It is with mixed emotion that I announce Scott Solod, our Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), has decided to pursue his career outside of National Life Group/ESI after 5 and a half years with the firm. He has contributed significantly to our organization over his tenure, building a strong Compliance area to carry us forward. Scott adapted our branch exam program during the pandemic, represented us in SEC and FINRA audits well, and created a strong and respectful partnership with our Distribution partners.
While we start the search to identify our next CCO, Greg Teese will assume the CCO responsibilities on an interim basis. Greg has performed this function in the past, for almost 20 years, and is fully qualified to perform the duties of the role again. Please feel free to reach out to him if you have any compliance-related questions.
Please join me in thanking Scott for all his contributions and wish him and his family well in his future endeavors. Scott’s last day in the office will be April 15.
The COVID-19 pandemic has unquestionably affected the financial professional-client relationship. While many clients, and their financial professionals, have opted for virtual meetings as opposed to in-person annual reviews, your relationship with your clients can continue to thrive in a virtual setting.
To gain insights, Jackson and Greenwald Research surveyed 305 consumers with investable assets of at least $200,000 who recently had an annual client review and 305 financial professionals (in client-facing roles who get at least half their revenues form individuals and AUM of $20 million or more) who have recently conducted at least three annual reviews.
Hearsay Social allows you to compliantly use social media to build your brand. With features like pre-scheduling, Hearsay allows you to plan and automate your social posts ahead of time – helping you make the most efficient use of your time. But don’t let the process end with prescheduled posts. The most important part of posting on social media is the engagement.
Anytime someone likes, shares, or comments on a post, it’s an opportunity to reach out and make a connection, so make it a habit to regularly check for any responses to your posts to see what’s on people’s minds. For instance, if someone is responding to a post on protecting a portfolio against inflation, that’s an opportunity to see if they are looking for help managing their investments. If a post sharing tips for people who are changing jobs gets a like, that person may need help with a rollover. In short, watch your social engagements closely and look for potential needs and opportunities.
Important Reminders
When reaching out to someone, use private messaging as opposed to responding to a comment with a comment.
Use the Activity tab on your Hearsay Social dashboard to help you track responses.
Savos Strategies: Customized Asset Management Solutions Through AssetMark
Please join Savos Strategies to learn about their customized, cost-effective and tax-efficient advisory solutions. Savos is a strategist through the AssetMark platform.
We have seen an increase in fraudulent debit card activity resulting from cardholders being scammed into giving personal information to fraudsters. The most recent fraud trend involves fraudsters calling cardholders and posing as a “Fraud Representative” to gain access to one-time passcodes and other personal information used to load card details into mobile wallets. Below is an outline of how this fraud scheme works: How the fraud trend works:
A client receives a phone call from what appears to be a legitimate phone number (sometimes even spoofed as a known call center number)
The fraudster poses as a legitimate fraud analytics representative
The fraudster states they either have sent or will be sending the end client a one-time password (OTP) and requests the client to read it back to them
The fraudster is then able to use the OTP to provision the card number to a mobile wallet
As fraud protection is a main priority for our clients, the below actions are being taken to protect our cardholders:
Strengthened mobile wallet activation rules
Additional mobile wallet transaction monitoring decline rules
Additional daily transaction monitoring controls
Our debit card call center has been notified of this trend and related patterns
Recommended actions for your firm and debit card users:
We strongly recommend reaching out to your debit card users and enforcing best practices to never share a One Time Pin (OTP), PIN, or passwords to a caller inquiring about their account, as we will never ask end clients for their passcodes, PINs, or passwords over the phone.
The restriction on new advisory accounts for City National Rochdale has been removed. New advisory accounts may be opened for City National Rochdale. If you have questions, please contact ESI Business Development at 800-344-7437.
March 2022 As part of the Envestnet | PMC’s ongoing monitoring and evaluation of model portfolios and investment strategies deployed within, the portfolio management team is implementing certain changes to the PMC Managed Portfolios.
Please note that the Investment Proposal system has been updated with the new allocations, and trading for existing accounts is expected to begin on Monday, March 28, 2022.
Looking for Marketing Resources on the new Agent Portal? Log in to the NL website and click on Sales & Marketing to get started.
ESI-Specific Materials Under Investments you’ll find ESI campaigns and materials.
Marketing Yourself Materials
Looking for help getting your name out there? Click on Market Yourself and choose from:
Client Videos: Video testimonials, including several Living Benefit stories, to use for client prospecting.
Digital Marketing: Your digital branding area with information on online appointment schedulers, social media, and for affiliated agents, website building services.
Emails: A library of HTML emails that you can use for recruiting as well as prospecting for clients.
Freelance Resources: Looking for custom support for your marketing material? Through our strategic partnerships you now have access to a professional designer that has been vetted by the National Life design team.
Marketing Vault: Save time and use marketing materials that have been created by, and approved for your peers by National Life Compliance.
Newsletters: National Life has contracted with Emerald Connect to provide quality newsletter services for our full-time agents.
Seminars: Proprietary, pre-reviewed seminar content for individuals, business owners and CPAs.
Social Media: Everything you need to start and grow your social media presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
From Fidelity: Consistent with Important Notice IN 21W-216 and Microsoft’s announcement to retire Internet Explorer 11 (IE11), access to the Wealthscape platform will be blocked on April 29, 2022.
The use of a modern browser, such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, will ensure users are able to experience the latest functionality and platform enhancements designed to drive efficiency, propel growth, and deliver client value.
The below error message will display on the login page to users who launch Wealthscape or Wealthscape Investor using IE11.
Error: We detected you are using an old or unsupported browser. For your security, access was restricted. Please use one of our supported browsers.
SSO: Firms that utilize Single Sign-On should consider taking action to notify users who will not see this message when logging into the portal.
For investment professional use only. Not authorized for distribution to the public as sales material in any form. Enhancements and deployment dates are subject to change. Screenshots are for illustrative purposes only. The content provided herein is general in nature and is for informational purposes only. This information is not individualized and is not intended to serve as the primary or sole basis for your decisions as there may be other factors you should consider. You should conduct your own due diligence and analysis based on your specific needs.
Information provided in this document is for informational and educational purposes only. To the extent any investment information in this material is deemed to be a recommendation, it is not meant to be impartial investment advice or advice in a fiduciary capacity and is not intended to be used as a primary basis for you or your client’s investment decisions. Fidelity and its representatives may have a conflict of interest in the products or services mentioned in this material because they have a financial interest in them, and receive compensation, directly or indirectly, in connection with the management, distribution, and/or servicing of these products or services, including Fidelity funds, certain third-party funds and products, and certain investment services.
