What Happened on Take Our Kids To Work Day?

Take Our Kids To Work Day is an an opportunity for grade nine students to see what their parents do. This year, my son Jeevan accompanied me in anticipation of what he called a "businessman's lunch". I planned a (slightly better than) typical day. 

I wanted Jeevan to see elite life insurance advisors with revenue of at least $1 million. Since there are many in downtown Toronto, I tried to arrange a presentation for in a prestigious office tower like Brookfield Place, First Canadian Place or Scotia Plaza. The timing didn't work out.

9:00am Left Home (Etobicoke)

We were both nicely dressed with shiny shoes. I normally arrange meetings after most of the morning traffic has passed. This saves travel time.

9:45am Meeting An Advisor (Markham)

We arrived on time to meet an advisor who asked for help with "10-8" Leveraging, which uses life insurance to magnify the benefits of financial leveraging while shrinking the risks. We were then meeting his client.

The advisor arrive late for no good reason --- around 10am. This is very rare. During our meeting, he kept jumping between topics. He also kept answering his phone, which is rude. That's not how you treat an invited guest. I avoid advisors who behave like that. I focus on advisors who apply the four habits of highly referrable people. 

My son got a gift which he better not use: a wine bottle opener.

11:40am Meeting A Client (Markham)

Although scheduled for 11 am, the client arrived 40 minutes late He brought his accountant. As discussions began, the client kept checking messages on his Blackberry. However, he became more engaged within a few minutes. Both he and the accountant asked thoughtful questions. They had seen proposals for 10-8 leveraging before. 

Although questions remained, we left around 12:10pm to keep on schedule. In the car, Jeevan said that he followed most of the discussions. He asked what "YRT" meant. It's short for Yearly Renewable Term, a type of insurance scale in which rates increase every year to mirror mortality rates. To minimize the costs, the death benefit decreases each year to the minimum that Canada Revenue Agency requires for tax-exempt status. Who would want this? Wealthy clients who want to maximize tax-sheltered growth by minimizing insurance charges. Typical deposits are $100,000 to $500,000 a year for three to five years. 

1:00pm Lunch With An Advisor (Oakville)

Where can you get root beer in bottles?

Most leading insurance advisors are in their late 50s or older. They prefer wine over root beer. I wanted Jeevan to see there are successful younger advisors too. So we had lunch with an advisor under age 30 who is part of a very successful team (mainly selling "10-8" leveraging). We all had root beer in bottles. 

3:30pm Harry Rosen (Mississauga)

We made a pit stop between appointments. Two of my Italian suits needed unusual repairs: one has a broken zipper (which I didn't notice until I was in Sudbury just before a group presentation) and the other has lining that came apart at the seams in a sleeve. This proves that things go wrong regardless of price. While there, I bought an overcoat from the broken zipper company, the triumph of hope over experience. Do we ever learn?

4:00pm IFB Summit (Toronto Airport)

To end the day, we went to Independent Financial Brokers Summit to see the final speaker: Heath Slawner on the Power of Persuasion. This was based on the eye-opening work of Dr. Robert Cialdini, who I've seen twice. We all need reminding. I wrote about the six universal principles of infuence earlier. 

6:00pm Heading Home

Even though everyone was leaving the parking lot at once, we were on time for Take Our Kids Home For Dinner.