NAIFA Memphis Annual Golf Tournament benefiting Camp Good Grief May 10, Windyke Country Club More information and sponsorship opportunities

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1 NAIFA MEMPHIS Volume Officers and Board of Directors President Bill Pettit President Elect Ralph Bond, CLU Immediate Past President Bob Buckley Secretary Rob Williams Treasurer Scott Heevner State / National Committeeman Mark Miller, LUTCF markmiller@aicinvest.com Directors Cindy Williams cindy.williams@nm.com Carol Sherrod cysherrod@ft.newyorklife.com Gene Hinders ehinders@metlife.com Chalmers Valentine, CLU cvalentine@highland.com Sandra Bailey sandrab@womenfinancialpower.com Association Executive Lisa Loden naifamemphis@naifamemphis.org April 2018 April 26th NAIFA Memphis Annual Meeting The Racquet Club of Memphis Speakers: Rebecca Schulter & Heath Houston We would like to encourage young producers to attend this meeting and listen to their story and pick up some ideas on how to make it over the hump and take your practice to the next level. At this meeting we will also vote on officers & directors, recognize long time members, members with new designations & volunteers 5111 Sanderlin Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee 38120, Doors open at 11:30 Luncheon will begin at 11:45 am RSVP required. RSVP by to naifamemphis@naifamemphis.org or call NAIFA Memphis Annual Golf Tournament benefiting Camp Good Grief May 10, Windyke Country Club More information and sponsorship opportunities on pages 8 & 9 of this newsletter Scheduled Meetings The Racquet Club of Memphis Doors 11:30 am April 26, 2018 Annual Meeting May 10, 2018 Golf Tournament PLEASE MAKE RESERVATIONS BY NOON April 20th, FOR THE April 26th MEETING naifamemphis@naifamemphis.org Phone: Buffet line 11:30 a.m. Meeting 11:45 p.m. Thanks to our VIP Sponsors

2 T H E A G E N T A D V O C A T E Inside this issue... Page 3 - President s Message Page Fiduciary Rule Update / NAIFA TN Day On the Hill Update Page 7 - What NAIFA has done for me... Page Golf Tournament - May 10th To our New Members!! Derrick Bradley New York Life Andrew Dering Midland National Life Leanne Williams Ameritas Charles Clowers American National Floyd Fields New York Life Karlos Murphy New York Life If you work with someone that is not a NAIFA Member please tell them about NAIFA and forward their name to Ralph Bond (NAIFA Memphis Membership Chair) Ralph - rbond@financialstrategies.com

3 President s Message Your NAIFA Memphis board is eagerly looking forward to presenting your next scheduled meeting on Thursday, April 26 th at the Racquet Club of Memphis. There are many items happening at this meeting. We will give you an update on our State Day on the Hill and Convention which was attended by many of our Memphis members. Congrats to our Memphis members and their accomplishments in helping NAIFA Memphis to be the only local in the state of Tennessee to win the Award of Excellence. Many thanks to our own Lisa Loden for all of her ongoing help in making sure all of our activities were accounted for in getting us this prestigious award. One of the most exciting moments in our state convention was watching as our very own Wayne McCullough was awarded the Insurance Professional of the Year award!! Way to go Wayne, we are very proud of you and all the things you do for NAIFA Memphis!!! Our National Committeeman, Mark Miller, will give us an update on some recent legislation in our state legislature that would have impacted the ongoing business of most of our members. Mark, along with our lobbyist and key members of NAIFA TN helped table this key piece of legislation. This once again spells out the importance of what your local and state NAIFA dues do to help all of us in maintaining our business practices. Also at the meeting, Don Hinkle will give us an update on our biggest fundraiser, our annual Golf Tournament. All proceeds go to support Camp Good Grief. This is such an important facility in helping our children who have lost a parent cope with their grief and give them ongoing support. Please support this major fundraiser. Lastly, we will have a couple of our own members as the speakers this month. I have asked Rebecca Schulter and Heath Houston to come share with our members their business practices. Rebecca has been in the business about five years and Heath has been in the business about 10 years. Both of the members are excellent in their business practices. I have asked them to share with us how they run their practice and how they have, not only survived in this difficult business, but have grown their business and are in the top ten percent of all producers. I would like to invite as many new young producers to listen to their story and pick up some ideas on how to make it over the hump and take your practice to the next level. As always, thank each and every one of you for your continued membership. I look forward to seeing you at the April meeting and sharing in our fellowship. Bill Pettit NAIFA Memphis President

4 Fiduciary Rule Update As you may be aware, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans vacated the Department of Labor s Fiduciary Rule. This decision has broad impact and rejects the DOL s regulation in its entirely. What the Fifth Circuit said was that the DOL exceeded its statutory authority when it implemented a rule that was overly broad and inconsistent with ERISA s statutory text. Specifically, the new Rule removed the line between fiduciaries and sales people that has long been recognized. The Rule also imposed requirements on service providers to individual retirement accounts and other non-erisa plans that Congress did not contemplate. What this means is that, for now, the Fiduciary Rule remains in effect, although the DOL stated after the ruling that it would not enforce the Rule pending further review. Unless the DOL or other interested party challenges the Fifth Circuit s decision, the court s order to vacate the Rule (including the applicable prohibited transaction exemptions that were created or amended) will likely be effective May 7th. A challenge to the Fifth Circuit s ruling could take one of the following approaches: The DOL, or another proponent of the Rule, could file a motion for rehearing or rehearing en banc (i.e., with the full Fifth Circuit), or file a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court. Motions for rehearing need to be filed by April 30 (unless an extension is filed), and the petition to the Supreme Court must be filed by June 13 (this timeframe could be longer if the Fifth Circuit denies a petition for rehearing). It is unlikely the DOL will pursue this course, since it dropped its defense of a lower court ruling in the DC appeals court, after the Fifth Circuit rendered its decision. It is possible another party could take up the appeal, but they would have to be granted standing to do so. Alternatively, the DOL could let the decision stand. This approach is viewed as likely by commentators as it gives the Trump administration a free pass to move away from the Obama era rule. As far as what s next, because the future of the rule is unclear, many in the industry are taking a wait and see approach before making any changes to current policies, practices and procedures. Further, as possible additional regulatory action looms over the industry, transitioning to a post-fiduciary Rule world may consist of more than simply going back to the old ways of doing things. This is especially true as the legal landscape governing the retirement/investment industry is under review both at the federal and state level. The Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, as well as federal and state legislatures are all in the process of reviewing and developing laws impacting investment advisors and other stakeholders in the retirement industry. So while the end of the DOL rule may be near, possible future regulatory challenges remain on the horizon. Rest assured that NAIFA will stay on top of developments as they occur, and will keep you informed as to what s going on with the rule and other possible actions. Update from NAIFA-TN Day On The Hill Regarding the Tennessee Day on the Hill, which took place on Wednesday, March 21, there were some very interesting developments that, unless you were there, you probably haven t heard about. Members of NAIFA from across the state spent time with House Speaker Beth Harwell, as well as Secretary of State Tre Hargett, Assistant Insurance Commissioner Michael Humphries, and two NAIFA members who serve in the General Assembly, Senator Mark Pody and Representative Clark Boyd. After their presentations, NAIFA members visited with members of the General Assembly or their staff to reaffirm relationships, and to thank them for their service to the state. At the time of the visits, there were no crucial issues to discuss (or so we thought), so the meetings were to basically say hello and, again, thank them for their service. That evening, a bill was put on notice for committee hearings that, since it was filed, was thought to be completely dead in the water. What I m about to tell you is a demonstration of how important the advocacy efforts of NAIFA really are (not just at the federal level but at the state level as well).

5 Senate Bill 1720 and House Bill 2051, if passed and signed by the Governor as originally proposed by AARP (the group who got the bill filed for consideration), would have created a MANDATORY SMALL EMPLOYER RETIREMENT PLAN, RUN BY THE STATE OF TENNESSEE. The proposal would have forced EVERY small employer who didn t already have a retirement plan in place, to implement a plan voluntary for participants, utilizing payroll deduction IRA s and ROTH IRA s. A panel of elected and appointed public officials, along with a number of private sector appointees, would be the trustees of the plan, and would have been responsible for selecting the investment options and providing all compliance oversight. Advisors like us, who are in the IRA market, would have been EXCLUDED from the entire process, and putting the state in direct competition with advisors who work in the retirement plan market. The purpose of the bill, according to the FIVE AARP lobbyists working the bill, was to serve an underserved market. As we all know, the IRA marketplace is populated with thousands of investment options, available through thousands of advisors, or directly from retirement plan custodians. This was the classic case of an answer in search of a problem, and has been a strategy of AARP for a few years. They have been successful in getting legislation passed in about 6 states so far, with the end game being to get enough states to pass something, so that the federal authorities can be compelled to implement rules or regulations to reconcile all the state plans, including the MANDATORY provision. Before the plan was put on notice for committee review, it was amended from this radical proposal to only authorize the state Treasurer to implement a voluntary plan for employers. But even with this major modification, the bill was still thought to be dead on arrival. As soon as the state association was made aware of the bill going on notice for committee review in the House and Senate, your advocacy and lobbying team immediately went to work. A coalition of organizations in the financial services industry, including NAIFA, ACLI, Health Underwriters, and the Insurors of Tennessee, as well as lobbyists from a number of insurance companies, very quickly developed a plan to get the message out initially to committee members, but also to those who had signed on as sponsors, that this was a really bad idea. An outreach to NAIFA in DC resulted in a very quick turnaround of some key talking points, including critical issues faced by the states who have implemented similar programs. The ACLI and their national office and local lobbyist were also crucial in helping develop the talking points used when contacting legislators. By noon Thursday, our state lobbyist, Brad Lampley, had successfully contacted the key members sponsoring the bill, who after talking with Brad, began to withdraw their sponsorships. In fact, between that Thursday and the following Wednesday when the bills were to be heard in committee, the full court press applied by the coalition resulted in replacement sponsors also backing out, as well as other sponsors who had signed on to the bill before speaking with the coalition. On Tuesday evening, March 27 th, the General Assembly website updated the status of the House bill, indicating that it was being taken off notice, and would therefore not even be considered in the committee meeting the next day. And on Wednesday the 28 th, the bill was publicly withdrawn in the Senate committee, effectively killing the bill. During that committee meeting, Sen. Mark Pody (who is a member of the committee and who diligently worked the phones in the week leading up to the meeting), publicly recognized NAIFA- Tennessee, our lobbyist and others in attendance, for our efforts in educating the members of the committee of the serious problems with the bill. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is how things like this are supposed to work. This shows the tremendous level of advocacy influence we have in the statehouse, due primarily to personal relationships our lobbyist, and our members, have with regulators and those serving in the General Assembly. This is the second consecutive session in the statehouse NAIFA has been front and center in the advocacy battle, protecting the interests of you, our member, as well as our clients and customers. Our member survey taken earlier in the year indicated advocacy is the NUMBER 1 benefit of NAIFA. And for two years in a row, NAIFA has delivered big here in Tennessee. But please know that advocacy on this level comes at a price. More than ever, we need more members, and we need your very important contributions to IFAPAC. We need them both, and we need them both in big numbers. If you are not an annual contributor to IFAPAC, you should be. Chalmers Valentine is our IFAPAC chair. She is here today, and would be happy to help you get your 2018 contribution taken care of, sign you up as a new contributor, or help you increase what

6 you re already doing. Less than 30% of NAIFA-Memphis members are IFAPAC contributors. We need your help to get that number to, at a minimum, 50%. All it takes is an annual $50 minimum contribution. Is there anyone here who can reasonably say that it s not worth $50 to get what you ve been getting from our advocacy team? So please, open your wallets, and become an annual contributor to IFAPAC. Lastly, when you go back to your offices this afternoon, please look around your office, and have a conversation with colleagues who are NOT members. Please tell them the story I ve just told you, and tell them that if they are going to benefit from the work being done on their behalf, that they should carry their fair share of the load, and become a member. Finally, I want to report on two other notable items from the state convention. First, I am pleased to announce that NAIFA-Memphis was the winner of the State s Award of Excellence, recognizing outstanding achievement in the areas which make up the NAIFA value proposition. Memphis was the only association so recognized at the meeting. And finally, it is with great pleasure that I announce that our very own Wayne McCullough was named the NAIFA-Tennessee Insurance Professional of the Year. The IPOY award is a lifetime achievement award, reflecting contributions above the ordinary in the areas of service to the local, state, and the community. Wayne, please stand so that our membership can recognize and congratulate you for this tremendous honor.

7 What NAIFA has done for me A testimony from 2 of our local NAIFA Memphis Members Being a NAIFA member: I joined NAIFA in 2013 when I was new to the life insurance industry. Agents say the membership is too expensive. When I joined, I wasn t making much money at all. However, I knew I needed to be a member of my industry. Being a member of NAIFA has helped me learn more about my industry and products I offer, meet awesome people who share their knowledge, attend NAIFA TN Day on the Hill, meet political members who lobby for OUR industry. NAIFA brings great speakers to our luncheons and the various summits are well worth attending. I always come away with more ideas on how to help my clients. Each year my income has grown and I contribute that to being a NAIFA member. If you re in the insurance industry, you too should be a member of NAIFA! Sandra J. Bailey, LACP (designation for NAIFA members only) I would like to start by saying it is an honor to be asked to write this letter. I am Derrick Bradley and I have just made it through my first year in the business with New York Life. I joined NAIFA after attending a YAT meeting and hearing an attorney speak about the value of having your clients create a will. I found so much value in the information that was shared that night. At the time I was only 3 months in the business and I knew that I needed to make an investment in my career. I felt that NAIFA could provide continuing education that would help aid my success. Since that first meeting I have made it a point to try to attend every event and hear every guest speaker. I attended the Investment Summit on March 1, 2018 and learned a ton in the breakout sessions. However, one sales idea caught my attention, The Golden Handcuffs, and I could not wait to put it to use. Learning that the new tax laws had left a lot of business owners with excess cash and a need to retain key people I immediately knew who I needed to call. Literally the next day I was able to schedule an appointment and put my new language to use. I ended up writing two Executive Bonus policies and he wants to do another one on a different employee this fall. I was already sold on the importance of NAIFA, but after being able to see immediate results in my practice I am telling all the new agents in my office to join. I look forward to growing in this business and being a member of NAIFA for life.

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