A Trickle-Down Industry

Ah, the lives of the rich and famous. Well, the rich at least, the famous part carries a little too much baggage for my taste. Still, the very rich lead lives to which most of us would love to become accustomed. Multiple homes in exotic locations, private jets, couture wardrobes, fancy cars, $50,000 dog houses.

I, for one, realize I’ll probably never travel in those circles. However, the rich could almost be considered an industry in themselves, in the trickle-down economy sense. For as my artist friend—whose job it is to paint gorgeous murals and intricate decorative finishes in the homes of wealthy people—puts it, she doesn’t mind not having as much money as her clients as long as they keep hiring her to paint their castles. And my sister, a real estate agent in Houston, makes a very good living as long as her friends keep bringing her multi-million-dollar homes to sell. And after all, the pricey things wealthy people acquire have to be protected. Enter the independent insurance agent.

So just who insures people for whom only the best will do? And how do you go about entering such a market? Our national editor, Andrea Ortega-Wells investigates the situation in, “They’re in the Money! Targeting and Insuring the Very Rich.” Ortega-Wells uncovers some very intriguing advice you’re sure to want to heed if you plan to go after upper crust clients.

The presidential campaign is heating up with the primaries shaking out the pack of would be contenders on the Democratic side of the ticket. Appropriately, in “Sales Lessons You Can Learn From the Presidential Primaries,” contributing columnist Alan Shulman examines the strategies of successful political campaign organizations that may prove useful to agents in growing their businesses.

Wholesalers—can’t live with them, can’t live without them, right? Well, the same may be said from the other side of the wholesale/retail fence. Many insurance professionals, including those at the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas and the Texas Surplus Lines Association, have been working hard to find ways to improve business relationships between the two groups. Discover insider tips on doing business with MGAs in “Relationships Are Everything When Working with MGAs.” The piece provides an overview of the panel discussion, “Working with MGAs,” which took place at IIAT’s recent Joe Vincent Seminar and was based on the joint IIAT/TSLA survey, “Best Practices for Working Relationships Between Wholesalers and Retailers.”

In your professional life did you ever have an “oops” moment when you realized you did something you shouldn’t have done, or worse, failed to do something you should have? Look for the March 8 edition of IJ, in which we examine both the employment practices liability and errors and omissions lines of insurance.

Until then, feel free to comment on the stories in this issue and by all means, visit our Web site at www.insurancejournal.com.