Guardian Disability Insurance Brokerage

Occupational Class Upgrades

2009-08-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

Gastroenterologists and Pediatricians have been upgraded from a 4M to a 5M. Radiologists(diagnostic and therapeutic) can upgrade to a 5M by satisfying the new "5 years experience in occupation" move-up option.

Several other occupations can now move-up in occupational class because of this new option:
Biologist 5 to 6
Consultant 4 to 5
Psychologist, PhD 5M to 6M
Landscape Architect 4 to 5
Chemist 3 to 4

Guardian Increases Federal Employee Disability Insurance Amounts

2009-08-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

We are very happy to announce that Guardian will now offer substantially higher monthly benefit amounts for Federal Employees. Employees covered under the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) may be entitled to additional disability insurance coverage based on recent increases in Berkshire's federal employee issue limit. They will now be eligible for coverage under the normal Issue and Participation limits.

Guardian and Berkshire used to limit the maximum monthly benefit for disability insurance for Federal Employees to $2,000, and with very few optional riders. Federal Employees can now purchase the same optional riders as everybody else in the private sector (residual, FIO, COLA, CAT, etc...) Berkshire now can offer a combination of two DI policies that supplement existing FERS benefits.

The first policy is available with a 90-day elimination period and the second has a 360-day elimination period to coincide with the end of the FERS short-term disability benefits. They will also benefit from increased issue limits which make Guardian and Berkshire one of the most competitive in the industry.

Give our office a call today to find out just how much disability insurance coverage your client can obtain even if they are a Federal Employee. We can be reached toll free at 888-513-2300.

Bahamas Summer DI & LTC Sales Contest

2009-07-08T05:10:00.000-07:00

Guardian Disability Insurance Brokerage has run a Summer sales contest for several years now to The Bahamas. This year is no different, and the contest is well underway. As an insurance agent working with our agency for your Guardian disability insurance, and LTC you stand a chance this Summer of winning a nice vacation to The Atlantis hotel and casino in the Bahamas.

All you have to do in order to have a chance at winning is finish in the top 20 in total production this Summer with our agency. This is not a nationwide contest, our agency puts this contest on every year by ourselves. The higher up the list of 20 you finish, the more names in a hat you will receive for the final drawing. First place gets 20 names in the hat, and 20th place gets one name in the hat.

One of the best parts to this sales contest is that you can track your standings on-line in real-time at Guardian Disability Insurance Summer Sales Contest. You must be logged into the website to see the current standings, otherwise you will just see the rules to the contest. When you log-in you will see the top 20 standings in real time, and know where you stand.

Good Luck, and let us know how we can help you increase your disability insurance and LTC sales.

Berkshire Life's New President

2009-06-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

Gordon G. Dinsmore Jr. has joined Guardian as the leader for Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America, bringing 34 years of industry experience to the position. Pending Board approval, which is expected in July, he will be appointed President of Berkshire, succeeding Joan Bancroft.

Gordon comes to Guardian from MetLife, Inc., where he has worked as Vice President and Senior Actuary since 1999. He previously served as Executive Vice President at Swiss Re America and Chief Actuary at Equitable Life & Casualty Insurance Company. He is a graduate of Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics.

Business Overhead Expense Issue Limits Raised to $50,000

2009-05-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

Effective May 15, 2009, issue limits for Overhead Expense coverage are increasing from a $30K maximum monthly benefit to:
$50K maximum monthly benefit for the 12-month benefit period
$40K for the 18-month benefit period
The limit remains at $30K for the 24-month benefit period.

These new limits are available in all states.

Our Overhead Expense policy provides powerful coverage for business expenses. When combined with Guardian’s unique Business Reducing Term disability insurance, the combined maximum issue limit is up to $55,000 per month.

2010 DI Inner Circle Requirements & Benefits

2009-05-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

Berkshire Life has just published the requirements for membership in the 2010 DI Inner Circle based on production in 2009. This year Berkshire has introduced a new Platinum category for the very top DI agents nationwide with some additional benefits. The following two brochures outline the requirements and benefits of membership, not the least of which is an invitation to the Berkshire Sales Summit at the Ritz Carlton in the Florida Keys.

2010 DI Inner Circle Requirements and Benefits

Platinum DI Inner Circle Requirements & Benefits

You must be logged into our web site to view the documents.

NAHU Magazine Article on Supplemental Disability Insurance

2009-04-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to point out a recent article written by Steve Crawford in the April 2009 issue of NAHU's Health Insurance Underwriter.

The article is a simple blueprint for supplemental disability insurance sales that agents can follow. We believe that when clients understand exactly how much money they would have to live on from a group LTD policy during a claim, they will more than likely want to buy a supplemental disability insurance policy from you.

The article focuses on 4 questions to ask your clients on the subject, and what information you need to have in order to properly protect your client's income during a disability.

You'll have to page through the on-line magazine from HIU to read it, we hope you enjoy it.

Guardian Disability Insurance Participation Raised to $20,000

2009-01-30T06:11:00.000-08:00

At the recent Disability Insurance Specialist meeting Berkshire announced they are raising their participation limits to $20,000.

This still means the largest disability insurance policy Berkshire will issue is $15,000. If your client has $15,000 already in-force, it does mean Berkshire will issue up to an additional $5,000 a month in coverage assuming your client has the income necessary to obtain that level of coverage.

The combined total in-force coverage can now be up to $20,000, but Berkshire will issue no more than $15,000.

You can Request A Disability Insurance Quote directly from our web site to receive a custom proposal on your client. Feel free to call us toll free at 888-513-2300 with any questions you may have as well.

National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) DI & LTC Discount

2009-01-26T14:01:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to announce that Guardian’s visibility within the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) has been further enhanced with the company’s first national association endorsement for disability insurance!

Effective immediately, all members of NAWBO are eligible to receive an association discount on all disability insurance products in all states. This is in addition to the 10% discount NAWBO members currently receive on long term care insurance.

The NAWBO Opportunity
There are 9,000 NAWBO members in 80 local chapters nationwide (see www.nawbo.org). A profile of NAWBO members shows them to be:
Well-established – mean length of business ownership is 9.2 years
Financially successful – 20% report revenues above $1 million
Full-fledged businesses – 70% have full and/or part-time employees; mean number of employees is 4.6
Highly diversified – strong mix of business types; far fewer in retail than U.S. norm
Predisposed to buy – 37.8% plan to purchase business insurance in the next year.

Applying for Coverage with the NAWBO Association Discount
To apply for the NAWBO discount, include a photocopy of a document that indicates membership, such as a membership card or dues payment receipt. In lieu of either of these, form AA1706 may be submitted with the application.

Business Overhead Expense Announcement

2009-01-06T11:13:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to announce an underwriting enhancement related to Guardian and Berkshire's Professional Overhead Expense insurance. Guardian will now offer up to $10,000 a month of POE with no financial documentation required for your business owner clients.

While personal disability insurance is there to protect your clients income, your business owner clients may also need to protect the viability of their business during a long term disability. Professional Overhead Expense will reimburse your business owner clients for their deductible overhead expenses during a claim up to the maximum monthly benefit so that they can have a business to come back to after they recover from a disability. Employee salaries, rent, insurance premiums, utilities and other deductible overhead expenses can add up quickly during a disability and Berkshire's POE policy is an excellent choice to solve this issue for your clients.

Now it is easier than ever for your small business owner clients to obtain this valuable insurance. Call our office toll free at 888-513-2300 for a quote, or request a quote on-line.

Life Insurance Selling Magazine

2008-12-27T07:29:00.001-08:00

The most recent issue of Life Insurance Selling Magazine has an extensive article on Anthony Delvecchio. Anthony recently received the Founders Day Award from the International DI Society at their most recent annual meeting in Las Vegas.

This article does an excellent job at describing how Anthony, and most of the career Guardian agents in my agency, do business every day online.

A.M. Best Upgrades Guardian to A++

2008-12-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

A.M. Best Company has upgraded Guardian’s financial strength rating from A+ (Superior) to A++ (Superior), A.M. Best’s highest rating. This rating upgrade also applies to Guardian’s core subsidiaries, The Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company, Inc. and Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America.

Guardian was one of only seven life insurance companies to have been upgraded by A.M. Best in 2008. Additionally, they were one of just five life insurers to have been upgraded this year by the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s, which increased Guardian's credit rating this summer.

Guardian Announces $723 Million Dividend to Policyholders in 2009

2008-11-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK, November 13, 2008 — The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved payment of $723 million in dividends to the company’s individual life policyholders in 2009. The 2009 payout, which is $60 million more than Guardian’s 2008 dividend allocation, is the largest-ever distribution to the company’s participating policyholders and reflects a dividend interest rate of 7.30%.

“Guardian is pleased to reward our participating policyholders with this record dividend payout,” said Dennis J. Manning, Guardian’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our ability to pay record dividends in this period of economic volatility is quite a significant accomplishment – one that confirms Guardian’s firm commitment to policyholders and validates the sound business fundamentals we follow in managing the company. These sound fundamentals translated into improved mortality experience and strong investment performance, two factors that contributed to our ability to pay a record dividend at this time.”

As a mutual company, Guardian is organized and maintained for the benefit of its participating member policyholders who share in the company’s profits. Annual dividends are one of the most important ways that Guardian’s policyholders receive value from the company’s success. Guardian has consistently benefited its participating policyholders with strong dividend performance throughout its 148 year history.

“Guardian’s value proposition is to provide high quality, low net-cost insurance while maintaining the greatest degree of financial strength,” commented Deanna M. Mulligan, Executive Vice President in charge of Guardian’s Individual Life and Disability business. “We’re proud to continue our track record of consistently delivering on our promises to policyholders.”

About Guardian
Founded in 1860, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, New York, NY (Guardian) is one of the largest mutual life insurance companies in the United States. As of December 31, 2007, Guardian and its subsidiaries had $41.3 billion in assets (on a consolidated statutory basis). With close to 3,000 financial representatives and 80 agencies nationwide, Guardian and its subsidiaries protect individuals, small business owners, and their employees with life, disability, health, long-term care, and dental insurance products, and offer 401(k), annuities, and other financial products and trust services. Specializing in the small to mid-size business market, Guardian's Group business unit serves more than 120,000 employers, 6 million employees, and their families. More information about Guardian can be obtained at: www.GuardianLife.com.

Founders Award Winner - Anthony Delvecchio

2008-10-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce that our own, Anthony Delvecchio won the Founders Award this past week at the International DI Society's annual conference in Las Vegas.

The Founders Award is an award presented to an agent less than 3 years in the business, for excellence in the sale of disability insurance. Anthony Delvecchio was the number one new FR for Guardian Life his first year in the business for the sale of disability insurance, has made Guardian's Leaders Club every year in the business, and has sold over $300,000 of individual disability insurance since he started less than 3 years ago.

He was presented the award at a luncheon, along with the lifetime achievement award presented to Ron Cohen, RHU from Houston, TX.

Advanced DI Meeting & Coming Soon

2008-09-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

Our agency just returned from Berkshire Life's Advanced Disability Insurance Meeting which was held at the Tamaya Resort & Spa in New Mexico. When I say our agency attended, we had 11 people attend this DI meeting this year from Guardian DI Brokerage. Hopefully next year we'll increase that number to include even more of our brokers. It really is one of the best DI meetings there is. All the top disability insurance producers in the country attend this meeting for Guardian, regardless of their company affiliation. To qualify you need to be a member of Guardian's "Inner Circle" for disability insurance. Next year we're going to Boston, and the year after will be at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, FL. Production in 2009 will count towards the Advanced DI Meeting in 2010 in Florida.

The meetings themselves are always very good, along with the awards dinner/dancing, but the best part of these meetings are the people. The very top DI producers in the country are all in attendance, and very willing to talk to everybody about what they do. This year Guardian Disability Insurance Brokerage took advantage of every moment to sit down and film most of the top 10 DI producers in the country. We've just finished downloading over 35 hours of footage, and are now editing all of it together to share with all of you.

Our goal is to expand what every agent believes is possible when it comes to disability insurance. We asked each of the agents to share with us everything they do now, what they did in the past, what worked, what didn't, etc... Having watched all the footage during the downloads, we think all of you will enjoy the final products very much. We have Dr. Eric Studley, Robert Kaplan, Butch Cohen, Jeffrey Benowitz, Larry Keller, Scott Dial on QSPP, Chau Lai, David Washkoviac, and much more.

One of the key's to success in this business is to copy what is working for somebody else, and implement it in your practice. The people mentioned above combined have well over $15,000,000 of individual disability insurance in-force right now. Check back to our web site video library often, we'll be posting each one as soon as possible.

DisabilityQuotes.com Revision

2008-09-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

We have been working on our new web site for the better part of 6 months now, and last night we finally released it. We were one of the first disability insurance organizations in the industry to have a web site where our brokers could check their case status on-line. In 1999 we had the old blue GuardianDIBrokerage.com, in 2004 we changed the domain name to DisabilityQuotes.com and released a new web site, and last night we've refreshed the site once again to something a little bit easier to use.

Our goal with this web site was to make everything easier to use, simplify the navigation, and to have a clean and crisp look. We're happy with the results, and we hope you like it to. We've been hard at work debugging it for the past few weeks, if you happen to notice something wrong please let us know.

Thanks again for your continued business, and please feel free to give us feedback on the new site.

Berkshire Launches New Multi-Life Product Offering, Including Online Enrollment and Reduced Rates

2008-06-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

Berkshire is proud to announce the launch of DI@WorkTM, a new Multi-Life disability income insurance offering for Guaranteed Standard Issue (GSI) business that features superior online enrollment capabilities, competitive pricing and unprecedented customer service and sales tools designed to make your sales process hassle-free from start to finish.

Innovative Online Enrollment
DI@Work promises to be “distinctively different,” and its new e-enrollment system delivers. The Web site makes enrollment easy and helps educate applicants, using tools such as an expense calculator to determine how much supplemental coverage they need. Employees are able to select from a series of product packages for which to apply, including “above the GSI,” to help them obtain a solution that’s best suited to their needs.

DI@Work also reduces the workload for producers and employers as it utilizes true “e-signature,” meaning no paper applications, and offers demographic-based tracking to ensure success. Berkshire’s Multi-Life team will oversee all aspects of your enrollment, which includes customizing an enrollment plan to fit each organization’s needs, managing employee communications, tailoring an enrollment site, and overseeing all administrative tasks.

Income ProVider Rate Decreases
To make this offering even more attractive, we’ve substantially lowered our rates for Income ProVider — our GSI product. We’re also incorporating a more liberal approach to the utilization of pre-existing condition limitations. The new rates are available in all states as of July 1, 2008, except for Massachusetts, New York and Florida. As these states are approved, you will be notified. Income ProVider is not currently available for sale in California. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you’d like us to run a previous offer with these new rates to showcase the savings.

Sales Support
We’re also conducting monthly online training sessions, providing an introduction to our enhanced sales tools and a more personalized approach to managing worksite DI business. Join us on Wednesday, July 9, at 12 p.m. Eastern for our next WebEx, during which our unit will share an overview of best practices as well as offer a demonstration of the new online enrollment capabilities. Watch your e-mail for more details.

More Comprehensive, Aggressive Offers
To further strengthen our team, we’ve added Darlene Demorad, who brings years of experience with a key competitor to her role as manager of Worksite Risk Management. She provides great insight to the multi-life underwriting promise and has already added considerable value through more comprehensive and aggressive offers.

A New Special Limits Program – Up to $7,500 of monthly benefit for Medical and Dental Specialties

2008-06-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

The Special Limits for Young Professionals program provides students, residents and first-year professionals the opportunity to obtain disability income insurance without proof of income, giving your agents a competitive entrée to a very lucrative market.

In a recent review of experience, market outlook and salary data, we have identified that typical first-year income within the broad first-year physician and dentist categories can vary considerably.

For that reason, we’re introducing a new Special Limits program that recognizes 13 new special limits for 22 specific first-year medical and dental professions, to protect the income they expect to earn in their specialties. These new classifications and limits are available immediately with new Berkshire ProVider Plus policy forms 1400 and 1500, where approved. They are not available with any other Berkshire or Guardian policy form.

New Occupational Categories and Higher Limits
This new program offers up to $7,500 of monthly benefit to qualifying first-year professionals—a significant increase over the previous limit of $5,000. See the following table for an overview of new categories and corresponding special limits within the medical and dental markets. Items highlighted indicate an increase in limits.

TeleMed Requirement and Policy Form Availability
The new classifications and limits are available with new ProVider Plus policy forms 1400 and 1500, where approved, and when TeleMed is utilized to gather all underwriting requirements. Existing program classifications and limits are available for policy forms 0100/1100/2100 or NC111/112 in California, or when TeleMed is not utilized. See the attached flyer in the “Marketing This New Program” section for complete details.

Guardian Disability Insurance - Video Training

2008-05-29T10:22:00.001-07:00

Our agency has built an easy way for you to learn all about the material changes to Guardian's ProVider Plus disability insurance policy. Each of the video segments is just 2-3 minutes long so that you can pick and choose which area's of the product you want to learn more about.

There are some really exciting new features, rates, and riders to learn about. We encourage you to spend some time digging into all the material changes on our Video Tutorials.

Business Owner Advantage Program

2008-05-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

Now, Your Business Owner Clients Can Qualify For More

We want to be your choice when protecting the incomes of business owners, and here's proof.

We're raising issue limits on our ProVider Plus* individual disability insurance policy by up to $2000 for business owners outside the medical/dental markets. The chart below is a sampling of the new issue limits.

It's the most generous DI benefit structure for business owners on the market, but more importantly, you're providing them with optimal coverage.

Check these features:
• True own occ definition of total disability embedded in the contract
• 15% loss of income threshold for residual benefits—with no loss of time or duties requirements
• A loss of income benefit for up to the first 12 months of residual disability
• 6 month waiver of premium after recovery
• Upon recovery, COLA increases become part of the base monthly benefit at no additional premium until age 65/67
• No fees for monthly premium payments automatically deducted from savings or
checking accounts.
So, show your business owner clients you have their best interests in mind by showing them ProVider Plus—
up to $2000 more benefit, and much more value for their hard-earned premium dollar.

*Disability insurance underwritten and issued by Berkshire Life Insurance Company of America, Pittsfield, MA, a wholly-owned stock subsidiary of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), New York, NY, or, in California, provided by Guardian. **Limits shown for Policy Forms 1400 and 1500; similar increases for Policy Forms 0100, 1100, 2100, NC111 and NC112. Product provisions and features may vary by state.
For Producer Use Only. Not For Use With the General Public.

New ProVider Plus Seminar Replay Available

2008-04-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

In March our agency hosted four new ProVider Plus product seminars throughout the Mid-Atlantic region in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Northern Virginia and Harrisburg. We are very excited about the upcoming release of Guardian's flagship disability insurance policy scheduled for April 28th, 2008. We filmed many of the roll-out meetings, and have the seminar available for replay on our web site. We encourage you to watch the entire seminar on-line, or visit Guardian Disability Insurance Brokerage and log-in to access our video library where you can watch several short video clips outlining the details of this new product. We are actively creating more short video clips to the video training center, and will add them as they are ready for release.

If you have any questions about Guardian's next generation ProVider Plus disability insurance policy please give us a call toll free at 888-513-2300, and we will be happy to have one of our disability insurance specialists schedule an appointment to come review the new product with you.

ProVider Plus Release Date & Specimen Policy

2008-03-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

The next generation ProVider Plus disability insurance policy is now going to be released on April 28th instead of March 31st. Berkshire just released the new specimen policy as well which is also available in our Brochure Library.

New ProVider Plus Producer Guide

2008-03-06T06:19:00.000-08:00

Berkshire has a new ProVider Plus Producer Guide available for agents and brokers. This is a brand new brochure agents can use to really get to know the new ProVider Plus contract.

New Guardian Disability Insurance Policy Seminars

2008-03-04T19:09:00.000-08:00

Guardian Disability Insurance Brokerage will be having a series of seminars in the Mid-Atlantic region during March to roll-out the next generation ProVider Plus disability insurance policy. Each seminar will have a 2 hour CE class on "Disability Solutions for Business Owners" immediately following the overview of the new ProVider Plus disability insurance policy.

Agents can review the agenda, and register to attend any of the following seminars.

Tuesday March 18th - Northern Virginia

Wednesday March 19th - Towson/Baltimore

Thursday March 27th - Harrisburg, PA

Friday March 28th - Philadelphia, PA

The updated ProVider Plus policy has a lot of new material. We encourage everybody in the disability insurance business to attend one of the roll-out meetings to learn all about this new contract.