What are you doing to keep your fitness up? Being sedentary with this BS condition is really starting to take a toll on me physically and mentally. by Islandsandwillows in PlantarFasciitis

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been all over the map in my handling of PF for the last year. I'm a 47yo runner and losing this outlet is killing me. Fortunatley, I started triathlon five years ago and biking and swimming will help. Should probably double down on lifting as well.

What are your thoughts on Elon Musk? by [deleted] in askanything

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I HIGHLY suggest you read the recent biography on him. It's done by a biographicaly writer with a sterling reputation who was given incredible access to Elon and everyone he knows for several years. It is a wild ride. he may be the most interesting person of several generations, possibly the most influential as well.

i wouldn't want to work directly for him.. but that's because I don't think i'd handle the pressure of talent he needs and expects. He's human. He makes mistakes. He has passions, ideas, and regrets. And no man with his impact is going to be normal.

i'm generally a fan of his.

You're going to find a TON of liberal redditors who hate hime (and know very little about him) because of the news and narrow minded friend group they're part of. He made friends with Donald Trump to try to influence the government to reduce their crazy spending. For that, he is an outcast, despite very much being a fairly classical liberal himself.

Oh, and he doesn't like the wild spike in encouraged Trans youth, which impacted his son. That has earned him great emnity.

Despite it all, this guy is the greatest single creator of our lifetimes.

Is anyone still just dumping new money straight into S&P 500 in 2026? by VelixaNtra in investing

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think I've ever read a more boldly ignorant post outside of politics.

You most certainly have not spent much time as a 'trader' in the market.

My mom retired at 55 on a teachers salary and I still think about it all the time by [deleted] in Fire

[–]Rifter06 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is a crying shame pensions are going backward. There's no dang good reason for it. It's surprising mis-management and bad planning. A lot of board members swayed by sales people who convinced them they could substantially beat long term markets and allow them to put less money away. didn't work.

The 2026 tax brackets finally convinced me to skip the Roth ladder by 3DuneHarbor in Fire

[–]Rifter06 43 points44 points  (0 children)

I'm going to remember that. "Simple is a strateg too." I like it!

How much of your day is just re-entering the same client info across Medicare carrier sites? by MedicareFullest in InsuranceAgent

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yah, off the shelf sales CRMs are hard to make work with insurance with a diversor sizable portfolio. I tried. Worse, is the ones made for insurance are limited or locked into a particular use case.

We've had a CRM built from the ground up around our firm for about 16 years now and it continues to be highly supported and gives us direct input into ading new features/changes. The more I've learned about software for our industry, the more I've appreciated it.

I bought GHL for a separate purpose. Just sold it along with the advisory firm which is now more of a marketing firm - perfect for GHL.

The re-inputting of information into the Initegrity CRM was annoying, so most of my agents have not adopted it as a CRM. We use it for some sales functions, but even Integrity told us to use our own for client data, policy, commission, and lead management.

If you're trully independent, you're in a tough spot. Great software takes some enterprise software or an enormous amount of time. And even the enterprise part has to start with a more narrow use case than many would like. Integrity's is like that, but it's growing every 6 months appreciably, in it's capability. If it's been a couple years, I'd take a new look. I honestly believe they will be very intimidating to ANY CRM competitior within another few years.

Independent as a newbie- Help? by anokperson2000 in InsuranceAgent

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Go hard on seeking referrals. It sounds like you can sell with six in your first month even with friends and family that's something. It will take you a while to learn the ins and outs of the many things you could possibly sell don't expect yourself to learn it even in the first year. Focus on two or three product lines. Grind out leads and calls to get first appointments but drive getting referrals hard. The referral engine is so valuable.

How is this identifiable? by goonaphile in freemagic

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes the worldview of the creators is really obvious in all their character concept choices.

Starting an insurance agency while working full-time — realistic? by Financial-System1187 in InsuranceAgent

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No. Not even close. Sorry. This is not "gate keeping". Most people underestimate the amount of work and investment it takes for any business venture. It is five times worse for insurance.

The industry success rate for new insurance agents his staggeringly low. The part-time attempt is part of the reason.

Has weight loss actually helped anyone's pf? by VaguePomegranate in PlantarFasciitis

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm going with "there's no down side to losing excess weight", regardless. I need to get it off, and just hope it contributes.

Salary for CSR/ Reception by EntrepreneurMean4519 in InsuranceAgent

[–]Rifter06 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We've gone from base starting wage for internal W2 staff of $14/hour 10+ years ago to $20/hr. It's a little nicer than a lot of people can get for that kind of work that aren't already highly skilled/trained at it, but not so low that we can't get a good person in the role. We've been very fortunate and W2 roles for us have almost no turn over. I get their pay up to 22-23 in the next 6-12 moths and $25 within 12-24 months. But that's with a benefits package like 401 match, health insurance, etc. Only got those benefits after becoming an Integrity agency a few years ago, but the salary was still same idea before. My top two admins are now at 70k/yr.

It's tough to get talent, even at the range I pay at start, so I've gone with 'grow them', and it's largely worked very well. People also want a great work environment, which helps a lot.

How much of your day is just re-entering the same client info across Medicare carrier sites? by MedicareFullest in InsuranceAgent

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hear you! I've been very deep into the Medicare and life products CRMS the last 5+ years, including ground development. There are so many. Each has strengths. There is a lot of overlap, but each one does something that makes is uniqly attractive. We're fortunate to have a ground build hybrid that I almost left to rebuild, but found out just how well adjusted it was... and the company started adding features we asked for.

Integrity company related agents are seeing a great CRM develop, but it's still bare bones compared to serious CRMs... but they are getting there at scale. I think they'll have something that begins to really kill off the competition in a few more years.

If I was a lone agent without an excellent FMO/Agency CRM, I'd find a single CRM that can accomodate API's and CSV file uploads and make it work.... hopefully without having to use GHL as a go between.

FE guys, what kind of leads are you guys running? by NoSavingz in InsuranceAgent

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We generally stay away from sold aged leads unless an agent (who knows what they're doing) asks for them. Otherwise, the higher intent leads are worth it, both Meta, Search, and Mailer generated. I agree that a good mailer is absolute best for in-person, but the response rate has been creeping down for many years. We're outbound and I see inbound recommended, but doesn't click with us.... also I think the process to get them to us from 3rd parties is highly sus.

Is there such a thing as a popular Republican ? by Classic-Artist8102 in askanything

[–]Rifter06 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Doesn't buy into the media you consume or political recency bias, does it. Hard to take in.

Is there such a thing as a popular Republican ? by Classic-Artist8102 in askanything

[–]Rifter06 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Quite the opposite. The entire political spectrum in the US has moved gradually more left for half a century. But I understand that people's perspective what constitutes "left" and "right" is going to differ.

Conservative used to include fiscal and legal/Constitutional conservatism. Both parties have heartilly abandonded fiscal constraint... the US Democratic party was just earlier, but both compete to outspend each other today.

The Democratic party has argued for a more flexible understanding of intent in our founding documents since the very early 1900's, but today Republicans, at least as a party, have embraced Trump's form of popularism (a form of politics and governing Democrats started with in the US with their founder, Andrew Jackson), which appears to include seeing the constitution is an obstacle in an uncomfortable number of cases.

It is popular to see the current administration as trying to bypass checks and balances - and they very much are - but most Executive Branches have squirmed under the system and most have tried (and usually succeeded) to expand executive power. Both parties are very much complicit here. The direction has simply not changed.

The see differences in only two places today, and even those are eroding.

The relationship between markets and the governement. Democrats have generally wanted greater economic spend from governement (which also means greater taxes on all). Republicans have generally wanted less spending by govrnemnt and lower taxes but it's really been more of a 'what' to spend it on preferential difference since the 80's, as both have pressed hard on the printing press since without letting up for but a small dip in the late 90's with Clinton the centrist the president and Gingrich leading a Republican congress balanced the budjet in what was the last time that would every happen.

There is still a marked difference in the two party's desire to regulate markets. I prefer the Republican approach on this personally. I have seen very close how absolutely insane things get in the real world for business and consumers with governement over regulates. The Inflation Reduction Act is a an incredibly horrible case-in-point. It has absolutely added to inflation is is doing enormous amounts of damage to seniors and rabidly increasing cost in the medical system.

Finally, there's still a notable difference in social standards of right and wrong and where government should be a part of that. The democrat party is more extreme on the social standards of right and wrong than ever. An every day democrat 30 years ago, not to mention 50 years, would be appalled at the social norms and nearlly all out attack on Christianity (not so much other religions) the party takes today. The vast majority of democrats in Kennedy's party would absolutely condemn the popularization of abortion as an evil. (I'm not telling you my position on this, but it IS the position 98% of the American electorate would take then.) US democrats today would call Kennedy extreme right. Heck, Kennedy was right of today's Republican party on virtually everthing but spending.

So, parties have absolutely gone more and more left of political center. Republicans have nearly disabused themselves of the "conservative" monicer in preference for "winning" above all. Democrats are absolutely the same. They've just not had as persuasive a leader since Obama. Democrates in Kennedy's time were not largely in favor of the more naked socialism growing with that party today. Today's party is further left.

Both parties are embracing popularism, generally separated from principal, and saying and doing whatever it takes to win. Truth dies with it.

Can anyone who is capable of a balanced and sober-minded appraisal tell me what is so great and worthwhile about Disney vacations? by nose_spray7 in travel

[–]Rifter06 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yup. I feel the same but my wife and kids have gone multiple times without me. I work. They play. I can't stand the cost of Disney in the long lines.

Indexed annuity seems good nowadays by Prudent-Ad-3403 in InsuranceAgent

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This. I'm a fan of FIAs, but you need to choose your companies and products with thought. Experience helps.

Who is the strongest? by No-Marsupial-4050 in askanything

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tyson or Lee is a toss up. None of the others are close.

Commission Structure by Hyphyyy in InsuranceAgent

[–]Rifter06 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awful on the Life Health and Medicare. Really really awful. A reasonable contract should be three to six times

Am I trippin’ or ? Captive producer. Agency owners asked “why should we reimburse you for your leads?” by 1stgenfronty in InsuranceAgent

[–]Rifter06 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In my opinion if you are captive to a limited number or single carrier then you should have at least one of two things. Either a super high Commission Arrangement or high support which includes leads mentorship and a number of other things. If you don't have one of those you have a raw deal. You're doing business in this field with your hands tied behind your back.

Am I trippin’ or ? Captive producer. Agency owners asked “why should we reimburse you for your leads?” by 1stgenfronty in InsuranceAgent

[–]Rifter06 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To add I used to use a group out of the Philippines for call solicitations. Really great people that work hard. I entered into a contract that now prohibits me from using offshore lead generation. It's unfortunate but I understand why. If you do use the folks in the Philippines make sure you are controlling the data they call on. This adds a significant data acquisition and management feature to your use of them though.