50 Years!!!!!

[rousemark]

I vaguely remember some radio dramas that still existed when I was a boy, but I was born in the middle of the first TV generation. So I had to look up Johnny Dollar. Seems like an updated version of it would be a fun show for Amazon or Netflix to put out. (On a side note I used to have a client by that name. Do you think he bought a policy just so he could keep an eye on me?)

I could hardly wait to get home after school to listen to Sgt. Preston of the Yukon

 

[LostDollar]

listening to old Johnny Dollar episodes. Don't know how he survived without a cell phone!

Free Old Time Radio Shows from The Golden Age of Radio - OTR

There are a number of sites that have old radio programs to listen to. There are some Johnny Dollar episodes on that one.

 

[LostDollar]

I could hardly wait to get home after school to listen to Sgt. Preston of the Yukon

I probably listened to some of those but don't remember him. There are none of his programs on the link I use for Johnny Dollar and some other old radio programs. I'm sure some of the programs are online somewhere, if I find a link I'll post it for you. Internet Archive is good for a lot of old things of that nature, here's a tv show for you:

 

[LostDollar]

(And just for folks that are getting ready to comment about LD getting off the insurance topic with old radio programs, Johnny Dollar is America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. At insurance investigation he's just an expert, at making out his expense account he's an absolute genius.)

 

[rousemark]

(And just for folks that are getting ready to comment about LD getting off the insurance topic with old radio programs, Johnny Dollar is America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. At insurance investigation he's just an expert, at making out his expense account he's an absolute genius.)

SGT Preston (oldradioprograms.us)

 

[LostDollar]

SGT Preston (oldradioprograms.us)

thanks

 

[Newby]

July 5 marked my 50th anniversary in the business.. Things sure have changed.

1. Seemed most agents, even the ordinary agents worked in captive situations.
2. There were over 1800 active life insurance companies... now there are just a little over 800.
3. Debit companies were some of the largest companies in the nation.. Metropolitan, Prudential, National Life and Accident, and there were many more in my area, Independent Life, Life and Casualty of Tennessee, Interstate Life, National Trust Life, Liberty National Life, Kentucky Central, Atlanta Life are just a few that comes to mind.. Most no longer exist.
4. Industrial (weekly premium) life and health plans were still being written.
5. Industrial Sick and Accident was still being sold to the black clients and soem companies still had a "white" and a "black" rate book.
6. The NL&A had just quit requiring agents to wear a dress hat in the field a couple of years before I started. They still required agents to wear a tie and jacket.
7. There was almost no direct mail leads and the DNC list did not exist.

What changes have you seen since you started?

I'm only at 25-years (hence the name, Newby) but I was in for several years before the "Do not call" lists.
No GPS. We used paper maps to find addresses.
No rate quoter on phones or tablets. Pen and paper with a rate card and a calculator was the way.
No cell phones. But I got a pager around my 2nd year in the biz.
No tablets or laptops. But I had a desktop to write word documents and a basic CRM.
WAY less junk telemarketing or scammers. So people did answer their phones.
No Internet forums or Facebook to learn stuff from each other.
No one had cheat sheets or underwriting comparisons between companies. I made the first ones that I know of mainly for my own personal use.
No Medicare Advantage Plans. It was all Med Sup.
When Advantage Plans first hit they were mostly Private Fee for Service networks and they were a mess. Complaint city as most doctors quit taking them mid year.
Rates for all FE companies were lower than they are today.
Every UL policy you ran across was crashing hard. And they were everywhere.
Term with "living benefits" was the new marketing idea.
We collected the first months premium check when you made a sale. And we mailed the apps in by snail mail.

 

[rousemark]

Bought my first "pocket" calculator from Sears. Paid $65 for it (About $450 today). It was a little larger than a pack of cigs and would not do any more than the $1.00 calculators you can buy today.

My first computer was a Tandy 1000, dual floppy disk and MSDOS operating system. No internet.

 

[adjusterjack]

Bought my first "pocket" calculator from Sears. Paid $65 for it (About $450 today). It was a little larger than a pack of cigs and would not do any more than the $1.00 calculators you can buy today.

I used a slide rule in college in the mid 60s. I don't remember when I bought my first calculator. It was a Texas Instruments and a little over $100.

 

[Cornelius]

#5? Could that be taught in schools?

Started with A.L. Williams part-time of course. Back in the day when he mentioned if he pocketed $300,000 @ 10% he and his wife could live off of 30K a year..

Reality check.. After the initial term life period life events for the middle to low income can blow up the best laid plans. Financial and health changes do and can happen over 20 years..BTID should have a solid track record by now since the late 70's..