Considering Joining NY Life

[LGilmore]

As with any company out there, help or hurt will come from the office you work from. I agree NYL is a great company, but as with all large organizations, not every office is golden. Look very closely at the office you are considering joining, what's it like? Are there gaps in agent years? Do you see smiling people? I know that sounds odd, but the expressions people have will give you an indicator of the environment.

I can tell there are a few new agents from NYL here. I appreciate the energy. I was like that too back in the day. Mother NYLIC could do no wrong and everything they do is for the better good..... Just be aware that ain't necessarily the case. You'll learn over time there is good and bad with NYL. I spent a decade there and life wasn't bad. Then the great purge hit and I got sucked up in it's wake. Such is life when the guy at the top changes. Attitudes and focus change with the head guy. Just remember you're an executive move away from drastic changes. Always be aware at the end of the day, it is your business you're running. Figure out if NYL helps or hurts that.

 

[Norwayguy]

Yea I agree, NYL is a great company with $525 billion in assets under management very few companies come close to that, with a triple A rating from all the rating agencies, with a 40% market share of the retirement planning, how can anyone say that NYL is not focused on retirement planning. I think some people may just be haters.

I like NYL, just wondering how and where you come up with a 40% market of the retirement planning that you mention?

 

[TheCaspian]

I like NYL, just wondering how and where you come up with a 40% market of the retirement planning that you mention?

I would assume this was taken from NYL's 40% market share of Deferred Immediate annuities. (GFI)

They love pointing this out in meetings, but the dirty little secret is that we are 8th in total annuity sales and have no where near a 40% market share lol.

 

[scagnt83]

Yea I agree, NYL is a great company with $525 billion in assets under management very few companies come close to that, with a triple A rating from all the rating agencies, with a 40% market share of the retirement planning, how can anyone say that NYL is not focused on retirement planning. I think some people may just be haters.

Im a former NYLIC career agent. Still sell their products now as an indy (at times).

But your facts are a bit off.

NYL has 40% of the DIA market.
The DIA market makes up a very small portion of the entire "Retirement Planning" market. So they have 40% of a small portion of that market.



Also, not all rating agencies have given NYL a AAA rating. In fact, only 2 companies use AAA as their top rating (S&P & Fitch).
Currently, only Fitch has NYL as AAA.
S&P rates NYL as AA+.

The correct statement is that NYL, along with 5 other companies with the same exact ratings, have the top ratings in the industry.

 

[critter]

And the previous post highlighted another issue with the "training" at NYL. When I was with them, we were told that the products were superior and that you needed to be a NYL agent to sell them. Once I left, I saw that wasn't true and that it is very easy to broker them.

 

[scagnt83]

Our top producers in the office and zone focus more on investments and holistic customer needs than looking for the next life case to write.

Yes, but most of those top producers did not start out that way.
Also, most of them have a different contract from you that makes it much more lucrative to stay vs. go indy.

Most of those top producers, when they started as a green agent, were doing mostly life biz.

Sure the management supports you selling their DIAs... its like GLI was when I was there... you send a case to the retirement planning group to do a proposal, and funny enough every single retiree needed a GLI... (SPIA for you non NYLers)
Its their new "hot product".

But if your life production falls off, you better believe they will say something.
My buddy did $200k in FAs in one month... was told he needed to go write some life policies because it had been 3 months since he had written a life policy. (he did $300k in annuities in that 3 months)


And as a green agent at NYL there is no way to have a "holistic" practice of retirement planning. You are captive with the products you sell.

Even the experienced agents who are past 3 years are still tied to the BD (which is extremely restrictive).
Even Eagle Strategies is restrictive vs. an Indy RIA.

And all of those restrictions ultimately affect the client and the products that are recommended to that client. They also limit the potential growth of the advisors practice.


Sure you can do retirement planning at NYL.
Sure there are plenty of sucessful agents who work the retirement market at NYL.
But a career agent position at NYL, is not the most ideal position to be if you plan on doing retirement planning. There are much better options.

And sure a green agent can get great training there. (I did)
But very few of those green agents are able to successfully focus on mainly just the retirement market/annuities. And the selling restrictions makes it impossible to work that market in a "holistic" manner.

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When I was with them, we were told that the products were superior and that you needed to be a NYL agent to sell them. Once I left, I saw that wasn't true and that it is very easy to broker them.

Yes, that is a lie that for some reason they tell all of their career agents.

I once tried to sell an FA to a prospect... they said they wanted the 5 year FA instead, could I show them that.... at that time NYL had no 5 year FA that career agents knew of... but indy agents and bank channels had the 5 year FA! And the prospect had seen it at their local bank!

It made me look like an *** when I told them that NYL had no 5 year FA and whoever told them that was lying... needless to say the money went to the advisor at the bank.

3 months later NYL released the 5 year FA for career agents to sell... they told us it was a "new" product.... lol.

 

[LGilmore]

"I like NYL, just wondering how and where you come up with a 40% market of the retirement planning that you mention? "

Career school..

I think everybody who did NYL came out of career school with thoughts like that. It isn't till you get out in the world that you learn about other companies, other products and other agents are OK too.

Again this is why looking deeply into the office you will be working from is so important. As I read some of these posts, I smiled as they brought back memories of 25 years ago. Back when you believe everything your sales manager says.

 

[scagnt83]

"I like NYL, just wondering how and where you come up with a 40% market of the retirement planning that you mention? "

Career school..

.

Yep! When I got out of it I thought that people were fools to do business with anyone but NYL...

 

[Norwayguy]

I would assume this was taken from NYL's 40% market share of Deferred Immediate annuities. (GFI)

They love pointing this out in meetings, but the dirty little secret is that we are 8th in total annuity sales and have no where near a 40% market share lol.

Talk about interesting labels...A "Deferred" Immediate Annuity. I left NYL about 15 years ago so things do change back then people remembered NYLcare I think which was their major med which they got rid of just before I came on board they spent a lot of time getting us interested in their LTC product but eventually everything comes back to selling a lot of NYL life insurance which if you have the right market for it can be a good option.

 

[Tahoe Ray]

Talk about interesting labels...A "Deferred" Immediate Annuity. I left NYL about 15 years ago so things do change back then people remembered NYLcare I think which was their major med which they got rid of just before I came on board they spent a lot of time getting us interested in their LTC product but eventually everything comes back to selling a lot of NYL life insurance which if you have the right market for it can be a good option.

The "DIA" market is hot now (from the carrier's perspective)...Mass, Lincoln, Symetra, and others are all offering these products now.