Congratulations to Our ESI Elite Symposium Qualifiers!

February 14, 2023

Congratulations to everyone who met ESI Elite Symposium qualifications in 2022! We’re looking forward to seeing you at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara from July 24-28, 2023. Boasting two natural beaches and Mediterranean-inspired architecture, the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara offers luxury resort amenities, scenic ocean views and easy access to the region’s vineyards, restaurants, shops and attractions.

Individual Qualifiers

Rich Kelly
Steve Simon
Chuck Creighton
Mark Vosk
Justin Paine
Paul Sortino
Tyler Degeneffe
Travis Ramsdell
Dominick Citera
Dan Streeter
Dan Wolodkiewicz
Nico Riverso
WM Nzambi
Jeffrey Friedrich
Mike Castillo
Don Reutemann
Alan Fishman
Scott Maitland
Scott Levin
James Muro
William D’Angelo
John Stephens
Patrick Stephens
Gary Liskow
Jay Maffe
Hillory Burkett
Chirag Savalia
David Critelli
Chris Huchro
Edward Degeneffe
Kyle Voiland
Matthew Lempa
Marty Olson
Bert Livingston
Jerry Pasichow
Sam Maruca

Team Qualifiers
Maria Conlon
Michael Kelen
Michelle Lawrence
Peter MacKenzie
Gerald Mirra
Brian Vieselmeyer
Alex Wolodkiewicz
Carey Yukich

Agency Qualifiers
Northern New England – Randy Raner
New Jersey – Mike Marino
Long Island – Rod Hurowitz
Long Island – Jay Goodman
Southern New England – Jay Maffe
MidSouth – Rick Cederberg
Chicago – Ryan Moratti

Looking for Inspiration?
ESI’s Elite Symposium is our annual educational conference that provides the opportunity to network and share ideas with your peers, hear from world class speakers and meet with ESI’s Strategic & Technology Partners.

Business sessions include a variety of formats and topics, such as:

Rep Panels
Keynote sessions from world class speakers
Sales and practice management ideas.
Updates and breaking news from the ESI Home Office.
Time with ESI’s Strategic and Technology partners.

During the afternoons, qualifiers enjoy free time to explore the resort and local sights. Evenings feature dinner events.

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New HSA Registration Available for NFS New Account Opening

February 14, 2023

To continue the enhancement of the guided account opening within Docupace, we’ve added the ability to create Health Savings Accounts (HSA) via the current NFS New Account tile. In addition, new accounts for the NFS – Health Savings Account registration type can be opened immediately via the New Account Opening integration between Docupace and NFS. This is especially useful when you need the new account number to rollover an existing HSA.

For information regarding the use of the New Account Opening integration, please refer to the following guides:

Initializing a Token for the NFS Account Opening Integration

NFS Account Opening

If you have any questions, please call 800-344-7437 or email DocupaceSupport@nationallife.com.

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Changes to the Flagship Program Portfolios

February 14, 2023

From Envestnet:

As part of 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. Click her to review the changes.

Please note that the Investment Proposal system will be updated with the new allocations after market-close on Friday, February 10, 2023 and trading for existing accounts is expected to begin on Monday, February 13, 2023.

For questions please contact your Regional Advisory Sales Team.

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eSignature Update for Allianz NY

February 14, 2023

Effective immediately eSignature can be utilized through Docupace/DocuSign for Allianz business in the state of New York. All paperwork available in Docupace for Allianz can now be electronically signed, without any state level restriction.

The current list of all eSign approved vendors can be found here.

If you have any questions, please call 800-344-7437 or email DocupaceSupport@nationallife.com.

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Shout Out to Our January Leaders!

February 14, 2023

From Annuity sales to Advisory sales to Recruiting, ESI’s Leaders deserve a SHOUT OUT! Click here for our individual and agency leaders for the month of January – and a welcome to our new Reps:

David Balkcom – Metro New York

Paul Janitelli – Sunrise

Jung Park – Baltimore

Bryan Pirosko – White Plains

Joseph Ritter – Philadelphia

Justin Schueneman – Detroit

Robert Schwartz – Sunrise

Marc Wasserman – Philadelphia

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“Introduction to Riskalyze” Recording Now Available

February 7, 2023

Riskalyze helps you illustrate your expertise through the lens of risk. Approved for all ESI Investment Advisor Reps, Riskalyze allows you to quantify your clients’ risk tolerance in a simple to understand score and show them if it matches how they are actually invested and how you could align them to that risk score.

Click here to view the recorded “Intro to Riskalyze” webinar.

For details regarding how Riskalyze can be used as well as branding and disclosure requirements, click here to view the Field Notice.

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Municipal Bond Transaction Procedures

February 7, 2023

Overview of MSRB Rule G-47
Rule G-47 (“Rule”) requires brokers, dealers, and municipal securities dealers (collectively, “dealers”) to disclose to their customers, at or prior to the time of a municipal bond trade, all material information known about the transaction, as well as material information about the security that is reasonably accessible to the market. Information is considered to be material if there is a substantial likelihood that the information would be considered important or significant to a reasonable investor’s decision to invest. The Rule currently includes a non-exhaustive list of information that is generally considered material, including OID and other factors.

Municipal Bond Transaction Disclosure Checklist
To assist you in complying with this requirement and documenting the sources used for disclosure, ESI Operations has created a Municipal Bond Transaction Disclosure Checklist.

The checklist is required on all transactions (both buy and sell orders, whether solicited or unsolicited) and must be uploaded to the applicable client folder in Docupace. The form should be completed at time of trade and uploaded by the end of the trade date. ESI’s trading group reviews this activity on a T+1 basis and will periodically reach out for this form if it is not filed in Docupace. Failure to upload the form within the required timeframe could result in reversal of any mark-up/down on the associated transaction(s) and could result in additional disciplinary action by the Firm.

Please note that information sources used to make required disclosures to the customer must be maintained in the representatives’ client file. If the client file is solely maintained electronically in Docupace, the information sources used must be uploaded into Docupace.

Questions
If you have questions regarding the procedure for Municipal Bond Transactions, please contact the Trading Desk at 1-800-344-7437.

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Changes to FINRA CE Requirements

February 7, 2023

Regulatory Element CE
Effective January 1, 2023, all registered persons are required to complete FINRA’s Regulatory Element CE by December 31^st each year. This represents a change to FINRA’s previous approach to CE as it replaces the previous 3-year anniversary requirement with an annual one. Note that, to ensure compliance with the rule, member firms may set different deadlines based on their business requirements. Accordingly, ESI will require that RRs complete their Regulatory CE by November 30^th, each year.

Under the new program, participants will receive content that is specifically tailored to each representative or principal registration category they hold.

Newly-registered representatives will be subject to the annual CE requirement starting with the next calendar year after the year in which they pass their initial registration exam. For example:

An individual passes their initial registration exam in July 2023.
They must complete their first Regulatory CE in 2024 (with a November 30, 2024 deadline).

ESI will place individuals who fail to complete their Regulatory Element by the November 30^th deadline on “CE Inactive” status with the Firm. “CE Inactive” means you will not be able to submit new business and commissions will be suspended until you fulfill your CE requirement. If you remain CE Inactive for 30 calendar days, your ESI registration may be terminated.

Firm Element CE
Also effective with the Rule, all registered persons are subject to the annual Firm Element CE requirement. This is a change in that, under the previous Rule, Firm Element CE was, effectively, limited to affiliated persons who were client-facing and their supervisors. The new Rule expands the requirement to all registered persons, irrespective of their role. This change will generally impact home office employees who may have previously been exempted from the requirement based on their role and responsibilities.

ESI’s Firm Element CE program will continue to follow its current, historical timeline (i.e. due February 28^th, annually). However, the population of individuals subject to Firm Element CE will be expanded to comply with the new Rule.

Resources
You can track your personal CE status from your FinPro account. If you haven’t already registered with FinPro, you can do so https://finpro.finra.org/registerUser/. Existing FinPro users can log in at https://finpro.finra.org.

Additional FINRA CE resources can be found at:
Continuing Education (CE) | FINRA.org
Securities Industry CE Transformation | FINRA.org

Questions
Questions regarding this notice may be directed to ESI Licensing at esi_licensing@nationallife.com or Misty Dodson at mdodson@nationallife.com.

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Don’t Miss These Upcoming Webinars and Calls!

February 7, 2023

ESI 2023 Kick Off Call
Please join ESI’s Executive Leadership Team for our 2023 Kick Off call! We’ll take a quick look back at the activities and results of Q4 and then discuss what’s ahead for 2023.

If you have any questions for ESI’s Leadership Team, let us know! Submit your questions to ESIBusinessDevelopment@nationallife.com by February 8^th, and we’ll answer them during the call.

Presented by ESI
Monday, February 13^th at 1:00pm ET
Click Here to Register.

Secure Act 2.0 Update
The SECURE ACT went into effect January 1, 2020, fundamentally changing the tax and distribution rules for beneficiaries of IRAs and other qualified retirement accounts as we knew them. In 2022, SECURE ACT 2.0 was signed into law adding additional changes as we well as additional complexity. Join ESI and Strategic Partner, Prudential Financial, for a discussion of these updates and their impact.

Presented by ESI and Prudential Financial
Tuesday, February 14^th at 3:30pm ET
Click Here to Register.

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