KERI MORRELL,
CIC, AAI, AIS, ASLI, CISR, CPSR, CPIW, DAE
July has arrived and is the time for us to start a new NAIW year. I feel rejuvenated after my recent travels and am looking forward to an exciting year with NAIW. I want to thank each of you for making the annual Fish Fry and installation ceremony a success. I have heard from Jamie Niemeyer, our State Director for the meeting, and she has expressed her thanks for a great visit and says she thoroughly enjoyed the event especially as she enjoyed eating the fish as opposed to catching them!
Overall, our numbers have remained the same for membership for the past couple of years as we have been able to replace those members we have lost. I would like to see us make a genuine effort this year to really get more people in the industry interested in the benefits of our organization. We must grow to stay “alive” and new bodies means new energy – and we could all use the extra energy!
Again, I’m looking forward to this year and all
the fun and fellowship we will share.
July
1st NAIW Membership Dues are due
4th Independence Day - NAIW National Closed
5th-7th IIAM Agent’s License Review, Jackson MS
13-16th CIC Life and Health Shreveport, LA
15th Membership Dues Not Received Notice mailed to local presidents
21st Insurance Women of Southwest MS Monthly Meeting, Guest Speaker Erik Case
22nd NAIW “Inroads” Emailed
28th PIA Convention Begins, Fairhope, AL
August
1st
NAIW Dues not received are delinquent
CISR Personal Residential, Grenada, MS
NAIW NEW Address: NAIW(International),
6528 E. 101st St., PMB#750, Tulsa, OK 74133
Send all standard mail to this address.
Send check or payments to NAIW (International),
Department 2214, Tulsa, OK 74182
American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida files rates, rules, and forms to introduce the Specialty Homeowners Program as a replacement for the Mobilehomeowners Program. The Specialty Homeowners offers coverage on a wide variety of homes, including modular homes. The overall rate change is –1.6%. Effective Date September 1, 2005 New Business and October 1, 2005 Renewals.
Foremost Insurance Company files initial rate,
rules and forms for their new Basics Dwelling and Homeowners Insurance
Programs effective July 1, 2005.
Leadership and management skills are something that rarely come naturally for most people. But if you follow some basic rules and are willing to learn how to work with people you will have things running much more smoothly in the workplace in no time. Here's a list of some the things you should NOT be doing.
Neglecting workers
Your workers ARE your business and they have
to be treated that way. Failing to send this message to workers can be
a financial and productivity drag for any business.
Not being able to handle criticism
As a leader you have to listen to constructive
criticism and make the changes necessary.
Unable to delegate responsibilities
This is often a problem for small business owner
/ managers. We have to trust that our workers can do the things we have
done for so long. If they really can't do the job because a particular
skill is needed, then get them the training required or hire someone that
can.
Knowing everything
Many of the world's greatest leaders are people
of average intelligence that don't know all there is to know in their industry.
Procrastination
Often procrastination is a result of having no
plan or list of priorities.
Lack of focus
Have to have a clear set of priorities to follow.
Afraid to change
The ability to change in business is essential.
Changes in technology, the way we deal with people, the way we present
the business, and in every other aspect of running and operating the company.
Holding on to old ways of doing things just because they've always been
done that way is a sure way to lose business. If any aspect of the business
can be improved then there has to be change, even if this means getting
rid of a poor performing worker or product range that is no longer profitable.
As a manager or leader you have to treat your business like a garden. Continue to water, fertilize and weed your garden and it will continue to reap a quality harvest year after year.
Mississippi Insurance Commission, George Dale, advised residents of Mississippi that his office has communicated with all major writers of homeowners insurance in Mississippi to ensure that they have adequate staff and resources to handle any damage caused by Hurricane Dennis. Dale said his office has taken steps to ensure that the companies are ready to send in their catastrophic loss teams to start working with our residents to process their claims as soon as the storm passes.
Dales also announced that, if needed, his office is prepared to set up an emergency on-site office in the damaged area to assist residents. Most of the major carriers have already committed to Dale to set up emergency claim offices in damaged areas. Several of the companies have volunteered to run advertisements informing their insureds on how to contact them.
What to do following a catastrophic storm:
If your property is damaged contact the agent that sold you the policy. If you have trouble reaching your agent you can contact your company or the Mississippi Insurance Department.
Keep all receipts for expenses or any damages to your home.
Be careful before you enter any damaged property and be careful of escaping natural gas, live electrical wires and collapses.
Take pictures of any damage before you make repairs both inside and outside. If possible, make temporary repairs.
If anyone suspects “price gouging” they should contact their local law
enforcement office or the Mississippi Attorney Generals Office, Consumer
Protection Division at 800-281-4418.
Keri Morrell, Ruthie Phillips, and new member Kylene Moak have been very busy. All three have been studying NAIW programs. Keri and Kylene both completed Rules of the Road, Underwriting for Non-Underwriters, and How to Be a Best Seller. Ruthie completed Underwriting for Non-Underwriters and How to Be a Best Seller.
Virginia Zeigler has been super busy checking up on her sick aunt who had knee replacement surgery in June. She is looking forward to spending time with her family at her grandson’s birthday party on July 22, 2005.
Keri Morrell, along with her husband Claude, just returned from a short vacation. They traveled to Arkansas and then Missouri to visit Keri’s mother and father. Keri also spent time with her grandmother who will be turning 101 on July 30. Keri and Claude will also be attending the MS PIA Convention in Point Clear, AL the end of July.
Bea Jones, along with her husband Norman and dog Boudreaux, will be going to Lake Concordia for a little vacation and fishing. She had her aunt visit from Chalmette who was fleeing from Hurricane Dennis.
Ruthie Phillips is registered to take the AAI 83 exam at the end of August and her very first CIC in the middle of August. She is sure that by the end of the month her brain will be fried!
Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
-Oprah Winfrey
The property/casualty industry continued to experience favorable loss ratio trends in 2004, despite record hurricane losses and continued adverse loss-reserve development on prior accident years.
Overall, the industry reported improvements of 2.0 and 0.1 in its 2004 loss and loss-adjustment expense ratios, respectively, as growing premiums exceeded reported losses. Importantly, the improvement in the loss and loss-adjustment expense ratios slowed considerably over the 6.8 and 6.7 respective improvement recorded in 2003, as pricing gains slowed throughout the year and were relatively flat in the fourth quarter. A.M. Best Co. believes pricing already has been reduced to a level where the growth in loss costs exceeds premium increases and that results beyond 2005 will deteriorate.
Improved underwriting standards and higher rates driven by the hard market drove the improvement in the loss ratio, as incurred losses increased at a lower rate than earned premium. Pure losses incurred grew 4% to $256 billion, while net premiums earned exceeded $425 billion, growing 7%. As price increases from 2004 are earned in 2005, the loss ratio is likely to increase only modestly. Loss and loss-adjustment expenses or the costs insurers incur during the claims settlement process remained essentially flat in 2004.
The improvement in the top 25 property/casualty insurers' loss ratio
was comparable to the entire industry, as major loss reserve charges moderated.
However, A.M. Best believes that results for accident years 2002 and 2003
will deteriorate as insurers have continued to under-report loss ratios
for those accident years.
The experience and skills of the top managers.
The energy, persistence and resourcefulness (the will to make the business succeed) of the top managers.
A product that is at least a cut above the competition and service that doesn’t get in the way of people buying.
The ability to create a “buzz” around the product with aggressive and strategic marketing.
Deal-making skills to sell the product at the highest possible price given your market.
The ability to keep developing new products to retain and build a customer base.
Deal-making skills to work with resource suppliers to keep costs low.
The maturity to treat employees, suppliers and partners fairly and respectfully.
Superior location and/or promotion creating a connection between your product and where it can be obtained.
A steady source of business during both good economic
times and downturns.
Hurricane Dennis struck in much the same area as 2004's Hurricane Ivan but isn't expected to have caused as much damage, according to insurance industry watchers.
"AIA is hearing that compared to Ivan, Hurricane Dennis structural damage is much less severe, but it's really too early to know any estimates of insured damage," said Julie Pulliam, a spokeswoman for the American Insurance Association." The primary problems now are from flooding — and this includes inland flooding, not just along the coast — and utility and public service outages. This is true for the Florida panhandle and Alabama. The Mississippi coast apparently had very little damage."
Both Dennis and Ivan were category 3 hurricanes on the Saffir/Simpson scale, which carry sustained winds of 111 mph or greater, for major hurricanes. Such hurricanes, while less frequent than other named storms, account for 80% to 85% of all hurricane-related damage (BestWire, April 5, 2005). Both struck the Florida panhandle near Pensacola.
But where Ivan caused $7.11 billion in insured losses, catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide estimates the insured losses in the mainland areas affected by Dennis to be between $1 billion and $2.5 billion. Steve Smith, an atmospheric physicist and vice president of ReAdvisory at reinsurance intermediary Carvill, estimated Dennis' damage would range from $1 billion to $5 billion in insured losses. California-based catastrophe modeler Eqecat estimated $3 billion to $8 billion in damage, as of July 10, and Risk Management Solutions estimated damage at $1 billion to $5 billion.
AIR said in a statement that Dennis did less damage for four reasons:
It was smaller, it was less intense, it moved faster, and it struck a less
densely populated area.
Dennis' sustained wind speed at landfall was 120 mph, compared with Ivan's sustained winds of 130 mph. Peak winds from Dennis extended about 10 miles from the storm center, compared with Ivan, which had peak winds extending about 25 miles from the center, according to AIR.
Also, Dennis was moving at about 21 mph, compared with Ivan, which was moving at 13 mph when it struck, AIR said. Smith said Ivan basically stalled over Pensacola for 12 hours, while Dennis "came and went very quickly."
"Dennis' relatively fast forward speed will also mean less damage to properties than occurred from Hurricane Ivan," Atul Khanduri, manager of wind risk modeling for AIR, said in a statement. "Damage does not occur instantaneously, rather it accumulates over time from repeated battering....When prolonged winds occur over a very large geographic area, as in Hurricane Ivan, the number of claims can increase significantly. Losses for Dennis would have been higher had the storm moved at a slower pace."
But Dennis still packed a wallop: insured loss estimates easily exceed the Insurance Services Office's $25 million threshold to qualify as a catastrophe. And President George W. Bush has declared 45 counties in Alabama, 13 counties in Florida and 38 counties in Mississippi federal disaster areas, making federal emergency aid and longer-term funding available to those counties.
About 1.8 million people in the three states were ordered to evacuate as Dennis approached. Once the hurricane did strike, more than 500,000 lost power.
Insurers had mobilized catastrophe adjusters as Dennis approached the United States (BestWire, July 7, 2005). Pulliam said insurers were moving quickly into affected areas to assess damage. As of July 11, it still was too early for insurers to have a good idea of the number and expense of claims.