Leaders Blog

Last week more than 300 NAIFA members and supporters came to Washington, D.C. for our 2023 National Leadership Conference. The Belong Awards Celebration is an evening to recognize our award winners, hold our annual meeting, elect our national officers, and swear in our 2024 Chapter Presidents.

Don't try to reinvent the wheel. We've heard what you need and so we've added a new asset to the Marketing Brand Book, a standardized PowerPoint deck to be used during in-person meetings. This deck has been updated for 2024 and features the programs and benefits to ensure your attendees are aware of, plus we've included slides for you to edit and recognize your members. From new member recognition to LILI alumni to Triangle Team members, and more we want to help you showcase all of the hard work your members do to give back to our association! Use these slides as people are entering your meeting and/or during networking breaks.

Joesph W. Jordan, 2023 John Newton Russell Memorial Award Winner, world-renowned keynote speaker, and best-selling author is now booking speaking engagements for 2024. As a huge NAIFA advocate, he is offering a special discount for chapters to have Joe speak at their events in 2024. Instead of his typical $7500 fee, Joe will come to your chapter for $2500 plus expenses and give his new Purpose Driven Retirement Planning presentation.

As part of the merger of NAIFA and FSP, and the expansion of the NAIFA family, the NAIFA Board of Trustees amended the NAIFA Bylaws, on December 3, 2023. The amendments to the NAIFA Bylaws include (i) revisions to the definitions of active and associate member, to better reflect the enhanced multi-disciplinary nature of NAIFA’s membership and to further establish NAIFA as the leading professional association for all insurance and financial advisors. (Article V, Sections 2, 3); and (ii) retention of the provision for the Executive Committee, consistent with nonprofit corporation best practices (Article VII, Section 9).

The Department of Labor thinks it knows what's best for Americans preparing for retirement. NAIFA President Bryon Holz, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF, CASL, LACP, and his long-time client Chuck Ross think the DOL is wrong and bring their real-life experience to the argument.

With the addition of the Society of Financial Service Professionals and Life Happens, the NAIFA membership benefit portfolio has grown. We are excited to let you know that you can now take advantage of FSP member discounts and new member benefits from Life Happens are being created as more ways to say thank you for belonging! Join us for a special Member Benefits Webinar on December 13th at 2 pm eastern.

Register for the Webinar

The merger of NAIFA and the Society of FSP, along with the inclusion of Life Happens, creates a more dynamic association poised to serve more Americans. This is an important and beneficial move for our members, the insurance and financial service industry, and consumers who rely on financial professionals for products, services, and advice.

But with change always come questions. The national leadership of NAIFA and FSP set out to answer many of these questions in a virtual Town Hall Meeting for NAIFA and FSP chapter leaders. We discussed many aspects of the merger and took questions from attendees. A recording of this Town Hall is now available on demand. 

The Town Hall focused on how the NAIFA-FSP merger will impact our industry, our members, and our chapters. The short answer is: This merger will make us stronger and more influential as an association and provide our members with expanded benefits and opportunities. Several takeaways from the discussion are:

Space is limited but there is still time to register to attend NAIFA’s 2023 National Leadership Conference. This signature event brings our association’s leaders together face-to-face. It ensures we are working as One NAIFA to execute NAIFA’s overarching strategic plan at every level. It creates momentum for 2024 as we move in lockstep to grow membership, amplify NAIFA’s brand, and build a stronger membership experience. It also includes a strong advocacy element and will include meetings with lawmakers during a Day on Capitol Hill.

We are planning our NAIFA Live schedule for 2024 and want to quickly find out your opinion on when the monthly program should be held and on what day of the week. Let us know YOUR thoughts on what would work best for you and your practice! 

Take the Survey on NAIFA Live 2024

It's hard to believe, but we are less than a month from NAIFA's National Leadership Conference and Belong awards celebration. This is an important event for all NAIFA leaders to attend. Not only does it recognize you for your dedication and hard work, but it also provides an opportunity to interact and learn from other chapter leaders, NAIFA's national volunteers, and staff. NLC is where we share ideas and get up to speed on everything NAIFA. It's also a lot of fun. We renew our connections with old friends and make new ones who share our passion for NAIFA and the insurance and financial services profession.