs of a 21st Century agent that are vital to your success 2. Strategic ways to bring new sales to your door without having to chase them 3. How to keep clients married to your agency for life 4. How to create top of mind awareness with clients and prospects 5. The seven questions that every prospect wants to know before choosing an agent 6. How to overcome price as an objection to doing business with you 7. The 6 new rules of communication and how to use them with clients and prospects 8. 7 tools of 21st Century Communication 9. The best way to use social media with clients and prospects 10. How to set up online and social media tools and manage them in a few minutes 11. How to make old-school communication techniques new and relevant again 12. The secret to getting clients to consistently refer prospects to your agency 13. How to attract client cross-sales instead of constantly having to chase them 14. The importance of touching your clients 24 times per year and how to do it 15. The importance of a communication calendar and the formula that makes it easy 16. How to create "social influence" 17. Two easy formulas for writing communication pieces that clients want to read 18. The two most important things to concentrate your time, effort and energy on No one is going to make you grow, make you improve or make you keep up with the consumers and the insurance industry. But if you don't, it's just a matter of time before you get left behind.

The dynamics of healthcare are shifting the patient paradigm in dramatic ways. The former patient is now both a consumer and a customer. The mantra of this new consumer is "convenient, fast, simple, and high value." Their expectations for healthcare are similar to what they experience in other industries such as transportation, banking, short-stay rental housing, retail shopping online, same-day deliveries, and more. Smart mobile devices enable the customer to conduct transactions at any place and at any time, and without waiting in line. Healthcare providers need to offer customer service experiences similar to Apple, Amazon, Nordstrom, and other benchmark companies in order to stay competitive. The mindset of the new patient-turned-consumer has fundamentally shifted and there is no looking back. Anyone connected to healthcare needs to learn the profiles of the new consumer, better understand their behaviors, and comprehend their expectations as customers who have a choice. The patient paradigm shifts tells you everything a successful business needs to know about the powerful new healthcare consumer.